QUEEN

The miracle was regarded as a return to the true Queen sound and principles - live rocking sound, focus on guitars. The band fulfilled the promise indeed, we could say they feel re-energized after a 3-year break. May is more audible than ever since 1980's keyboard input into the Queen sound. Deacon provides top contribution in particular to the dance or electronic inspired tracks like "Invisible man" and "Rain must fall". Mercury's vocal and showmanship shine through whereas Taylor's versatility ranges from pop, rock, metal to the 80's alternative. May feels very inspired, starting with the guitar instrumental on "Chinese torture" continuing to true hard rock/heavy metal riffing and distinguished soloing.

Though the sound will please most of older Queen fans, I think the material is weaker than on the previous 2 albums because of unusually high amount of filler. No denying the band was having fun but almost all of the 4- mark compositions were OK in the album's context but can't stand on their own (Party, Khashoggis ship, Scandal, My baby does me, Hang on there). These have their moments but ultimately feel either undeveloped or are overall not memorable. On the other end of the spectrum, we're faced with 3 incredibly strong compositions, crown jewels. "The miracle" has a fantastic melody, soothing chorus, moments of tension. Guitar solo is delicate and melancholic at the same time. The semi-hard-rock outro is ingeniously arranged if not very inventively played by May.

"I want it all" is another gem, a direct punched rocker. The studio version contains additional very 80's riffing. The mid section starting with the vocal tandem of May/Mercury invites into hard-rocking and then heavy metal territory. If you search of an anthem on this album, this is it.

The last standout is "Breakthrough", though more conventional in its composition, the muscular rhythm and Mercury section take the spotlight. Pay attention to the bass solo followed by the traditional guitar work.

Further tracks worth noting is the dance-friendly "The Invisible man" and the slightly epic "Was it all worth it" with sparse progressive elements in the structure and rhythmic parts. The most ambitious track, could be considered a premature "Innuendo".

Queen did an excellent job by tackling multiple (and some new) styles on this record. Not all exercises had a winning formula but fortunately, there are a couple of excellent tracks.

Queen II has a legendary respect-awaking album cover. Interestingly, Queen II has songwriting split into the May's first side and Mercury's second. Since 1973, the band evolved in terms of sophistication, ambitions and songwriting. They slowly start going beyond conventional rock and explore other territories like folk, classical music, glam rock and prog. The start is on an elegant note with May's guitar layers. After that you would expect a hard-rock number by May but what comes is a soft-rock beginning with vocal harmonies which at 2:30 evolves into a hard-rock wilderness thanks to busy drumming and raw riffing. "White Queen" is a magnificent ballad with some mellow (acoustic and/or jazz guitar sounding) and loud instrumentation. Would be interesting to hear the author (May) sing it as it seems to be personal. Then comes a folk-rock tune which is a bit monotonous but suits May's vocal well. Taylor has an improved contribution (over their previous album) with a really memorable drum intro, modestly interesting melody and decent singing. Though it's a slow track, guitar riffing and decoration keeps it in the realm of hard rock. The first Mercury penned "Ogre Battle" has plenty of great riffing and a particularly well done instrumental intro with waves of guitar attacks. One of the heaviest tracks in the band's catalogue.

The first really eclectic almost ingenious track is a short "The Fairy Fellers Master-Stroke" with incredibly rich vocals, songwriting surprises and a masterful melody reminding me of classical music and it could have been connected to the following "Nevermore".

The flagship on this album is depicted in the "March of the black queen". It used to be my favourite album track but in the course of years I think it is not as creative as some other tracks here because it merely combines typical Queen licks like melodic guitar soloing, bombastic moments and crescendos. Either you've heard them before or you'll hear them on following Queen albums recycled (Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen etc.). Despite that, it can be considered the first Queen mini-opera.

The last tracks are of average quality but won't bite you.

