Pentatonix takes on Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

Music

Any way the wind blows: Pentatonix takes on ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’

By Robert Philpot

April 07, 2017 12:45 PM

Pentatonix in a still from their ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ video, which gets a little weirder than this. Back row: Kirstin Maldonado, Mitch Grassi, Scott Hoying (all of whom are Arlington Martin High grads). From row: Kevin Olusola, Avi Kaplan RCA Records

Although there were music videos before 1975, Queen’s clip that year for its now-classic “Bohemian Rhapsody” is seen as groundbreaking. That was before MTV, way before YouTube, and certainly before any of the five members of Pentatonix was born.

But the Arlington-founded a cappella group — which released its latest EP, “PTX Vol. 4 — Classics” — on Friday, is getting into the act with its own video for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a song that seems like an inevitable choice for the group to cover.

The video starts with all five group members crowding onto a sofa, and then things happen — it doesn’t get completely out-there surreal, but it does get a little weird, as if it’s asking the song’s open question: “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?”

The song is made for showing off voices, but it’s the group’s re-creation of the musical instruments (from percussion to “guitar” solos) with just their singing that sets this version apart.

“Classics,” you will not be surprised to learn, contains covers of classic songs, ranging from such way-back songs as “Over the Rainbow” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” to a cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” and their Grammy-winning collaboration with Dolly Parton on a remake of Parton’s “Jolene.”