Customer Reviews

The Platinum Collection (2011 Remaster)

Just a few days ago, a close friend who asks me about certain music and who he'd like if he wanted something a little camp, a bit boisterous, often sensitive and touching, with soaring vocals and powerful guitar riffs and solos the size of the Empire State building. A hard task to name just one band you'd think, but only one elegant word sprung to my mind. Queen.
My small-minded friend also with one word, stupidly came back to me and said, to my utter disbelief, 'Who?'...The guy is 19, and he claims to have never heard a song by Queen. So still in disbelief I noted to him, that children from 3 years old have heard a Queen song, and it's true they have, and they stick with the people who hear them. So he came back with 3 words: 'What to buy?' And I uttered just 3 words back: 'The Platinum Collection'.
There is no finer greatest hits selections on the market, and from one of the greatest, if not the greatest rock band of all time. There's an astounding 51 tracks on here, and the vast majority are complete gems.
Greatest Hits 1, a personal favourite of mine, is full from one side of the CD to the other with pure majesty, power, joy and ultimately the finest rock music of the 1970's and early 1980's. Of course, it has to kick off the with the grandiose, 'Bohemian Rhapsody', with its sublime mixture of operatics and straight out heavy metal, you can see why it's been voted so many times as the greatest song ever written. We have playful rock, with joyous and smile inducing piano (‘Don’t Stop Me Now', the fantastic 'Somebody To Love', the utter camp of, 'Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy' etc.), we have straight out rock with Queen's own twisted mind (‘Killer Queen', 'Fat Bottomed Girls', 'Bicycle Race', 'You're My Best Friend' etc.), we have some of the greatest anthems ever written, (‘We Will Rock You', 'We Are The Champions' etc.) and even a little bit of thoughtful, emotion (the under-rated, 'Save Me'). Queen throughout the 70's were one of the most creative, powerful and downright creative, and quite literally outrageous bands out there, and to some extent, this one disc proves it. Further research can be found in the like of, 'A Day At The Races' and of course, 'A Night At The Opera'.
The second greatest hits compilation, is a lot more pop orientated, a lot simpler, switching from prog rock glam, to popular hard rock with synths. We have catchy pop tunes, in Queen's own 80's style ('A Kind Of Magic', 'I Want To Break Free', 'The Miracle', 'I'm Going Slightly Mad', 'The Invisible Man' etc.), we have pure rock (The riveting, 'I Want It All', the chugging, 'Breakthru', 'Headlong', the ground shaking, 'Hammer To Fall' etc.) we have a little bit of the prog rock that made Queen famous slightly updated (The quite sublime, 'Innuendo') and a sombre pause for thought amongst the overwhelming powerhouse of sound (the beautiful, 'Who Want To Live Forever'). Queen were voted the best band of the eighties by many British polls, and with a second disc such as this you can see just why. Don't leave home without it.
Ah...now.... Greatest Hits 3...is not. Greatest Hits 3, was seen by many as a final attempt to get money out of the Queen faithful and yet another chance for new fans to buy their entire collection, and going on the offerings available you can see why. As good as some of the songs are on here, they were just not hits nor should they be on any hits collection. For example, Elton John's live take on the fantastic, 'The Show Must Go On' is abysmal. As much as Elton has written some fine songs in his time, his voice just can't take anything that Freddie Mercury ever put his sweet tones to, and Elton turns into the roughest cat howling in the street. The remix of 'Under Pressure' is ok, but it's yet another thought of 'Why is it here?', as does the atrocious Wyclef Jean remixed AND RAPPED version of 'Another One Bites The Dust'. Not only does this say, 'How can you call this a greatest hits collection?' it also makes you say, 'Why couldn't they have released a rarities CD or something?'. But this is an album that's half good, and half bad. The half good is very good. We have some solo work by Freddie ('Barcelona', the fitting, 'The Great Pretender', and the clubby, 'Living On My Own'), one from Brian May (the Ford soundtrack of the early 90's, 'Driven By You'), and we have a few Queen classics that obviously just wouldn't go on GH2 (the rocking, 'Prince Of The Universe' and the touching, thought provoking and ultimately fitting, 'These Are The Days Of Our Lives'), and there are some real gems that they've pulled from the 'Made In Heaven' album too (‘Too Much Love Will Kill You', 'You Don't Fool Me', the majestic, 'Let Me Live', the most powerful Queen song in years, 'Heaven For Everyone' etc.), which unfortunately lacks the albums title track, which was one of the best songs on the album. This also includes Brian, and Roger Taylor's tribute to all those who have died young, such as Princess Diana, and of course, Freddie himself, 'No-one But You'. A curious end also, in the Christmas song, 'Thank God It's Christmas', which could have been placed much better, which would the have left the final two tracks ('These Are The Days...' and 'No-one...') as the final chapter in the Queen book. So it's half good and half bad, and the majority of the half good is from the stunning, 'Made In Heaven', so you figure out what you should do if you want just those songs...
But this is a complete package of a band who've seen it all and done it all, and maybe gone that little bit further, along the way. Through the nervous beginnings, to the confidence of the mid 70's pure pomp, to the 80's pure pop, to the final chapter of the sombre 90's, and with there being so much angst in rock music around right now, why not treat yourself to an antidote to such things? Queen's the key. My small-minded friend is finding that out. I asked him what he thought of 'Platinum...' and he answered me with just 4 words: 'I think it's brilliant', to which I replied likewise with my own 4 words:
'I knew you would'
5 Stars.