The debut Queen album is their most straightforward and least eclectic work dominated by hard rock. Mercury could sing with great intensity and had a high vocal range. May uses mainly riffs and fewer soloing than later in the career. Naturally, because as music was becoming more mellow, there wasn't much space for heavy riffing. All May guitar ingredients are already here though including melodic playing, guitar harmonies and a distinguishable sound. After the first hard work workout, we face a ballad which turns into an intensive Zeppelin-like riffing like a short storm before the clouds disappear.

"Great king rat" has a march-like rhythm, quite a basic fundamental melody. The track is quite long and dominated by the guitar which plays quite refreshing licks. Mercury shows off his compositional skills, ornate singing and piano support on"My fairy king" which hints at their majestic mid 70's period. Taylor has provided his highly-pitched vocal well suitable for heavy metal however it's with "Liar" where his drumming becomes remarkable, I like his hi-hat work and sound here. Besides, he applies quite various beats throughout this lengthy song greatly supported by raw sounding May's guitar. "The night comes down" is a curious subdued guitar starting track which first sounds like an instrumental jam. The track is superbly constructed, one of its motives could classify it as the first potential Queen anthem.

Taylor unleashes his power on his penned "Modern times rock'n'roll" that could compete with any heavy metal output back then in terms of intensity. His vocal is distinguishable and yet emotional. Considering its lack of good melody, it still remains arguably the least memorable track here. The generic "Son and daughter" fares slightly better. I like guitar effects and vocal harmonies better than the generic riff motive.

"Jesus" is noteworthy for its lyrics, walking bridge and guitar madness in the second half of the song.

Overall this is a great rocking debut with a potential for more diversity and very little to be found for proggers.

Innuendo is one of the masterworks by the Queen and to me, the best album since the 1980's The Game. It is marked by a great level of professionalism, some degree of urgency and anxiety well understandable from the context and its era. Despite only two years after the "Miracle", the band penned enough material to fill 54 minutes. Mercury had hard time recording but mastered it exceptionally. Compositions are very solid, occasionally adventurous ("Innuendo", "All god's people" and "Bijou"); there's one filler only ("Delilah"). Guitar is more dominant than ever since Queen started using synthesizer. May really tries hard to fill space with powerful riffing or melodic soloing. Both May and Taylor have updated their sound to the late 80's hard rock wrapper with the 70's rock in the core. Taylor provides versatile drumming from the fast "Ride the wild wind" to the masterful "Innuendo" with effective fills.

The title track goes back to the indulgent mid 70's days of Bohemian Rhapsody it only is heavier and more dramatic with ominous vocals and riffing. The classical guitar by Howe brings temporarily relief from the doom but then May repeats the solo on his guitar in a heavy metal atmosphere. The transition from the heavy/speed metal solo to the ultra heavy hard rock is fantastic mainly thanks to the Taylor's inventive slow down.

"I'm going slightly mad" offers the trademark vocal harmony in the verse section. Noteworthy is the deliberately sloppy "wow" guitar solo with great finishing melody.

"Headlong" is the second hard-rock contribution and the first traditional one. It retains the groovy rock'n'roll feeling with a typical Mayesque rolling solo.

"I can't live without you" is a surprising title for another hard-rock song or let's say a rock song with a heavy riff. Drumming and riffing accentuate the heaviness. To some extent, the spirit, eccentricity and nod to the late 80's hard-rock reminds me of "Walk this way".

"Don't try so hard" is a super-emotional ballad with inspirational lyrics, Mercury reaching the maximum height with his effective vocals and instrumental intermezzo a bit reminiscent of "Who wants to live forever". "Ride the wild wind" has a peculiar speed rhythm, a good 70's Moog-like motive and is Taylor's baby.

Then we come to the gospel inspired "All god's people" which isn't a masterpiece as such but proves how versatile could Queen get. The composition starts abruptly at full speed with a powerful vocal and indulgent guitar which, in this song, gets a bit too noisy. We also get to hear some blues and boogie moments to come back to the gospel part. The song doesn't have a fix structure and repetitions which increase its value.

