A Night At The OdeonA little backgroundThe band had just completed a successful tour when they were given the Christmas Eve slot on BBC to produce an hour long concert. This is the documentation of that evening. An oft bootlegged show it's nice to see it get an official release.
It is great to see some 70s gigs get some life again and it seems this won't be the last (thank goodness!) but this wasn't quite as well received as the Rainbow release for a few reasons. I knew this was going to be a bit polarizing. One one hand it is more of what the hardcore fans want. Outside of a studio archival release (such as an anthology), nothing is more craved than 70s gigs after an over-saturation of 80s product. With that being said there were a few negatives of sort.
a. The setlist. This wasn't a typical ANATO tour gig. It was cut to an hour and with what was cut it is virtually identical to the Rainbow sets. The only "new" song is incorporating "Bohemian Rhapsody" into the medley. This might have been rectified by b.
b. The bonuses - The Rainbow included a full other gig (from a separate tour even - though in the same year). Why not here? The band was at Hammersmith for multiple dates in December with a more full ANATO setlist. Or even another gig on the tour - we know they have the Budokan from May which really would have been a hit as we would have gotten the first release in any format of "Hangman". That was a bit of a let down. To further on the bonuses we did get? Three videos from Budokan (of normal tracks) but not cleaned up much and sounding not great and that had been previously released in Japan on the Days of Our Lives documentary bonus material. We get a 22 minute documentary which is nice although obviously a documentary that has been sat on for a while as the interview with Brian and Roger showcases a brown haired Brian. The only other bonus music is a 12" Vinyl replica of the Bo Rap single although it has a more interesting b-side - "Now I'm Here" from the soundcheck before Odeon - of course that begs the question - why only on the vinyl? And why not include the whole soundcheck in the deluxe set?
There is some tat - balloons, pins, a tour itinerary (much like Rainbow). The book and poster are nice although nothing I'll look at more than a few times.
BUT enough complaints - it is still a very worthy release and nice to have an official version of. I guess the major problem is not the fault of the release...it's the fact that it feels like a stepping stone sort of release. If this had been released before Rainbow it would have been much more well received - it was a victim to how good the Rainbow release was. BUT not only that there is much more anticipation for what will come next - as it would be a far more anticipated release...we know they are working on more 70s stuff per Queen Productions. ..Something like Hyde Park 76, Earls Court 77, Houston 77, Hammersmith 79 or perhaps the rumored Live Killers Box Set. All of which even without bonus material would be more anticipated than Hammersmith 75.
Track Listing (Audio)
1. Intro/Now I'm Here (May)
2. Ogre Battle (Mercury)
3. White Queen (As It Began) (May)
4. Bohemian Rhapsody (Mercury)
5. Killer Queen (Mercury)
6. The March Of The Black Queen (Mercury)
7. Bohemian Rhapsody (Reprise) (Mercury)
8. Bring Back That Leroy Brown (Mercury)
9. Brighton Rock (May)
10. Guitar Solo (May)
11. Son And Daughter (Reprise) (May)
12. Keep Yourself Alive (May)
13. Liar (Mercury)
14. In The Lap Of The Gods...Revisited (Mercury)
15. Big Spender (Coleman/Fields)
16. Jailhouse Rock (Lieber/Stoller) - Stupid Cupid (Sedaka/Greenfield) - Be Bop A Lula (Vincent/Graves/Davis)
17. Seven Seas Of Rhye (Mercury)
18. See What A Fool I've Been (arr. May)
19. God Save The Queen (arr. May)
The video cuts out Seven Seas and See What A Fool as the BBC stopped filming at that point and the band were playing for the fans anyways.