The Platinum Collection: Greatest Hits I, II & III

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!!!!!


How can you NOT buy this CD?   June 25, 2002
Miss L A Francis (Rhondda, South Wales United Kingdom)
42 out of 45 found this review helpful

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!


Perfect   November 17, 2000
Michael Allred (Niles, Michigan United States)
48 out of 53 found this review helpful

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!


"Classic Queen!"   May 7, 2006
Andrew Rossiter (Halesowen, England)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful

Each disc is packed with amazing songs that will have singing along (loudly) and annoying the neighbours! The first disc is the one most associated with queen as it contains Bohemian Rhapsody, Another one bites the dust, Don't Stop Me Now, We Will Rock You and We are the Champions, along with my two favourites: Killer Queen and Fat Bottomed Girls. The lyrics in Killer Queen are phenominal, how Mercury got the lines to rhyme is beyond me! And the harmony in Fat bottomed girls is second to none. The second CD has some of the other Queen classics like I Want To Break Free and Under Pressure. On the CD i made a discovery of an amazing power ballad (I'm a real sucker for a good power ballad!) Friends will be Friends, this track is brilliant!!! The third disc is usually seen as the weak link in the collection but it still delivers a vast array of powerful songs. The ever outstanding Barcelona! (If you don't break any windows whilst singing along to this you haven't got it loud enough or you're not singing it right!) and another brilliant power ballad that i fell in love with: Too Much Love Will Kill You, Superb. A few more greats are on this CD, Heaven For Everyone, Let Me Live, The Great Pretender, Only the Good Die Young (sung about Freddie and Princess Di) and These are the days of our lives a very emotional farewell from Freddie. This is a must have for all fans of anything let alone Queen. It does appear to be getting increasingly rare though so get it whilst you can!


Incredible collection and incredible value!   July 25, 2002
28 out of 31 found this review helpful

This best of is outstanding!!! How many bands have enough world class material to have THREE greatest hits albums, and how many of them would sell all 3 for 15?
I have owned GH1 since I was 7 (I am now 16) and I picked up GH2 soon after. Any Queen newbie will be stunned by the sheer variety of tracks on offer here: from the song of the millenium, the operatic Bohemian Rhapsody, anthems such as We Will Rock You to touching songs such as These Are The Days Of Our Lives, Queen cover the whole rock spectrum.
As a nit-picking diehard fan though, I must say that my only complaint is at GH3 - some of the tracks are lacklustre, such as Elton John's The Show Must Go On, which I think is a very poor cover, and also some earlier tracks (primarily Spread Your Wings) could have been added, as they were excluded from the 2 earlier GH albums, but that said, 48ish stunning and timeless tracks out of 51 isn't too bad, and for the asking price, it's an irresistable offer which you can't refuse!