Much has been written about Queen’s A Night At The Opera, and its place in rock and roll history is well secured. The music, the lyrics, and the performances form the benchmark for “classic rock,” and the album is arguably one of the finest examples of rock music arrangement and production ever recorded. Layers of sound and harmonies are stacked to teetering heights – lifted even higher by the equally imaginative and complex song structures.

And like all fine works of art, ANATO educates its audience in the process of entertaining – not by underscoring specific environmental, political, or emotional themes, but by simply existing. I fondly recall playing ANATO for my high school music theory class. We had all been assigned to bring an example of recorded harmonic and melodic structure, and the experience of hearing Queen’s masterpiece proceeded to blow everyone’s mind.

The original stereo mix of ANATO was an aggressive assault on the senses, with walls of sound competing for space between the listener’s two speakers (or headphones). However, the ambitious recording, re-recording and edits used in creating ANATO over 25 years ago contributed to a compromised fidelity. Distortion, compression, and other recording anomalies were evident even in the original master tapes. After healthy runs of vinyl LP, 8-track tape, cassette, and CD releases, DTS Entertainment’s new DVD-Audio of ANATO is now the definitive version of the album. Many of the sonic artifacts have been remarkably reduced using a marriage of state-of-the-art and vintage technologies, and hearing the familiar songs in uncompressed 96khz, 24-bit 5.1 surround is a revelatory experience.

There is an ongoing controversy surrounding the use of “surround” when remixing music. Some purists balk at the thought of tampering with an original mix, and in fact, the first DVD-Audio copies of ANATO – which made an appearance at the AES Convention in late 2001 – met with a mixed response from critics. While ANATO’s original producer, Roy Thomas Baker, and esteemed mixer, Elliot Scheiner, worked on the project, Queen’s guitarist, Brian May, was unavailable. The official release was delayed by a few months and May’s involvement was secured. The final result, while not perfect, is the most satisfying version of ANATO to date. And for those finicky purists: a high resolution, uncompressed 96/24 version of the original stereo mix is also included alongside the 5.1 remix in uncompressed MLP and DTS formats.

Even prior to May’s input, Baker, Scheiner, and Rory Kaplan – DTS Entertainment’s Executive Producer/Artists Relations – had successfully overcome numerous challenges in bringing ANATO into the 21st Century. First, there were the obligatory licensing and scheduling issues. Then, during the tapes’ transfer to computer hard drives for eventual restoration and remixing, it was discovered that the glue binding the tapes’ iron oxide to the plastic had absorbed moisture over the years and had broken down. The effect of “binder breakdown” was that the oxide layer began to shed almost immediately: basically, the valuable master tapes were falling apart as they were being played. Fortunately (or unfortunately), this is a common problem with master tapes from the ‘70s and early ‘80s, and an ingenious solution had been discovered. To reactivate the binder, the tapes were “baked” in an oven at a low temperature, and the transfers were successfully completed.

Remixing ANATO also proved to be a daunting task. The original recordings were densely layered: tracks had been combined, and many effects were not even printed to tape. This meant that Baker, Scheiner, and May had to re-build the experience from scratch for the 5.1 remix. According to Kaplan, it took five years to complete the ANATO DVD-Audio project, from concept to final product.

Trying to compare each element of the 5.1 remix to the original stereo version is futile, since the DVD-Audio is really a new experience. However, the remix of ANATO is faithful to the creative (albeit unnatural) soundstage of the original stereo master; the spirit and energy is retained, while the intensity of the experience is enhanced. Whereas the barrage of vocals and guitars move from left to right speaker in the stereo mix, the 5.1 environment opens up the listening space into three dimensions, with instruments and vocals moving around the listener in a similar, expressionistic style. Also faithful to the original mix is the front soundstage anchoring of bass, lead vocals and most of the drum kit. When the songs spin off into their more adventuresome sections, the effect is appropriately startling.

Yes, “Bohemian Rhapsody” sounds great in 5.1 surround, but the biggest treat for me is rediscovering the other excellent songs on ANATO. “Good Company,” with May’s use of his guitar to emulate jazz band instruments, has to be one of the most impressive things I’ve heard in a long time. One accepts the dance of horns and woodwinds around the room, until reality hits: the sounds are arranged and played by May with his guitar. And as the liner notes famously state: “No Synthesizers!” Unbelievable!

The uncompressed MLP track reveals significant improvements in dynamics, fidelity, and imaging, compared to the original stereo mix. Frankly, the stereo mix sounds “beat up,” sporting a limited dynamic range, as well as audible tape hiss and distortion. The DTS track is formidable, but reveals limited sidewall imaging and is fatiguing at reference level. Cymbals are also slightly less defined in the DTS track, and some higher frequency transients (like the drum kit’s hi-hat) have a duller attack.

I did have a few quibbles concerning the 5.1 surround re-imagining. The lead guitar in “You’re My Best Friend” makes its entrance at a surprisingly loud level, and its balance with the vocals is better represented in the original stereo mix. There is also a nasty clipping noise 12 seconds into “Bohemian Rhapsody” (on the word “reality”) that is not present in the original stereo mix. The lead vocals in the first verse of “Rhapsody” also sound a bit more buried in the 5.1 remix when compared to the stereo version.

Unfortunately, a mastering or player compatibility problem is evident while listening to the 5.1 MLP track. The first two songs, “Death On Two Legs” and “Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon” have annoying pauses after each track, which ruin the flow of the album’s segue structure. The effect is similar to a layer change on a DVD-Video disc, and in fact, ANATO is a dual-layered disc. Oddly, other segues between songs located later in the album flow together smoothly. This quirk is present playing ANATO on the popular Panasonic RP-91 progressive scan DVD-Video/Audio player. The pauses are not evident in the DTS or original stereo mix options.

Also included on the ANATO DVD-Audio disc are lyrics to each song, a gallery of pictures, disc credits, and the “Bohemian Rhapsody” video – with the 5.1 audio mix synced up to the video. The video is full frame, and is in decent shape (considering its 1975 vintage).

DTS Entertainment certainly pulled out all the stops bringing Queen’s classic rock opus to the DVD-Audio format, and I look forward to the label’s continued re-releases of classic albums – as well as new music – on the DVD-Audio format.