scapp70's Full Review: Greatest Hits [Hollywood] by Queen
Back in 1991, Parlophone Records released Queen Greatest Hits II to document the hits of Queen from 1981 up until the present 1991. It also is the 10 year anniversary release of Queen’s first Greatest Hits. In America, Queen had switched record companies again, this time from Capitol Records over to Disney’s Hollywood Records. Queen’s new label also wanted to release a second greatest hits, but at the same time they wanted to release a greatest hits album that chronicles their early hits of the 1970s as well on this label. Hollywood Records decided to make their own versions of these Greatest Hits albums for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the UK tracklisting would not truly reflect the US charts, and secondly Queen’s first US label Elektra owned the rights to the 1981 US Greatest Hits album. The result is a much more entertaining two albums than the original ones for the American public. Classic Queen for example had substituted five of the UK chart busters with some “classic” Queen songs from the 1970s which makes it flow much easier than the UK Greatest Hits II. As for Queen Greatest Hits, it also has a modified tracklisting which in my opinion is also much more interesting.
For a CD which is named “Queen Greatest Hits” there were some people who bought this compilation that were a bit confused as to why there was no Bohemian Rhapsody included. Hollywood Records decided to include Bo Rhap on the Classic Queen CD, (released in March 1992), to capitalize on the resurging popularity of the song when it appeared in the Wayne’s World movie. Now in September 1992, it would be a bit silly to include Bo Rhap on another ‘greatest’ package. So now with the exclusion of Bo Rhap, Under Pressure and Keep Yourself Alive (which were originally found on the Elektra 1981 Greatest Hits), we have made some room for a couple of surprises. So added here we have the inclusion of some heavy metal, Queen style of course with Seven Seas of Rhye from 1974’s Queen II originally. With an intro consisting of lightning fast piano, crashing drums and bass and accenting distorted guitars, the song is slightly reminiscent of The Who’s Baba O’Reilly, but it sounds more like a precursor to Jim Steinman’s Bat Out of Hell.
Then there's another song that comes as sort of a surprise, and coming from the opposite end of the spectrum where Seven Seas of Rhye resides, and this is the heavy funk-disco fiasco of Body Language from one of the more disappointing albums released from Queen, Hot Space. Yet, perhaps do to the fact that Hot Space followed on the heels of their most successful album The Game, the chart performance of Body Language was very impressive, hitting a high of #11 in US Pop Singles. Also included here is Don’t Stop Me Now, a song that fared much better in the charts in the UK (#9) than it did in the US (#86). Perhaps the biggest surprise was in the inclusion of a song from 1984, which is much later than all of the songs here. I Want to Break Free was not really a hit in the US, stalling at only #45 in the charts. As history would see it now, this amazing pop song written by bassist John Deacon would be the catalyst for Queen’s popularity downfall in America, which started in 1984 because of this promotional video which features Queen in drag. Luckily the disinterest had ended in 1992 when Bohemian Rhapsody was suddenly in vogue again because of a dopey comedy movie. I Want To break Free is one of my favorite songs from Queen. Freddie Mercury delivers a fine vocal to John Deacon’s sublime melody line and meaningful lyrics.
The last of the songs added to this CD that weren’t on the original 1981 album is Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy. This song could originally be found on the 1976 release A Day at the Races, and although it was never a single release in the USA, it brings us back to a time when Queen’s brand of experimental rock music was always a high point. The flamboyant lyrics play well against the bouncy Broadway style backdrop. There are plenty of hits from this era in Queen’s career where you don’t even miss Bohemian Rhapsody. There of course is Another One Bites the Dust, the disco super hit from 1980’s The Game written by John Deacon. The song still gets plenty of play today, and I’m sure that whenever Nile Rodgers hears it he winces. The two songs that get played around the world multiple times a day at sporting events, We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions are also included. The two songs were originally released as a double A sided single off of their 1977 album News of the World, and they truly represented the loud hard rock, flamboyant music Queen were making at the time. The songs started out as big, and now of course since they are heard in every sports arena worldwide they are bigger than life. Queen have proven to be “kings” of the rock anthems with these two numbers.
The rockabilly Elvis-influenced Crazy Little Thing Called Love would have to be included of course, since it is one of the very few instances Queen have hit the #1 spot on the charts. Freddie Mercury claims to have written this song in the bath tub in 1979, and it hit #1 in March 1980 when the single was released. More fine examples of Queen’s chart success include the gospel-style Aretha Franklin-inspired Somebody to Love, Freddie’s Bicycle Race which he wrote while looking out his hotel window as he watched the Tour de France and it’s partner Fat Bottomed Girls, a raucous rocker from Brian May. Only Queen can make a connection between ladies with big butts and a bicycle race.
Queen Greatest Hits is a fine CD even without the bombastic Bohemian Rhapsody. There’s plenty of excellent songs (except for Body Language) here to keep you entertained for almost an hour. When you play this along with Hollywood Records Classic Queen release, it makes for a fine document of Queen’s career.
the songs
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
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
![Greatest Hits [Hollywood] by Queen](http://di1.shopping.com/images1/pi/7a/f1/43/2002025795-177x150-0-0.jpg)
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.