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ReviewsRecord Mirror, 1981 5 stars before the picture book, video package and monogrammed tea towels, comes this interesting compilation album culled from the past 10 years. Queen just had to do something for the home market of course, now that touring South America and drinking tea with local dignitaries has become almost a permenent fixture in the band's life, Christmas is coming as well and every Queen fan will want a copy. You'll get 17 value packed tracks from the band's struggling early days to their current triumphs. In Queen's case such retrospection is well justified and this album gives us all a chance to take a breath and re-examine the phenomena that is Mercury, May, Deacon and Taylor. This album isn't arranged in any particular chronological order but it's a well chosen and balanced selection of their meisterworks. An hour or so of continuous nostalgia for the uninitiated, and a heady taster for half believers. That evergreen classic 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is served up first. Arguably the most enduring song by any act in the last decade, originally it was in danger of never being played as a single because, lasting more than five minutes, it was considered too long for radio play. The second track 'Another One Bites The Dust', is in total contrast and throughout the album Queen don't rely overmuch on specific groupings of mega hits. Note also how 'Bites' pre-dates the styles supposedly coined by many of our hipper new white soul acts. Queen's 'Jazz' period isn't one that I'm very partial to and two tracks from the album are included here 'Fat Bottomed Girls' (the track that caused uproar from fat bottomed feminists) and 'Bicycle Race', topped off by that annoying extended bicycle bell chorus. Side two mainly contrasts a trio from their quirky romantic period - 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love', 'Somebody To Love' and 'Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy' - with the meat and potatoes of tracks like 'Now I'm Here' and 'Seven Seas Of Rhye'. 'Flash' is also included, that superlative futuristic film music that contributed so much to the overall success of the movie 'Flash Gordon'. Essential listening and I understand that th ecover picture was shot by Lord Snowdon. An album with class all the way through. (Robin Smith) |