The best known ballad on this album "These are the days of our lives" may be a philosophical piece but its melodic and poignant solo isn't.

The filler "Delilah" could be considered silly and yet it demonstrates Mercury's strength in such a situation. Note the creative and playful staccato solo on the guitar.

"Hitman" is a derivative but last hard rock number on the album. Nowhere else has May so much space for his guitar which he uses amply until the steam runs out at the end.

"Bijou" is May's masterpiece on subdued colourful guitar - you ask yourself is the guitar or the vocals feel more heart-broken. This is a tranquil moment before the eruption on the final "The show must go on". There are many superlatives to this song - brilliant songwriting, composition development, sense of drama. May provides one of his trademark solo. Mercury proves why even at this age, he was one of the best singers in rock. The echo ending in the song is ingenious and you feel both moved and energized to carry on the message and legacy of Queen.

Queen prove their extreme versatility and musical chops on this follow-up to "A night at the opera". It may be less adventurous but it still remains a high-quality item in the Queen catalog. The album kicks off with one of their most rock'n'roll sounding number (of course after the rockabilly "Crazy little thing called love"). Its groove goes beyond technical complexity which was then seen in the Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin material Vocal prowess is best heard in "You take my breath away"and the gospel infected "Somebody to love". The latter has a gorgeous and somewhat pompous melody. Queen dabble successfully in the vintage "The millionaire waltz" and a good-spirit "Good old fashioned lover boy" which always give me positive vibes. Apart from the first track, May is represented by the strong and more complex "White man". The last song's key musical message is ambitious and leaves a feeling of being a hymn. I always wondered where these words come from and thanks to Internet, that is Japanese. Because of the album versatility and combined talents of four band members, this is a welcome addition to a 70's prog collection.

Originally broadcast live on BBC radio and television at Christmas 1975, Queen releases their performance at London's legendary Hammersmith Odeon forty years later, in 2015, "A Night at the Odeon", a clear allusion to the release of the iconic "A Night at the Opera" available on the market just a few weeks earlier (November 1975). A new and unexpected present for the band's fans after the release in 2014, also forty years late, of the double album "Live at the Rainbow '74".

"A Night at the Odeon" captures one of the most prolific and creative periods of the English band, about to take off in the world thanks to the immortal "Bohemian Rhapsody", which curiously in the setlist of the concert is part of a medley shared, without its complex operatic section, with the vaudevillian "Killer Queen" and one of the most progressive and best achieved pieces of the band, the intricate "The March of the Black Queen". The album also includes powerful pieces taken from their first four albums, such as the hard rockers "Now I'm Here", "Ogre Battle" (very close to heavy metal), "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Liar", the infallible and complex solo guitar display by Brian May after the also rocking "Brighton Rock", the intense and emotional pause proposed by the beautiful "White Queen (As It Began)", the restless and very brief "Bring Back That Leroy Brown" with almost no vocal work, and the lilting "In the Lap of the Gods. .. Revisited" which for some reason failed to become a stadium anthem despite its very chantable chorus.

The approximately five thousand people who packed the theatre also watched as Freddie Mercury's band paid tribute to 50s rock and roll with a medley that included fragments of "Jailhouse Rock", "Stupid Cupic", "Be-Bop-A- Lula" and "Shake, Rattle And Roll", before the final encore with the only single from "Queen II", "Seven Seas of Rhye" and its B-side, the bluesy "See What a Fool I've Been", and finally the tape version of the English hymn "God Save the Queen", the closing song that the band kept as an unalterable tradition in their live shows.

"A Night at the Odeon", with a very good sound production work, is another great opportunity to appreciate many of the songs that stopped being part of Queen's setlists in later tours, displaced by the mega hits that began to follow one after the other after "Bohemian Rhapsody".

