Now a little thing that sometimes must be taken into account when it comes to greatest hits albums is taste. Sometimes the artist or band might decide their favourite song over their most popular, or perhaps the problem is that the singles on the album were released in some countries but not others. The latter is the case with Queen’s Greatest hits album, as it has no universal track listing or even universal cover art, due to the fact that it was released three times. First there was the 1981 U.K release, then the 1981 U.S edition, which was followed 11 years later by the 1992 U.S edition. But I am going to deal with the first release of the album, the 1981 U.K edition.

Having gotten over this fact I took the time to look through the track listings before I even opened the album. The sight of it made me smile, all those hits I recognized over half of them almost instantly. It was quite fitting, and quite pleasing to see that Queen had decided to open up their first Greatest Hits album with, arguably one of their best known, and one of their most loved tracks; “The Bohemian Rhapsody.” The song that broke all the rules of “acceptable” pop back in the day. To start it’s about six minutes long, which was about twice the length of the average pop song. After that theres the sad-themed, piano intro which was completely unique at the time. This initial sad sound went hand in hand with some of the greatest lyrics of the decade. With lines like “Mama, life had just begun, but know I’ve gone and thrown it all away” it doesn’t really matter that half of the words at the start don’t rhyme. Then the song gets a lot livelier with the legendary “Galileo” bit. This is where the song broke the rules of pop again, with a very nice little opera bit. Then the climax of the track, a nice guitar riff and some of the more rebellious lyrics associated with Queen in songs like “We Will Rock You” combine to form a great ending to what was, in my opinion, truly a great song. This songs ability to show Queen’s fantastic range even within a single song makes the perfect opening track to their first ever Greatest Hits album.

Next up, it was “Another One Bites The Dust” an almost legendary chorus accompanies the cool bass beat in the song that just about everyone has heard.  It’s the first track on the album that is written by John Deacon. The verses themselves aren’t great but it’s chorus more than makes up for it.  Track 3 was “Killer Queen” which was one of the few tracks on the album that I hadn’t heard before. It’s easy to tell why, “Killer Queen,” despite a few well written lyrics, isn’t anything in comparison to half of the tracks on the album. Then theres “Fat Bottomed Girls” which is a fun song really, cool little guitar riffs and the well written lyrics add a nice humorous touch to the album. It’s a good song really, and probably the closest Queen have to “I Like Big Butts” song!

Everyone knows the “Bicycle Race” chorus and it is a very strange chorus at that. Freddie Mercury looks like he might have written the chorus as a joke, but the rest of the lyrics in the verses are incredible, they are sensationally written and have a great flow. Next up was “You’re My Best Friend”  it’s a happy song but it falls somewhat short of the Greatest Hits standard.

Next up was the big one, my favourite Queen song. You’d be very hard pressed to find a song a lot better than “Don’t Stop Me Now” anywhere, in any genre. It starts off with that classic Queen piano intro but a lot faster than  in “Bohemian Rhapsody”. The song picks up quickly to a great chorus and some of the best written lyrics I have ever heard. Brilliantly written, the song has everything from the fun pop-like chorus to the great riffs and  great vocals.  I can honestly say I’ve listened to this song well over a thousand times, and I’m well and truly struggling to find a single flaw with it, it’s just that good. I would recommend buying any album if this track was on it.

The next real stand-out song on the track is the Flash Gordon theme. Very good song, again it’s completely different from anything at the time. Despite the kind-of annoying interruptions from bits the of the movie Flash Gordon (which do, I suppose add some excitement to the theme) it’s an enjoyable song that shows Queen range and songwriting talents.

Queen opened with a track to be reckoned with by starting off their album using “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and have given us a lot of fun in the middle as well, with some brilliantly written tracks including “Don’t Stop Me Know.” But it looks like Queen wanted to send off their first ever greatest hits album with a bang, with the two last tracks on the album being “We Will Rock You” and We Are The Champions”

The first minute or so of “We Will Rock You”doesn’t really have any instruments and indeed it hardly needs any. Aside from that legendary drum beat in the background and a smooth guitar bit at the end, the lyrics are the only focus of this song and rightly so. Again the lyrics are masterfully written, and the song has become truly iconic since it was written back in 1977. I must say I’m sad that I’m reviewing the last track on this album as I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the review. Fitting though, that it should end with “We Are The Champions.” A song that has always had an air of finality about it. Again , as it has done throughout the entirety of the album, Queen’s writing talent strikes again with another brilliantly written song.

All in all, one of the most enjoyable albums I’ve ever heard, with some truly brilliant tracks and a line-up that would turn the most stubborn heavy-metal punk to love Queen. I’m going to recommend this album to everyone, whether you like Beethoven or Metallica, buy it. A great album.