Search - Queen :: Rocks 1

Some rock, some roll, some hard, some heavy

Paul Lawrence | Australia | 04/04/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A look through the tracklisting will probably settle the debate for diehard fans as to whether they want this. And to Queen experts such as they I've probably got little to say to em' given they probably know more about the band than me. But newcomers, read on.



But I really feel that this album was aimed at the generic music fan who wasn't familiar with the Queen catalogue in depth. Now to me Queen is a band you have to make up your own mind about. For example my brother is an addict, wheras I'm a casual user only. So rather than trying to encapsulate the recordings here or give a track by track synopsis I'll just give a few ideas that may be of help to the newcomer.



This album has a fair whack of rockers, as the name suggests. Megahits like We Will Rock You and rollicking tunes such as Tie Your Mother Down and Sheer Heart Attack make this a great rock 'n' roll collection. While I'd question a couple of tracks and the exclusion of a few others this album succeeds in it's role of reeling in the newcomer, it's really hard to resist the energy of many of these songs. The reason why isn't just the tunes but what they represent. Rockers from the spectrum of Queen releases are here from the aforementioned Sheer Heart Attack to the latter day Headlong. Which means the casual music fan can hear tunes from most eras of Queen and that they retained some fire in the belly through most of their career. Not that this is heavy metal, but it is very livey rock music. At least this collection gives some credit to their rockin' moments - hey it wasn't all Radio Ga Ga and I Want to Break Free.



Apart from the community service of underlying for a new generation how great Queen could be when they dusted off their rock 'n' roll boots it also hangs together well which is a testament to fine production techniques throughout their career and attention to the sequencing of the tracks. Lyrics to the whole shebang as well as notes on each track re: credits, producers and parent album is also to be commended and the inclusion of the final tune - No One But You - is a cool touch.



A great guy (yeah yeah it ain't got Rhapsody - but don't you own that already on some rock compilation disc?) and one that should tell you if Queen are a band you want to explore further."