I consider this collection of Queen music their popular music. Much of it was mellow or radio friendly, and thus much of it hit the top 10. Given that Queen had a very eclectic repertoire, you'll find quirky songs such as "Fat Bottomed Girls" next to the mellow love song "Somebody to Love". Queen's progressive rock and harder rock songs are only barely represented on this particular collection, though strains of their harder edge show through in songs like "Bicycle Race" and "Another One Bites the Dust".

In many ways Queen was an album group. While most of their albums stop short of being true concept albums, most of their albums did have a theme. Also, their music was organized carefully to provide a presentation of the music that was greater than the sum of the individual songs. Thus, listening to a "greatest" collection does little to express the true scope of this group. I recommend this CD as one that provides a small sampling of Queen, and some of their more mellow music at that. You need to also have "Classic Queen" to additional hits such as "Bohemian Rhapsody". You may also want to consider "The Platinum Collection: Greatest Hits I, II and III", which is perhaps the most comprehensive set short of buying albums.

Though this CD is lacking in its breadth, I still give it 5 stars because Queen was such a great group, and the songs here do represent a small portion of their incredible talent.

15 of 15 found the following review helpful:


They Have Rocked Us!  Jul 04, 1999
This CD is essential to all Queen fans. With the exception of the tracks off The Game, the singles Body Language, and I Want to Break Free, this represents the hard rocking Queen complete with the opera-style vocals. It features not only the hits like "We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions", "Somebody to Love" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", but more obscure songs like "Don't Stop Me Now", "Now I'm Here", "Save Me" (although a hit in the UK), and "The 7 Seas of Rhye". If you were a fan of early Queen, you must own this. Then grab Classic Queen to appreciate their later efforts!

14 of 15 found the following review helpful:


Queen's Greatest Hits + Classic Queen = Ultimate Queen  May 05, 2003
I'm starting to get angry at all these compilation CDs that are hitting the shelves. It's not just Queen it's all these bands that have been around for 20 + years. There are "Greatest Hits", "The Best of", "Classics", "Ultimate Collections" etc. ... but if you inspect them you always find 1 or 2 great songs on a different compilation and have to decide, "which songs can I live without?".

I thought I did this when I decided to go with Queen's Greatest Hits. During my inspection I concentrated on some of the minor songs, only to find out later that `Bohemian Rhapsody' was NOT on it. (Yeah my bad but COME ON!) So I thought "Do I return it and get the Platinum Collection?" Well there is a bunch of stuff (on the 3rd CD) that I'd never listen too and it's missing songs off of "Classic Queen" like `Tie Your Mother Down' and some others. So I went out and bought "Queen Classics" along with an empty CD case that holds two CDS. So now I can combine "Queen's Greatest Hits" and "Classic Queen" into my very own custom made "Very Best Greatest Hits Ultimate Collection of Queen".

17 of 19 found the following review helpful:


Full Marks  Apr 20, 2000 By Freddy Powys
This is arguably one of Hollywood Records smartest moves. Every song on this album is perfect, from the feet-thumping anthem WE WILL ROCK YOU to the last track I WANT TO BREAK FREE, leading on to Classic Queen, which along with this album, shows Queen at their ultimate best. The much revered WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS is in there, mingling with the afore-mentioned WE WILL ROCK YOU, and ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST, all classics and all damn good songs. "The Game", in my view Queen's best album, is well represented from the perfectly constructed PLAY THE GAME to the immaculate SAVE ME, without which the compilation wouldn't be complete, via CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE, a personal favourite especially when played live, and naturally ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST. The unclassifiable KILLER QUEEN is right up there with all the epics (BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY et al; alright, so it's not on the album, but keep your shirt on, the world won't stop turning), and SOMEBODY TO LOVE is as fantastic as it is murder to sing live. The inseparable duo of FAT-BOTTOMED GIRLS and BICYCLE RACE are brilliant if somewhat loutish in the lyrics department, and YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND, based on a terrific bassline from John Deacon, is one of my favourites from the '701s. NOW I'M HERE combines the irrevocable talents of Freddie Mercury and Brian May, as well as some pretty good drumming too. SEVEN SEAS OF RHYE is one of Queen's earliest songs, and also one of their best, thanks to the catchy piano solo at the beginning. BODY LANGUAGE, despite the constant criticism aimed at "Hot Space", its album, is a blinder of a song and if the band had to sacrifice their usual style to make it then so be it. I'm also amazed that DON1T STOP ME NOW appeared so low down in the pecking order of the American charts, as it's a great song (nuff said). GOOD OLD-FASHIONED LOVER BOY is excellent in both lyrics and music departments but the next track, and the modernest of the lot, i.e. I WANT TO BREAK FREE isn't really to my taste. It becomes quite catchy after a while though, and the video is out of this world! The CD is definitely worth buying, along with Classic Queen and, at a push, Greatest Hits III, if you1re a newcomer on the Queen scene and want to get a feel of their remarkable music.

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