Greatest Hits I & II
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| Greatest Hits I & II | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Box set by | ||||
| Released | 14 November 1994[1] | |||
| Recorded | December 1971—November 1990 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 134:05 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Queen chronology | ||||
| ||||
Greatest Hits I & II is box set by Queen, released on 14 November 1994 by Parlophone, EMI and Hollywood Records.[1]
In the early 1990s, Hollywood Records purchased Queen's catalogue, and alongside rereleasing the 1981 compilation Greatest Hits, they also released a new compilation titled Classic Queen. In 1992, the band released a sequel to Greatest Hits titled Greatest Hits II. This box set contains both Greatest Hits one and two, alongside a 40-page booklet.[2]
Release and reception
The set was initially released on 14 November 1994 and was later released in the United States in 1995 to capitalise on the release of the band's final album Made in Heaven, which was released on 6 November 1995.[3] The box set did not do very well on the charts due to a limited amount of promotion.[3]
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
In a review for BBC Music, John Doran wrote that the first disk includes "songs that even your grandma knows", and that the second disk "isn’t quite as stunningly impressive, it still charts the second half of their career well".[5]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original release | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Bohemian Rhapsody" | Freddie Mercury | A Night at the Opera (1975) | 5:57 |
| 2. | "Another One Bites the Dust" | John Deacon | The Game (1980) | 3:36 |
| 3. | "Killer Queen" | Mercury | Sheer Heart Attack (1974) | 2:57 |
| 4. | "Fat Bottomed Girls" (single mix) | Brian May | Jazz (1978) | 3:22 |
| 5. | "Bicycle Race" | Mercury | Jazz | 3:01 |
| 6. | "You're My Best Friend" | Deacon | A Night at the Opera | 2:52 |
| 7. | "Don't Stop Me Now" | Mercury | Jazz | 3:29 |
| 8. | "Save Me" | May | The Game | 3:48 |
| 9. | "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" | Mercury | The Game | 2:42 |
| 10. | "Somebody to Love" | Mercury | A Day at the Races (1976) | 4:56 |
| 11. | "Now I'm Here" | May | Sheer Heart Attack | 4:10 |
| 12. | "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" | Mercury | A Day at the Races | 2:54 |
| 13. | "Play the Game" | Mercury | The Game | 3:33 |
| 14. | "Flash" (single mix) | May | Flash Gordon (1980) | 2:48 |
| 15. | "Seven Seas of Rhye" | Mercury | Queen II (1974) | 2:47 |
| 16. | "We Will Rock You" | May | News of the World (1977) | 2:01 |
| 17. | "We Are the Champions" | Mercury | News of the World | 3:00 |
| Total length: | 58:19 | |||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original release | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "A Kind of Magic" | Roger Taylor | A Kind of Magic (1986) | 4:22 |
| 2. | "Under Pressure" (with David Bowie) | Queen, David Bowie | Hot Space (1982) | 3:57 |
| 3. | "Radio Ga Ga" | Taylor | The Works (1984) | 5:43 |
| 4. | "I Want It All" (single mix) | Queen (May) | The Miracle (1989) | 4:01 |
| 5. | "I Want to Break Free" (single mix) | Deacon | The Works | 4:18 |
| 6. | "Innuendo" | Queen (Mercury/Taylor) | Innuendo (1991) | 6:27 |
| 7. | "It's a Hard Life" | Mercury | The Works | 4:09 |
| 8. | "Breakthru" | Queen (Mercury/Taylor) | The Miracle | 4:09 |
| 9. | "Who Wants to Live Forever" | May | A Kind of Magic | 5:16 |
| 10. | "Headlong" | Queen (May) | Innuendo | 4:37 |
| 11. | "The Miracle" | Queen (Mercury/Deacon) | The Miracle | 5:01 |
| 12. | "I'm Going Slightly Mad" | Queen (Mercury) | Innuendo | 4:22 |
| 13. | "The Invisible Man" | Queen (Taylor) | The Miracle | 3:58 |
| 14. | "Hammer to Fall" (single mix) | May | The Works | 3:40 |
| 15. | "Friends Will Be Friends" | Mercury, Deacon | A Kind of Magic | 4:08 |
| 16. | "The Show Must Go On" | Queen (May) | Innuendo | 4:37 |
| 17. | "One Vision" (single mix) | Queen (Taylor) | A Kind of Magic | 4:02 |
| Total length: | 76:32 | |||
Personnel
Queen
- Freddie Mercury – lead, backing and operatic vocals, acoustic piano, jangle piano, Hammond organ, fingersnaps, bicycle bells, handclaps, acoustic guitar, organ, synthesiser, footstomps, synth bass, sampler, Korg M1 synthesizer on "I'm Going Slightly Mad"
- Brian May – acoustic and electric guitars, co-lead vocals on "Fat Bottomed Girls" (chorus), backing and operatic vocals, bicycle bells, handclaps, piano, synthesiser, footstomps, co-lead vocals on "Keep Yourself Alive" (bridge)
- John Deacon – bass guitar, electric guitar, acoustic and electric pianos, bicycle bells, handclaps, footstomps
- Roger Taylor – drums, percussion, backing and operatic vocals, timpani, gong, triangle, chimes, bicycle bells, handclaps, woodblocks, tambourine, footstomps, cowbell, co-lead vocals on "Keep Yourself Alive" (bridge), drum machine, backing vocals, synthesizer, electric guitar and sampler on "The Invisible Man"
Additional performers
- Fred Mandel – synthesizers
- David Bowie – lead and backing vocals, Jupiter-8, handclaps and finger snaps on "Under Pressure"
- Mike Stone – co-lead vocals on "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy"
- Roy Thomas Baker – stylophone on "Seven Seas of Rhye"
- Chris Rea – fingerclicks on "A Kind of Magic"
- Spike Edney – synthesizer on "A Kind of Magic"
- David Richards – piano on "Under Pressure",[6] keyboards, synth bass and programming on "Breakthru"
- Steve Howe – classical guitar and Spanish guitar solos on "Innuendo"
- Michael Kamen – orchestral arrangements and conductor on "Who Wants to Live Forever"
- National Philharmonic Orchestra – strings, brass and percussion on "Who Wants to Live Forever"
Charts
Weekly charts
| Chart (1994–2022) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[7] | 50 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[8] | 30 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[9] | 36 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[10] | 47 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard)[11] | 28 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[12] | 14 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13] | 26 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[14] | 2 |
| UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[15] | 2 |
| US Top Catalog Albums (Billboard)[16] | 3 |
Year–end charts
| Chart (1994) | Position |
|---|---|
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[17] | 74 |
| Chart (1995) | Position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[18] | 64 |