This 2 CD Set Was released By Hollywood Records In The Year 1995

Queen made a music lover out of me. Here. I said it. At no point before did music matter so much to me as when I listened to this double set that I bought through eBay when I was just starting out down the musical lane.

I was a 90s teenager. I grew up with this music. This was a compilation I had to have. This is a compilation that every person who claims to feel even the slightest shred of emotion when he listens to music must own.

There is no need to go over the individual songs. All the monster hits are here. Every tune that starts playing in your head and that echoes through your soul when the name of the band is mentioned can be found right here.

Needless to say, after buying this set I started buying their individual albums. And I was disappointed. I bought “News Of The World”. It was a letdown. I bought “Made In Heaven”. I expected more. I bought “A Night At The Opera”, ostensibly their best record. Again, I expected more from what is their flagship album. I stopped there. I don’t know where to resume, or if I want to resume for that matter.

The most worrying fact is that this disenchantment happened when I was not as picky and fastidious as I am right now. Nowadays, I analyze every album in obscene detail. The lyrics come under scrutiny all the time. That was not the case with Queen. I purchased all those studio albums when I was still in my most idealistic days as a music listener. And they still left a taste I did not like. I wonder what happened. Did I buy the wrong records? I am sure that many of you have (if not the full discography) many of their albums. I would greatly appreciate your insight and opinion.

Don’t get me wrong – when it comes to the actual musicianship, they are celestial. Period. But they suffer from a problem that besets bands with a collective approach to songwriting: people who should stick to playing the instruments end up composing. That is what drags individual albums down in my eyes. I will discuss that in detail when reviewing the records.

But (in finishing) let me tell you something: if I had to choose my Desert Island album this is it. Yes. No Who, no XTC. Queen. A band I don’t really adore as a whole but which produced some monumental hits. No, that is not it. They produced a behemoth of hits. A behemoth of excellence. These are songs that rock with a fire and a gusto that will probably never be equaled. But my first attempt to dig deeper into their discography was not that encouraging.

Would I recommend purchase of this compilation: Yes
Do I feel like digging deeper into their catalog after listening to it: Yes