Freddie Mercurys death from AIDS in 1991 had a profound effect on me. I probably didn’t realise it at the time, but his death, at a time was I was a couple of months short of my 14th birthday, has gone on to shape my musical taste, and, dare I say, in turn my whole life.
Let me explain. Freddies death was a massive focal point for the media in Britain at the time. He was the first really big name that had passed away from AIDS, and as he had been such a huge star for the previous 15-20 years, it was hard to escape the death of the gay lead singer.
So much attention was drawn to his death, that the groups biggest hit, Bohemian Rhapsody, was re-released for Christmas that year, and subsequently went on to become the only single to reach Number One in four separate years with the same recording, in 1975 / 76 and 1991 / 92, both times when it was top of the charts as the New Year entered. This is the song that caused me to ask for a Queen album that Christmas. This is also the song that starts off the Greatest Hits CD, and over an hour of cracking tunes.
You don’t have to be a Queen fan to appreciate this album, and even if you haven’t heard of many of the songs (where have you been?!), then you will soon be taken in by the amazing vocal range of Freddie, and the guitar skills or Brian May. The sheer volume and differing styles of songs makes you appreciate the songwriting skill of the group collectively and individually, from the sublime Bohemian Rhapsody, through the well-know Somebody to Love to the classic We Are The Champions.
This CD recently found its way back to my CD player, and has been stuck on re-play ever since. I’m not going to pretend that I have the vocal skills of Mr Mecury, but I defy anyone not to sing along to the songs here!
My personal favourites include:
Don’t Stop Me Now – One of my first “Going out” tunes to this day, and one that has often had me dancing in the shower.
Bohemian Rhapsody – Supposedly a mix of three different songs. Still sends shivers up my spine.
Save Me – An ideal song for when you are down.
The only bad song that I can really point out is probably Flash, which gets nominated for it’s film track samples more than anything else.
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Right, the boring bit, or the interesting bit, depending on how you view ops:
The track listing is as follows:
1. Bohemian Rhapsody 2. Another One Bites The Dust 3. Killer Queen 4. Fat Bottomed Girls 5. Bicycle Race 6. You're My Best Friend 7. Don't Stop Me Now 8. Save Me 9. Crazy Little Thing Called Love 10. Somebody To Love 11. Now I'm Here 12. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy 13. Play The Game 14. Flash 15. Seven Seas Of Rye 16. We Will Rock You 17. We Are The Champions
The price for the CD varies, according to Shopsmart.com, from £8.95 (101cd.com) to £18.49 (countrybookshop.co.uk) all prices including delivery.
It’s difficult to define influences for these songs, as most have been around for more than 25 years. You know when other music ops point to early Queen as being a heavy influence? Well here is that early Queen, and they are truly worthy of their crown.
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