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Queen - Queen - Greatest Hits Audio CD

A fair review of the Queen "Queen - Greatest Hits" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Queen reviews here, or go back to the Queen tabs.

Queen Band: Queen
Title: Queen - Greatest Hits
Rating:
Release Date: 1992-09-15
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: We Will Rock You 2: We Are The Champions 3: Another One Bites The Dust 4: Killer Queen 5: Somebody To Love 6: Fat Bottomed Girls 7: Bicycle Race 8: You're My Best Friend 9: Crazy Little Thing Called Love 10: Now I'm Here 11: Play The Game 12: Seven Seas Of Rhye 13: Body Language 14: Save Me 15: Don't Stop Me Now 16: Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy 17: I Want To Break Free

Great CD, but some songs missing
However, I feel like I have to mention that this CD should be bought along with 'Classic Queen' if you want the band's other well-known hits for your collection. First of all, if you're a Queen fan, I would recommend this product. "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Under Pressure," and "Hammer to Fall," for instance, are not included on this Greatest Hits CD (which is odd, because "Bohemian Rhapsody" is quite possibly Queen's best-known song in the US, and "Under Pressure" was a big hit as well). There are some other notable songs missing from this 'Greatest Hits' CD, like "Radio Gaga" and "I Want It All. " All these hits mentioned are missing on this CD, but included in 'Classic Queen', which is why I recommend buying both products at the same time. However, a lot of the songs they do include on this CD are very good, and I enjoy listening to this product as a whole.


Only buy this with Classic Queen, either that or buy The Gold or Platinum Collections or 2004 Greatest Hits

When Hollywood Records signed Queen in 1990 and re-released its back catalog (for the US and Canada they were on Elektra/Asylum from 1973-82 and Capitol/EMI from 1984-89) in the US and Canada) in 1991, the band were slowly regaining America. Queen's Greatest Hits was first originally released in 1981 on Elektra Records in the US and included all of the band's classics that were huge hits in the US including "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (both #1 in the US in 1980), "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" (both hit #4 in 1978), "Bohemian Rhapsody" (#9 in 1976 in the US), "Killer Queen" (hit #11 in 1975 in the US), "Somebody to Love" (hit #11 in 1977 in the US), "You're My Best Friend" (hit #16 in the US in 1976) plus Top 30 hits "Bicycle Race" and "Fat Bottomed Girls" (both #29 in the US in 1978), the Top 50 hits "Play the Game" (#43 in 1980) and "Flash" (#41 in 1980) plus the band's first single "Keep Yourself Alive" from 1973 and the duet with David Bowie "Under Pressure" which was only on Greatest Hits album if purchased in US and Canada and was a new track in 1981 and reached #29 on the US singles chart and fared better on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks charts (FM rock radio played this song constantly). The band were huge for most of the world outside the US and Canada whom pretty much ignored the band for nearly a decade. Then the February of 1991 release of Innuendo gave Queen its first Gold selling album in the US since 1984's The Works and "Headlong" and the Innuendo title cut were huge US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks hits reaching numbers 3 and 15 on that chart respectively. Just as Queen were slowly re-conquering the US and Canada, lead singer Freddie Mercury died from AIDS in November of 1991 and Innuendo sales boosted as did its back catalog (just released on CD at the time for the first time in the US and Canada).
Then in February of 1992 came a little film called Wayne's World which used "Bohemian Rhapsody" for a centerpiece scene took that track (the flip side to "The Show Must Go On" at the time) and gave it a second chart life, peaking even higher than it did the first time around this time reaching #2. Hollywood Records quickly released a revamped version of Greatest Hits II entitled Classic Queen that March to capitalize on the moment, and found Queen with its first US Top Ten album since The Game in 1980 and reached #4.
That September, Hollywood issued a modified version of the original Greatest Hits. Having swiped "Bohemian Rhapsody" (a sacrilege IMHO), "Under Pressure", "Flash" and "Keep Yourself Alive" from the first go, they added two singles "I Want To Break Free" (a song that tanked in the US in 1984 and fit better on Greatest Hits II IMHO) and "Body Language" (a US Top 20 hit in 1982) move to this set as does "Seven Seas of Rhye" and "Now I'm Here" both FM rock hits plus "Don't Stop Me Now" (which tanked in the US) and some tracks not released as singles in the US like "Save Me" and "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy". The albums after The Works are on Classic Queen (a/k/a Greatest Hits II).
IMHO you should buy this CD with Classic Queen. If you want a best of with "Bohemian Rhapsody" go for either the Greatest Hits re-release from 2004 or the double set Queen Gold Collection (Greatest Hits Volumes 1 and 2) which packages them together AND adds a couple bonus songs or The Platinum Collection which has all three Greatest Hits Collections. They all include nice book packages and lyrics. Frankly, any of the Queen hits collections is worth it, and Hollywood did its best to issue the proper compilations of Queen.


It doesn't have what?
How can you call a Queen album 'Greatest Hits' if it doesn't have Bohemian Rhapsody on the playlist?.


Why I didn't give this a 5 star....
Great band. Queen is awesome. But this cd forgot to include BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY!! I had to purchase it as a single. Otherwise great comp.


All of Queen's hits are here...EXCEPT THE BIGGIE....
Leaving this classic out of this package is indeed very puzzling! Two other minor Billboard Top 40 hits also were not included, namely 1981's "Under Pressure", and 1984's "Radio Ga-Ga". This CD covers the very best of Queen, with one glaring omission: no "Bohemian Rhapsody". The rest of the songs are choice cuts from previously released albums. Still not a bad set from this group who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.


You can see a complete list of all Queen discography, or go back to the Queen tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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