The latest releases reviewed

QUEEN The Making of A Night at the Opera Eagle ***

Any self-respecting rock fan will have at least a few Queen albums in their collection, and one of these should be A Night at the Opera, the 1975 opus that transformed Freddie Mercury and company (Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon) from glam rock wannabes and support act to the likes of Mott the Hoople to the chart- topping, stadia-striding band they continued to be until the untimely demise of Mercury in 1991. This DVD is an updated package to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the album, and comes suitably attired with an extra disc. Which means that along with the original making-of disc (interviews with the band, producer Roy Thomas Baker, archive footgage), we get newly created visuals for album tracks as well as track commentary (albeit ones made up from archive interviews). So, a mix and match of (mostly old) with new. Rock music fans of a certain age can rejoice; others can perhaps pass this one by. Tony Clayton-Lea

MARVIN GAYE The Real Thing: In Performance 1964-1981 Island ****

As his many biographers have noted, Marvin Gaye's life was beset by doubts and conflicts, but shyness and diffidence were rarely to be found when Gaye took to the stage. Here was a performer who knew just how to grab and hold your attention. The Real Thing collates archival footage from TV shows and live concerts from the entire span of Gaye's career. You catch him starting out as another bow-tied Motown crooner lip-synching along to Hitch Hike and Can I Get a Witness?. The Gaye who produced What's Going On shows up on footage from the Save the Children Show from 1972 (with several Funk Brothers in his band), while a rarely aired Belgian concert from 1981 sees him still turning on the style towards the end of his life. Add in excerpts from various interviews, a bonus CD from a 1976 show and the usual flashy booklet, and you've a fine snapshot of a complex character. Jim Carroll