Published on May 9, 2006
If there’s anything Queen doesn’t need, it’s another
hits release. With Greatest Hits I, II, III,
Classic Queen, Queen Rocks and last year’s reissued
Greatest Hits with a few new live tracks tacked on and no
sign of promised box sets, it’s enough to drive the band’s loyal
fanbase crazy. But, of course, this latest incarnation coincides
with the band’s April 11 appearance on American Idol. And,
so I don’t get flooded with any hate mail, I’m going to keep quiet
on that venture…!
This limited release, Stone Cold Classics,
features most of the usual suspects — Freddie Mercury’s
masterpiece “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the ever-present arena staple “We
Will Rock You” and the blistering opener to Queen + Paul Rodgers’
latest tour, “Tie Your Mother Down.” Also appearing is the lesser
known “Stone Cold Crazy,” the frantic blues-rocker from 1974’s
Sheer Heart Attack later covered by Metallica.
And to counter the rock feel most of the album
contains, there’s also “These Are The Days Of Our Lives,” drummer
Roger Taylor’s quietly introspective look back on life from days
long past and “The Show Must Go On,” Mercury’s triumphant epic from
the band’s final album before his death, Innuendo.
The other bonus of purchasing Queen’s latest cash
cow? Two songs from Return Of The Champions, Paul Rodgers
and his Free hit, “All Right Now” and Bad Company’s “Feel Like
Making Love.” Both are standouts of the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour,
with Brian May sounding more fantastic than ever with his Red
Special and Rodgers in top form, even more so when it comes to his
own material.
So while I’m trying to be objective, even the diehard
Queen fan in me can’t help but wonder what Richard Gray was
thinking when he designed this cover. It seems like something
anyone could have thrown together in a five-minute, slapdash
Photoshop effort. The attempt to harken back to the iconic Queen
II cover/”Bohemian Rhapsody” video looks lazy, especially when
compared to Gray’s work on 1995’s Made In Heaven.
Of course, this is marketed towards casual fans
through American Idol‘s enormous audience, but its selection
of songs is inferior to Classic Queen or any other of the
513 incarnations of Greatest Hits. Then again, Stone Cold Classics
seems to be doing what it intended, giving Queen its greatest chart
success since 1992 when it entered the Billboard 200 at 45 earlier
this week.
But then, I suppose us fans deserve to see our band
triumph again, especially after sitting through Kellie Picker
chopping up “Bohemian Rhapsody” or Ace Young trying to remove the
drumbeat from “We Will Rock You” and turn it into a hip-hop
song.