Customer Reviews

Queen - Greatest Hits

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The UK version of Queen's Greatest Hits is superior to the American version, in my opinion. It includes all of Queen's UK Top 20 Hits from 1974 to 1980. ("Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" is included because it was the lead track on the hit "Queen's First EP".) It should be noted that these are the single versions of the songs, which are sometimes different than the album versions. The most notable differences are on "Bicycle Race", which is almost a minute shorter than the album version, and "Flash", which includes dialogue from the movie, which the album version does not. This is the definitive compilation of Queen's early years.

This is the first of the three greatest hits compliations released by Queen, and is considered by most to be their best (although I would personally put Greatest Hits 2 slightly ahead of it).
The best songs on this album are so well known that it is hardly worth me commenting on them (I'm sure everyone already has their own opinions of the likes of 'Bohemian Rhapsody', 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are The Champions') but thats not to say their aren't any others worth listening to on here.
The compilations only downpoint however, is that Queen were an outstanding band in the fact that every one of their albums offers over half a dozen brilliant tracks, meaning they have many other songs which are equal to (if not better than) many of the tracks chosen for this compliation, but if you're just looking for an introductory album to Queen's music then this is fine.

Of course this compilation is great. It's got most of the cream of Queen's crop (huh?) and is expanded from the version on LP/Cassette I grew up listening to. With one exception: What in the hell did they do with "Under Pressure"? This is DEFINITELY not one you leave off! Hell, "Don't Stop Me Now" and "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" should have been axed WAY before the classic Queen/Bowie collaboration. Even "Flash" (which for some unknown reason, i still like) should have been left off in favor of "U.P.". That's really the only reason not to give this 5 stars...that and there are quite a few killer album tracks that no GH will have ("Misfire", "Who Needs You", "Don't Try Suicide")so you should really pursue the original albums, which you probably will after starting out with this primer.

Although Queen is not everyone's cup of tea, anyone who can appreciate good music should respond to Freddie Mercury's voice and Brian May's guitar playing is mandatory listening IMO. And the best part of all of it is Queen's songs. Adventurous, heavy, melodic, hilarious, pomp, and a multitude of styles. This is totally the surface of a great band, but worth coming back to even after you own every album.

As an owner of both this version and several others, I gotta point out the differences. This is a very good compilation, however, I can't validate paying import price for a compilation that can be attained at a domestic price. The track listing on this version is IDENTICAL to disc one of the two disc "Gold Collection" available in the US on the Hollywood label. (For about the same price, you also get Greatest Hits II with the gold package.)

Darn when cd's first came out what you where looking for was hard to find. And Queen was at the top of my list to get something into my budding cd collection. I finally found this at our local record store as the vinyl was slowly circling its drain due to cd's. And yes the first Queen I saw on the shevles was this import. Darn glad I got it that day even though I considered the price steep due to it being an import it still took the cd industry some years to get all of the choices you have now days I do not need another queen this on did me fine though its play list is different from what they have here tracks 1 - 6 are the same the rest go like this
7.Don't Stop Me Now
8.Save Me
9.Crazy Little Thing Called Love
10.Somebody To Love
11.Now I'm Here
12.Good Old-Fashoned Lover Boy
13.Play The Game
14.Flash
15.Seven Seas Of Rhye
16.We Will Rock You
17.We Are The Champions
What can I say this order works for me. And if you want more Queen than this hey go for it I do not blame you good stuff from a great band that started in the 70's. No one else like them. I still remeber driving down the road to tapes I made from the vinyl I had of them.

One of the most successful British rock groups of the seventies and eighties, Queen started as a quasi-glam rock group but evolved a style all their own, combining elements of pop, rock, heavy metal and a few operatic touches.

Bohemian rhapsody, their biggest hit, was twice a UK number one hit - first on its original release and second on its release to raise money for AIDS charities, following the death of lead singer Freddie Mercury due to AIDS. The song also made the American top ten twice - first on its original release and second following its use in Wayne's world, a few months after Freddie's death, when it made number two. This classic song, seven-minute mini rock opera, overshadows everything else that Queen recorded, but they made plenty of other great music.