4/4.5 stars

Review Nº 879

"Live Killers" is the debut live album of Queen and that was released in 1979. It was recorded live during the European Queen's "Jazz" live world tour, between January and March of 1979 in several locations. It seams that "Don't Stop Me Now", "Spread Your Wings" and "Brighton Rock" were taken from Stadthalle, Bremen on January 20, "Death On Two Legs" was taken from Sporthalle, Cologne on February 1, "39" and "Now I'm Here" were taken from Festhalle, Frankfurt on February 2 and "Love Of My Life" was taken from the DVD release "Greatest Video Hits 1". About the rest of the tracks, it seems to me that apparently, it's impossible to know from which shows the rest of the songs were taken for.

"Live Killers" has twenty two tracks. At the time where "Live Killers" was released, Queen had already seven studio albums, "Queen" which was released in 1973, "Queen II" which was released in 1974, "Sheer Heart Attack" which was released in 1974 too, "A Night At The Opera" which was released in 1975, "A Day At The Races" which was released in 1976, "News Of The World" which was released in 1977 and "Jazz" which was released in 1978. However, not all these albums are presented on "Live Killers". And of those who are present, not all are represented in the same way. So, from "Queen" we have only one track, "Keep Yourself Alive". From "Queen II" we don't have any track here. From "Sheer Heart Attack" we have three tracks, "Killer Queen", "Now I'm Here" and "Brighton Rock". From "A Night At The Opera" we have seven tracks, "Death On Two Legs (Dedicated to?)", "I'm In Love With My Car", "You're My Best Friend", "Love Of My Life", "39", "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "God Save The Queen". From "A Day At The Races" we have only one track, "Tie Your Mother Down". From "News Of The World" we have six tracks, "We Will Rock You", "Get Down, Make Love", "Spread Your Wings", "Sheer Heart Attack", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions". Finally, from "Jazz" we have four tracks, "Let Me Entertain You", "Bicycle Race", "Dreamer's Ball" and "Don't Stop Me Now".

In 1979, Queen was considered among the rock elite class bands. With a string of hit albums, singles, and sold- out live tours to their credit, the group was about to enter in a new musical phase of their career. And since bootleg copies of their live concerts were fetching exorbitant prices among their fans, the band decided that the better way to close this phase would be the release of their first official live double album, "Live Killers". For unknown reasons, the album was criticized harshly when it was first released. But, listening to it today, I think that we can consider it a good live document of Queen at the height of their 70's arena rock powers, despite its failures. All in all, the album is a solid mix of early hits and forgotten album's tracks, all given new life in the concert setting while the zealous crowd sings along.

"Live Killers" starts with the fast version of "We Will Rock You", which really starts the fire. Next, it was followed in quick succession by some less well known songs like "Let Me Entertain You" and "Death On Two Legs". The medley versions of "Killer Queen", "Bicycle Race" and "I'm In Love With My Car" all flow together perfectly well, and after "Get Down, Make Love" the album picks up again with "You're My Best Friend" and the rollicking "Now I'm Here". The acoustic break of Freddie's "Love Of My Life" and Brian's "'39" is perfect, showcasing the amazing talents of all four members, before the grandiose extravagance of "Keep Yourself Alive", "Don't Stop Me Now" and "Spread Your Wings" show why this band was considered one of the finest live acts ever. The classic "Bohemian Rhapsody" is then followed by the hard rocking completion of the album, with "Tie Your Mother Down" and "Sheer Heart Attack" complemented by "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions", along with "God Save The Queen" as the final conclusion, as usual.

Conclusion: Despite "Live Killers" be a good live album, I was a bit disappointed with it when I heard it for the first time. For a great band like Queen I expected a bit more from the first live album of them. "Live Killers" suffers, in my opinion, from several problems. In the first place, it isn't a very cohesive live album because its songs were taken from several live shows. In the second place, the choice of the repertoire wasn't very well balanced and representative of their entire career, despite being the "Jazz" live world tour. Incomprehensibly, it hasn't any song from "Queen II", which is probably their best studio album and definetely, their most prog album. In the third place, the recording and the mixing of the album aren't really good. So, because of that the final result isn't properly famous. In the fourth place, the live performance of the band sounds distant, in many moments, and the final result sounds without the flame that a live album should have. Thus, the final result isn't a cohesive and a well balanced album. However, the second disc is globally better than the first one. It has some heavy musical moments like "We Will Rock You", "Let Me Entertain You" and "Death On Two Legs", some weak musical moments like "Get Down, Make Love" and even a medley composed by "Killer Queen", "Bicycle Race" and "I'm In Love With My Car". Still, it has also some great live moments like "Now I'm Here" and "Love Of My Life", in disc 1 and "Brighton Rock" and "Bohemian Rhapsody", in disc 2. So, I give to it 3 stars.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 876

"Stone Cold Classics" is a compilation album of Queen that was released in 2006. It was made in conjunction with the broadcast of an episode of the U. S. television series American Idol, in which the contestants performed songs taken from Queen's catalogue. "Stone Cold Classics" has a decent selection of some of the greatest hits of Queen. Besides that, it has two bonus live songs too, "All Right Now" and "Feel Like Makin' Love" featuring Paul Rodgers singing them.

"Stone Cold Classics" has fourteen tracks. "Stone Cold Crazy" is from "Sheer Heart Attack". It's a heavy metal rock song with many and sudden musical changes and great guitar work. This is a great rock song. "Tie Your Mother Down" is from "A Day At The Races". It's a good hard rock guitar based oriented song, where Brian May shines. It was also a big success on the rock radios. "Fat Bottomed Girls" is from "Jazz". It's a good rock song based on an open tuning guitar riff based in blues and hard rock. It has also a great choral work. This is a great song with a slight country touch and excellent vocal harmonies. "Another One Bites The Dust" is from "The Game". It's an interesting song with a mix of styles, rock, funky and disco. It has a great bass line. This isn't one of my most favourite songs of them, but I like it very much. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is also from "The Game". It was written as a tribute to Elvis Presley. It's an interesting song that sounds different from the rest of "The Game". It sounds like a 50's rock song. This is a nice tribute song. "We Will Rock You" is from "News Of The World". We are in presence of a great rock song that soon became one of the best known and most popular songs of Queen. This is a very powerful short song that works very well as an introduction for "We Are The Champions". "We Are The Champions" is from "News Of The World". Like "We Will Rock You", it soon became as one of their most famous and popular songs. It also remains among rock's most recognizable anthems, even in our days. "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions" were issued together and became a worldwide top ten single. "Radio Ga Ga" is from "The Works". It's a protest song against the growing influence of the music videos on the record sales against the musical quality. This is an excellent song, probably the best song written by Roger Taylor for the band. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is from "A Night At The Opera". It's the most known and probably the best song made by Queen. It was released as a single and soon became a huge commercial success. It's perhaps the most progressive single of all time. It's incredible that such complex song may have been so successful, one of the greatest rock songs ever. "The Show Must Go On" is from "Innuendo". It's an extraordinary song full of drama and emotion. This is one of the most beautiful, dramatic, touching and emotional songs of Queen. It was the last song composed by Freddie Mercury. "These Are The Days Of Our Lives" is also from "Innuendo". This is a very emotional song. It represents one of the last farewells of Freddie Mercury. That is particularly noticed on the music of the video, when he whispers "I still love you" at the end of the song. "I Want It All" is from "The Miracle". This is a great rock song full of mood changes and some nice guitar solos. It's a kind of a classic Queen's hard rock song that satisfies almost all rock fans. The thirteenth track "All Right Now (Live With Paul Rodgers)" isn't a song made by Queen and it has never been released on any studio album of them. It's a rock single recorded by the English rock band Free and was released in 1970. It also originally appeared on the third studio album of Free called "Fire And Water" released also in 1970. Free was a band formed by Paul Rodgers in 1968 that was disbanded in 1973. This live version is a version recorded on Queen's live album and the DVD with the same name called "Return Of The Champions", both released in 2005. The fourteenth and last track "Feel Like Makin' Love (Live With Paul Rodgers)" isn't also a song made by Queen and also it has never been released on any studio albums of them. This is a rock single recorded by the English rock band Bad Company that was released in 1975. It also originally appeared on the second studio album by Bad Company called "Straight Shooter" released also in 1975. Bad Company was a band formed by Paul Rodgers in 1973 after Free was disbanded. This live version is also a version recorded on Queen's live album and the DVD "Return Of The Champions".

Conclusion: "Stone Cold Classics" is a good and honest compilation album of Queen. It has a set of some of the best hits from Queen from a friendly radio perspective. This isn't a strange thing if we think this compilation was made in conjunction with an American broadcast television to the series American Idol. So, "Stone Cold Classics" covers only songs from a straight commercial perspective. And seen by that point of view, it's good and complete with songs taken from many and of their studio works covering almost their entire musical career. However, if we see it in a progressive perspective, it has practically nothing real to offer, especially regarding the early more progressive albums by Queen. Finally, if we see it in a global perspective, we can say that "Stone Cold Classics" is a good compilation from the band.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

When it seemed that the Queen story had come to an end after the passing of Freddie Mercury in 1991, four years later Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon regrouped to record "Made in Heaven" (1995), the band's fifteenth and final album. A work of poignant sentimental as well as musical value, it is the result of a decision by the surviving members of Queen to share Mercury's posthumous vocal recordings with the public, combined with tracks that for various reasons were never released, others released in different arrangements, and previous solo initiatives.

A permanent halo of melancholy and sense of loss surrounds the work, very present in tracks like the delicate "It's a Beautiful Day" (taken from the recording sessions of 1980's "The Game"), the lilting "Made in Heaven" (adapted from Mercury's 1985 solo album "Mr. Bad Guy") and the very dark "Mother Love" (the last track Mercury was able to record but May had to complete vocally). A lot of emotion also with the gospel "Let Me Live", the beautiful "My Life Has Been Saved" (B-side of the single "Scandal" from 1989's "The Miracle") and the thunderous ballad "Too Much Love Will Kill You" (from May's 1992 solo album "Back to the Light").

Some of the enthusiasm that Mercury always conveyed, however, can be found in the radiant, rocking version of "I Was Born To Love You" ("Mr. Bad Guy") and the dance pop "You Don't Fool Me" adorned by May's magnificent and hurtful guitar solo. And the peaceful and elegant "A Winter's Tale" (the last song composed by Mercury) is the step before the reprise of "Its a Beautiful Day" concludes the album.

As a curiosity, for the Cd version, a relaxing instrumental piece of more than 20 minutes was included, created between producer David Richards and the band.

The great emotional effort involved in the careful recording process and the respectful arrangements of 'Made in Heaven' resulted in the best album possible under the circumstances, and its worldwide acceptance allowed it to sell more than 20 million copies.

3 stars

Review Nº 855

"Greatest Hits III" is a compilation of Queen that was released in 1999. It's a compilation of latter day songs from the band, bands member's solo hits and band's collaborations with some other artists. It was released eight years after the dead of Freddie Mercury and "Greatest Hits II", and eighteen years after "Greatest Hits". Despite being a greatest hits compilation, the first two tracks "The Show Must Go On" and "Under Pressure", are new versions of the classic songs.

"Greatest Hits III" has also seventeen tracks, like their two previous compilations "Greatest Hits" and "Greatest Hits II". "The Show Must Go On" is from "Innuendo". It's a great song full of drama and emotion. This is one of the most beautiful, dramatic, touching and emotional songs of Queen. It was the last song composed by Mercury. This is a live version performed by Queen and Elton John. It was taken from a show recorded at Theatre National De Chaillot, Paris, in 1997. "Under Pressure" is from "Hot Space". It's a collaboration work between Queen and David Bowie. This was largely played live by the band. It's a well known song. It has great moments, especially the vocal duet between Mercury and Bowie. This is a remixed version. "Too Much Love Will Kill You" is from "Made In Heaven". It was made for "The Miracle", but it was never released. It was written by May and it was included on his solo album "Back To The Light". It was first performed by Brian at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium, in 1992. This is a nice song. "Somebody To Love" is from "A Day At The Races". It has complex harmonies, great guitar solos and a nice gospel choir. It's one of their most recognizable tracks that represent Queen at their peak. This is a live version performed by Queen and George Michael. It was also taken from Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert At Wembley Stadium. "You Don't Fool Me" is from "Made In Heaven". It was one of the last songs recorded for that album. It isn't a great song. It sounds too much too funky and disco and has nothing to do with Queen's sound. It was written and recorded by Queen with Mercury. It was never released until 1995. "Heaven For Everyone" is also from "Made In Heaven". It's a beautiful and sentimental song. Despite it was conceived for the Taylor's solo project, The Cross, this version sounds as a Queen's song. "Las Palabras De Amor" is from "Hot Space". It's a rock ballad with vocals provided by Mercury with May on the high vocal harmony. It's a beautiful song, a fine Brian's ballad, beautifully sung and with good acoustic guitar work and a nice synthesizer performance. "Let Me Live" is from "Made In Heaven". It's a rock ballad that features vocals from Mercury, May and Taylor. It was completed after Freddie's dead. It's a good song that sounds to the early Queen. It was written by Queen but never was released before 1995. "Princess Of The Universe" is from "A Kind Of Magic". It's the shortest song on that album, but it's a good rock song. This is one of the highlights on that album. It brings to our memory, the good old Queen's days. It was a song written for the soundtrack of the film "Highlander". "Another One Bites The Dust" is from "The Game". It's interesting with a mix of styles, rock, funky and disco. It has a great bass line. This isn't one of my most favourite songs, but I really like it. This is a remixed version performed by Wyclef Jean, Pras Michael and Free released for the 1998's film "Small Soldiers". "These Are The Days Of Our Lives" is from "Innuendo". This is an emotional song. It represents one of the last farewells of Mercury. That is particularly noticed on the music of the video, when he whispers "I still love you" at the end of the song. "Thank God It's Christmas" is a Queen's song only released as a single. It has rather simpler lyrics and meaning and is far from the much more complex works of Queen.

Besides the Queen's songs, there are more five songs on this compilation. "Barcelona" is from "Barcelona", a Freddie Mercury's studio album. It's performed by Mercury and Montserrat Caballe. "Living On My Own" is a Freddie Mercury's song from "Mr. Bad Guy". This is a remixed version included on "The Freddie Mercury Album", a posthumous solo project with material from Queen and Freddie Mercury, released in 1992. "The Great Pretender" is a Freddie Mercury's cover song of The Platters. It was only released as a single. "Driven By You" is a Brian's song and was released as a single and later included on his debut studio album "Back To The Light". "No- One But You (Only The Good Die Young)" was written by Brian May as a tribute to those who pass before their time, like Princess Diana and Freddie Mercury.

Conclusion: "Greatest Hits III" isn't a Queen's compilation. It's more like a compilation of Queen about Queen's related material. It has also some solo member's compositions and some band's songs made with the collaboration of other artists. It has some great moments like "The Show Must Go On", superior sung by Elton John, "Barcelona", with a great duet between Montserrat Caballe and Mercury, "Too Much Love Will Kill You", "Heaven For Everyone" and "These Are The Days Of Our Lives". But, it has also weak songs like "You Don't Fool Me", "Las Palabras De Amor" and "Living On My Own". But, the worst are the remixes of "Under Pressure" and "Another One Bites The Dust". "Under Pressure" was changed into a disco/pop song and "Another One Bites The Dust" was transformed into a rap song. It destroyed both.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)