Review: Queen release Greatest Hits collectors edition to mark their half century

: by Joe Sharratt; in Reviews; on 07 July 2021

Let’s start this review with a quick bit of trivia: what is the best selling album of all time in the UK?

You probably guessed it, but yes, it’s Queen’s Greatest Hits, a record that has been certified a staggering twenty-two times platinum, sold more than six million copies, and recently passed the milestone of nine hundred weeks in the UK albums chart.

And yet, despite that remarkable success, and their clearly deserved place as one of Britain’s greatest ever bands, I have a confession to make. I’ve never, ever been much of a fan.

Don’t get me wrong, I see the appeal. I can’t argue that Freddie Mercury is one of the finest frontmen ever to grace a stage and had the vocals to back it up. Nor that Brian May is a guitar virtuoso, or that John Deacon and Roger Taylor created some of the most memorable bass and drums lines ever. With over fifty years of history, and a remarkable forty since the first release of their Greatest Hits collection, they’re rightfully part of rock history.

Proper fans of the band will be able to celebrate the big four-zero of the band’s Greatest Hits with this run of collector editions, including a CD version with a special slipcase and four limited editions cassette versions with covers, each a different colour and dedicated to one of Mercury, Deacon, Taylor, and May.

But what does the collection offer to someone like me, an at best occasional listener of the group who, with no drunken karaoke nights under my belt for the last year and half thanks to lockdown, hasn’t had much cause to crank out Bohemian Rhapsody of late.

Well, the first and most obvious point to raise is that all the big hits are here, with the only notable exception being Under Pressure, the 1981 track co-written with David Bowie that somehow only made it on to certain versions of the original release of the greatest hits.

Bohemian Rhapsody itself needs no explaining, though I’m struck by how gripping May’s riff is, and the same is true on Fat Bottomed Girls, while Bicycle Race is pure theatre, a song that goes through so many joyous gear changes it’s hard to keep up. You’re My Best Friend is the first song that strikes me as a Queen track I’ve never really fully appreciated until now, a beautiful, heartfelt ballad that was the followup single to Bohemian Rhapsody – not an easy act to follow. I’d also never realised it was written by Deacon, to his wife Veronica Tetzlaff, until now.

On the other hand, they’re probably undiscovered Amazonian tribes that know the lyrics to Don’t Stop Me Now, and Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Mercury’s tribute to Elvis Pressley, has been covered by everyone from Showaddywaddy to Maroon 5. Another discovery I’m confronted with though as I properly listen to this album for the first time is the shared gospel feel and structural similarities between Bohemian Rhapsody and Somebody To Love, to the point where now they almost feel like companion pieces to me. Live favourite Now I’m Here also jumps out at me with it’s big, chunky riff.

Play The Game is another track that opens my eyes – or my ears – to the full extent of Mercury’s range, a beautifully soft vocal that weaves its way in and out of the song. Flash I struggle to get on board with, it’s dialogue from the film for which it was written feeling oddly out of place to me, but Seven Seas Of Rhye, We Will Rock You, and We Are The Champions as a closing trio send this collection out with all guns blazing, a truly breathtaking finale.

Reflecting on what I’ve heard over the last hour, I can’t help but feel I’ve missed out by dismissing Queen until now. I’m surprised by their variety, the sheer number of hits they had, and by the power and energy of Mercury’s voice. I’m not about to rush out and buy all four cassette versions of this release (not just because I, like everyone, no longer own a tape deck), but I’ll certainly be diving deeper into Queen’s back catalogue as a result of this experience.

Queen Greatest Hits Collectors Editions tracklist: