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What once seemed Queen's greatest liabilities--a preening flamboyance and pompous, overwrought theatricality--have ironically become their most enduring charms in a gray, postmodern pop-music landscape. While it eschews the glammy, pre-punk hard rock of live faves like "Stone Cold Crazy" and "Tie Your Mother Down" for the band's more quirky club-beat string of latter-day hits, this 51-track triple-CD anthology goes a long way toward documenting the true dimensions of the band's music and fame. Some songs may not be instantly familiar to American fans because of yet another irony: just as their U.S. fortunes waned during the punk and new wave era, the band was exploding into true international superstars. Thus, there may be a sense of discovery here, whether of latter-day Queen material or solo work by Brian May and Freddie Mercury, whose duet on "Barcelona" with diva Montserrat Caballé transcends boundaries of both time and genre. A previously unreleased live performance of "The Show Must Go On" featuring Elton John on vocals is also included. --Jerry McCulley
Ehh... - Reviewed on 2008-07-01
3 customers found this review helpful, 1 did not.
Let me start by saying, I am a Queen fan(atic). Have been since I was 9 years old. I can pretty be counted on to A) buy any Queen merchandise and/or products, or B) or least give said merchandise and/or products a fair look before I pass by. That having been said, I don't think this greatest hits set is really the best representation of the most versatile band ever. That's right, Beatles, I said "ever".
The problem with sets like these is that the average listener will buy it and think, "Well, that's Queen taken of, then", stick it on their shelf and forget about it. But then they'll miss out on great stuff like "Tie Your Mother Down", "Stone Cold Crazy", "In The Lap Of The Gods", "Mustapha", "It's Late", "Flick Of The Wrist"...the list literally goes on and on. Also, this just may be my inner anal-retentive fanboy speaking here, but some of the songs on this set are rather annoyingly edited, at least to my ears. For example, on this set's version of "Under Pressure", Queen's seminal 1981 New Wave collaboration with David Bowie, the second refrain of "This is our last chance" is--POOF!--completely gone. It's very unnerving, and takes someone who's heard the song that way their entire lives completely out of the moment. Further examples include the truncated version of "Fat Bottomed Girls" on Disc One, which on this version fades out, rather than coming to its usual strong finish in the unedited version, which can be found on the original album "Jazz" or the 1992 U.S. maroon-colored release, "Queen's Greatest Hits".
As for the much-maligned "Greatest Hits III" (Disc Three), it's not quite as bad as all that. "Princes Of The Universe" was erroneously left off of most of the previous hits collections; long overdue to be included, as it's one of the best known Queen songs, thanks to the "Highlander" films and TV series. Also, it was good to have some cuts from Freddie Mercury's side projects, most notably "Barcelona" with Monserrat Caballe and "Living On My Own" from the "Mr. Bad Guy" album, which can prove difficult to find. Elton John's passionate rendition of "The Show Must Go On" is very moving in the context of things, and even George Michael acquits himself admirably with a joyous take on "Somebody To Love". Both performances serve as fitting tributes to Freddie Mercury's spirit. As for the remix of "Another One Bites The Dust" by Wyclef Jean? Well, to my surprise, I really didn't think it was as bad as some have made it out to be, especially when compared to some of the Rick Rubin remixes from the 1991 album re-releases (Anybody else remember that remix of "Bicycle Race"? Ick.)
Anyways, to sum up, I personally think it would be better for the beginning Queen listener to at least delve into some of Queen's studio albums first, but being that we live in a world where everybody's in a mad hurry, it's quite understandable that people would pick up the most concise collection of material. Just don't make the mistake of ending your search here.
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