This two CD set is a must-have for any Queen fan! It contains almost all the Queen classics you can name, including One Vision, A Kind of Magic, Another One Bites the Dust, Who wants to Live Forever (which proved very prophetic in Freddie Mercury's case), I want to Break Free, Bohemian Rhapsody, Hammer to Fall, and on and on, all LIVE! Mercury's voice is a bit weak compared to the studio stuff, but it still is great. Maybe it's because he's running around. The best rendition is We Will Rock You. I think Mercury had one of the most interesting voices among many of his contemporaries. Interesting tunes, including a couple of covers, are Under Pressure, Hello Mary Lou, and Tutti Frutti.
This is one of the better Queen albums, containing hits like We Will Rock You, We are the Champions, Sheer Heart Attack, and Sleeping on the Sidewalk. It's evidence for why Queen is one of the greatest solid rock groups.
"I've taken my bows and my curtain calls-
You brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it-
I thank you all-
But it's been no bed of roses, no pleasure cruise-
I consider it a challenge before the whole human race-
and I ain't gonna lose."
--Queen, We are the Champions
The cover for this album features the faces of members of this group all morphed into a single one in a rather clever way. And it illustrates what the music on the album is like---tightly knit. But when hasn't Queen been that way? Lyrically, the album dwells in the realm of optimistic and the hopeful and musically it sounds more pop (Invisible Man sounds like something Tiffany (remember her?) would do) than rock, but it still has its moments with I want it All, Khashoggi's Ship, and the title track.
Given that this is one of the few Queen selections one can obtain through a CD club, I think it's well worth getting! They don't a bad job at all and you get to hear the cream of Queen's stuff in a refreshingly classical way.
"Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide,
no escape from reality."
--Queen,
Bohemian Rhapsody