Queen Rocks (1997)
1. We Will Rock You
2. Tie Your Mother Down
3. I Want it All
4. Seven Seas of Rhye
5. I Can't Live With You
6. Hammer to Fall
7. Stone Cold Crazy
8. Now I'm Here
9. Fat Bottomed Girls
10.Keep Yourself Alive
11.Tear it Up
12.One Vision
13.Sheer Heart Attack
14.I'm in Love with My Car
15.Put Out the Fire
16.Headlong
17.It's Late
18.No One But You (Only the Good Die Young)
Of all the quirky compilations bands tend to throw out there from time to time, this is one of the rare few that actually feels like it serves a purpose. Given how multifaceted Queen was over the years — dabbling in everything from opera to disco to doo-wop — the idea of packaging up their straight-ahead rockers into one high-voltage collection makes a lot of sense. It’s Queen doing what Queen did best: blowing the roof off with sheer power and energy.
At first, the track listing might throw you. You open with the arena-stomping classic We Will Rock You and naturally expect We Are the Champions to come in right behind it — but it doesn’t. In fact, you won’t find Bohemian Rhapsody or Another One Bites the Dust either. But once you get into it, you realize that you’re not really missing anything. The songs that did make the cut hit hard and fast, and there’s enough raw adrenaline here to keep you from dwelling on what was left out.
That said, a couple of tracks feel a little out of place. Seven Seas of Rhye is a great song, but it’s always felt a bit more whimsical than rocking, and the closing tribute No One But You (Only the Good Die Young) — touching as it is — doesn’t quite match the rest of the album’s muscular tone. Of course, with compilations like this, you’ll never please everyone. Fans will always debate what should have made the cut and what could’ve been left off.
Still, as a showcase of Queen’s rock credentials, this is an absolute powerhouse. They may have dabbled in everything under the sun, but when it came time to turn up the amps and let it rip, few did it better.
Go back to the main page
Go To Next Review