CDs 1 & 2 are perfect. Just some of the best music every writen and recorded. CD3 is a bit of a mish-mash, with the word 'Queen' only being loosely attached to the performers. till it is good to hear George Michael's best performance doing 'Someone To Love' among others.
Of the rest, well . . . they only put the Freddie & Brian solo stuff on as there wasn't enough Queen material to fill it up.
Not that it's not good, just it doesn't really belong on a Queen compilation. So, play the first to CDs (GH 1 & 2) from start to finish and programme in your favourites from the third one.

I am 16 years of age an along with all my friends a massive Queen fan. I got this as a gift for Christmas and have already just about played it to dust. It is an incredible album that captures everything unique and brilliant about Queen. The showmanship, the great songs, the eccentricity, the brilliant musicianship, it's all here. Queen were just perfect, with Freddie leading the band with so much flamboyance, personality and charisma, Brian's classic guitar riffs and solos, John Deacon's perfect basslines that laid the foundations for Queen's distinctive sound and last but not least Roger Taylor's drumming, holding the songs together with great rock 'n' roll drum beats yet not overshadowing the rest of the band like some other rock drummers.
Greatest Hits 1 mainly focuses on Queen from the beginning until the early 80s, and contains the legendary Bohemian Rhapsody, the classic single from the Jazz album, Don't Stop Me Now, the barmy Bicycle Race, the equally mental Freddie-penned number Seven Seas of Rhye from Queen II, the unmitigated grandiosity of Somebody to Love, Brian May's timeless anthem We Will Rock You, which is still the archetypal rock anthem. Also featured is Queen's biggest North American hit Another One Bites the Dust, written by John Deacon and featuring a brilliant bassline as well. There is also Freddie's superb rockabilly effort Crazy Little Thing Called Love, which Elvis would be proud of. Not to mention the band's breakthrough hit Killer Queen from Sheer Heart Attack, which launched them on a national level, reaching number 2 in the charts. We Are the Champions rounds off an excellent CD, worthy of the band's brilliance, another anthem still being played the world over to this day.
Volume 2 focuses on 80s Queen through to their brilliant swansong Innuendo. This is my favourite of the 3 albums and has many of Queen's best songs. It includes Roger's two pop gems A Kind of Magic and Radio Ga-Ga, huge hits all over the world and both brilliant songs. Under Pressure is Queen's collaboration with Bowie, with his voice lending gravitas to Freddie's soaring vocals. It also features arguably the finest bassline ever from John. Innuendo is a soaring masterpiece worthy of comparison to Bohemian Rhapsody, encompassing many different varieties of music with great yearning vocals from the inimitable Freddie. I'm Going Slightly Mad is fittingly weird and wonderful, and shows that Freddie never lost his sense of humour right through to the end. The Show Must Go On is a soaring anthem, with Freddie showing admirable strength and defiance even though he knew the end was near. All in all simply incredible.
GH3 is mainly collaborations and solo work from Brian and Freddie, although it does include the beautiful and poignant ballads No-One But You, the Brian May-penned tribute to Rock's greatest showman and These Are the Days of Our Lives, Freddie's haunting and poignant goodbye to his fans, in which he also thanks them for their great support through his tough ordeal.

So go out and buy this and rejoice in the brilliance of the one and only Queen!!! Rock On!!!!!

I got this album for christmas a couple of years ago from my dad who couldn't believe I had reached the tender age of 15 and not heard Bohemian Rhapsody. I had heard it actually but just didn't know what it was. In a desperate attempt to educate me in the ways of classic rock music he invested in this for me and I am pleased to say that it paid off and I am now a Huge Queen fan! We have both enjoyed the album; him because it has all the old favourites, it's not filled with bsides and unheard material, it is the real Queen deal, and me because it was a great introduction to an absolutely fantastic band. The booklet supplied is a great guide to the history of the band and cd 3 has some interesting versions of old queen classics. All in all,I'd say a very good buy for everyone of any age!

Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon are true rock Gods.
This three-disk album is music in its purest possible form. It may not have the headbanging tunes of bands such as Iron Maiden, but, man, is it good.
The timeless classic 'Bohemian Rhapsody' has very little meaning, but many changing tones of music, from wailing guitar solos to quirky but enjoyable parts; 'He's just a poor boy from a poor family' is one of them.
Other brilliant songs are 'The Show Must Go On' and 'Seven Seas Of Rhye'.
I have a maximum of 1,000 words for this review and if I gave a reason why most of the songs are fab I would blast over the limit.
The only downside to this album is 'Another One Bites The Dust' by Wyclef Jean. Unless you are into rap or hip-hop ( I'm not so I don't know the difference) you will skip this song when it comes on your CD player.
This album should be bought by every Queen fan, and even those strange few who aren't.

Forget the so called "fans" who cry "greed!" They seem to forget that "Hits" albums are NOT for die hard fans but for people who just want the well known songs or as an introduction to a "newbie", hey, stuff like this DOES bring in new fans. I should know, "Classic Queen" in the U.S made ME a fan!Anyway, NO CD collection is complete without this masterpiece set of "The Platinum Collection". EVERY hits Queen has had from 1974-1999 is included here. Some "fans" complain about certain songs (like "Keep Yourself Alive") not being included but fail to realize that they WERE NOT HITS!The brilliant opera meets heavy metal "Bohemian Rhapsody", the down and dirty funk of "Another One Bites the Dust", the campy "Killer Queen" to the all out rocker "Hammer To Fall" are now joined by their later hits like "Heaven For Everyone".This set is a one stop goldmine of a few hours of pure musical genius. It's the perfect starter kit for anyone who wants to get to know Queen's musical legacy.The packaging is a beautiful silver slipcase with detailed liner notes AND each CD is a stunning picture disc!You would be a fool NOT to buy this, I promise you'll LOVE it!

Ask any person, whether a Queen fan or not, what their favourite Queen song is and 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is bound to be their automatic answer. It's therefore amazingly appropriate that this piece of genius is the song which begins this marathon of Queen hit after Queen hit. For those people who only think of Queen as having written 'Bohemian Rhapsody' this is their chance to experience something out of this world. From the original 'Inisible Man' to the truly heart-wrenching 'Days of our lives' any Queen virgin would receive an awakening from this box set and any die hard fans would be simply proud of what Queen have achieved. Forget the cynics who thing 'The Platinum Collection' is only a gimmick to rake in the cash, this is simply the best cd you'll hear EVER... and as a 17 year old, it makes me proud that we get the chance now to hear music which has defined a generation. Enjoy!

Before I first listened to this collection, Queen to me were a band that wrote Bohemian Rhapsody and had a vocalist who died early. Then dad got Platinum Edition for his birthday and they proved that they were, as the other reviews agree to, the best band ever to me. The range of styles is what impresses me the most as they cover rock's musical spectrum, while still keeping the same musical prowess throughout. GH 2 has gems but isn't consistently amazing unlike GH 1 which is magnificent. Some of the remixes in GH 3, I think ruin the original (Wyclef Jean - Another One Bites The Dust) but the Rah mix of Under Pressure is still good.
Queen disprove the theory that the younger generations can't/don't enjoy older music as many of my friends are fans of Queen. I would encourage people to buy this to prove this to themselves. These albums should be bought by anybody who is bored with the current rubbish in the charts and wants a change.

I have listened to my Dad's copy of the 2000 CD release of the Platinum Collection and enjoyed the music thoroughly. So with the coming of this 2011 remastered version, I wanted to get my own copy.

I wasn't sure whether the remastered version would be a drastic change from the 2000 CD release as it sounded fairly good already, but after 1 or 2 plays I could tell that it was a great professional job and the stereo mix has been altered and improved greatly. Really worth getting, I especially liked the new mixes of Bohemian Rhapsody, Flash and A Kind of Magic.

This is one of the great collections of all time, I think everyone should own this CD set. I'm a fan of all sorts of music from pop, dance and soul, and certainly wouldn't say I'm a big rock fan, but this is still up there with the best album I own.
It's quite breathtaking the depth of the band's repertoire from the real rocky tracks to the incredible ballads featuring Freddie's unmistakable voice. It's a tragedy that he isn't still alive today. You tend to forget just how good they were, then you play this album, and you don't need to say anything more.
If you don't like at least 10 tracks on this album you don't have a soul. Buy it!