During the period covered by this compilation, Queen also had four UK number two hits (Killer queen, Somebody to love, We are the champions and Crazy little thing called love) as well as five other UK top ten hits (Seven seas of Rhye, You're my best friend, Don't stop me now, Another one bites the dust, Flash).

Impressive as this compilation is, Queen continued to make exciting music - enough to require two further volumes of greatest hits.

Queen rocked to stardom in the 1970s, with Freddie Mercury's (1946-91) silky voice leading. They produced many excellent songs, and were popular worldwide, right up until Freddie Mercury's death from AIDS in 1991. Throughout my youth, I loved Queen's sound, and their many wonderful songs - and now I have them again!

This fantastic album contains all of Queen's greatest songs, including Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, Save Me, and of course We Will Rock You & We Are The Champions. Yes, that's right, this album has the greatest Queen hits, and does not include any song that is less than superb! If you are a fan of Queen then this is definitely an album you must get. Heck, even if you just love great rock `n' roll in general, you will love this CD.

This is a great CD, one that I cherish and would not be without. I give this album my highest recommendations!

I ordered this CD thinking it was remastered year 2004 as Amazon product detail says. What a fool Amazon made of me!
What I got was 1994 version-10 year older version with higher price tag. Of course, I sent it back to be replaced with year 2004 version only to see the same 10 year old CD from Amazon with no explanation or appology a month later.
I, at least, do not have time and energy to fight with AMAZON about this anymore. DO NOT BE FOOLED!!!

Queen's first Greatest Hits album came out in November of 1981.
This compilation was released worldwide with different tracklistings in some territories and was a proper introduction to Queen's 1973-80 period (mine included when I first had a copy of this on cassette I acquired in December of 1990 with a dub of the US Elektra Records version).
This CD version of the 1981 Greatest Hits is its original UK tracklisting featuring classics like "Another One Bites the Dust" which was Queen's biggest US hit which hit #1 in 1980 and is a rock disco classic. Plus Queen's first US Top 10 and first UK #1 in 1975 hit out of "Bohemian Rhapsody" which reached #9 in the US in 1976 and this classic needs no explanation (would reach #2 in its US re-release in 1992). We also have the band's first US #1 hit from 1980 out of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" which is a classic rockabilly romp. "Killer Queen" follows and was the band's first US Top 20 hit in Spring 1975 in the US and hit #2 in 1974 in the UK. Included is the single mix of "Fat Bottomed Girls" which is a nice different version to the full album track and that was a Top 30 US hit in 1978 as was its A-side "Bicycle Race".
We also have "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions" which both hit #4 in early 1978 here in the US (the tracks are separate but the US record company Elektra Records insisted on playing the two together) and both are classic rally cry/victory cry songs and were #2 in the UK. Also included is the single mix of the song "Flash" which was the theme to the 1980 film Flash Gordon (did well in UK but not so well Stateside). Also on this is the US Top 20 hit from early 1977/UK Top 5 from 1976 out of "Somebody to Love" which was a great gospel tinged rocker. The 1976 US Top 20/UK Top 10 hit ballad "You're My Best Friend" which was the follow up single to "Bohemian Rhapsody" on A Night at the Opera is here. Plus you have the UK Top 20/US Top 50 hit "Play the Game" from 1980, great ballad.
The other tracks which appear on the UK greatest hits album were the rock radio hit "Now I'm Here" (a UK Top 20 in 1975), the classic "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy" (a UK Top 30 in 1977 but not released as single Stateside, instead it was "Long Away" that got released and tanked), the classic "Seven Seas of Rhye" (a UK hit but stiffed here in the US in 1974), the big UK Top 10 hit "Don't Stop Me Now" (which was well received on US rock radio but flopped on pop singles chart in 1979, Bee Gees and disco ruled the roost on singles in US) and the ballad "Save Me" (which was a UK Top 20 in 1980 but an album track here in the States as the song was not issued as a single in the US) round out the CD.
This CD was first released in the 1980s with dull sound. Then in 1994, Parlophone/EMI re-released with remastered sound which was done at Abbey Road Studios and sounds better than some versions out (the 2001 Japan remaster would be issued in the US in 2004 with even superior sonic quality).
RECOMMENDED!

This album is the most popular in Rock, ever! They tried to pull it off the shelves but the cries were too loud. It is also re-mastered.