ROCKSIS THE BAND'S NEW COMPILATION A LOST OPPORTUNITY?
QUEEN
ROCKS
IS THE BAND'S NEW COMPILATION A
LOST OPPORTUNITY?
BEATIE BOKSER ASKS:
Why
does Brian May's 'Lost Opportunity' spring to mind when listening to the new
'Queen Rock's compilation?
Because although this album is a great concept in theory and the perfect
opportunity to reactivate some rare Queen gems, it has ultimately ended up as
another addition to the 'squandered chances' file.
Unfortunately, the album is yet another example of EMI not
consulting, or listening to, the people who could have steered them clear of
this kind of criticism. That in itself does not surprise me, but the choice of
tracks most certainly does. Of course, when you have to select 18 Queen tracks
from as many studio albums, you're up against obvious restrictions. Some songs
have to go, I understand that, but some of the exclusions here are just absurd.
'Queen Rocks' should have served two significant purposes.
Firstly, it should provide new fans with an introduction to the harder side of
the band's vast and varied catalogue, which, to some extent, it succeeds in
doing. Secondly, it should or could have given Queen's army of die-hard fans
something extra to get excited about, which it does, but to only a limited
degree. It could so easily have gone two or three stages further.
This
compilation could also have satisfied long-time fans and collectors by giving
them a handful of the Queen songs which are still only available on vinyl. We
are destined, it seems, to only hear this material on archaic formats
20-year-old battered 45s, full of jumps and background hiss. There will be
precious few opportunities to issue such tracks in the future. I'm sure, and
this one has now passed.
There are so many alternative versions of the tracks which
comprise this album, and so much scope to offer something exciting and
significant, historic even, but the initiative wasn't seized.
If 'Queen Rocks' had featured some of the lesser-known
versions of the songs, most general listeners would have been none the wiser -
I'm not asking for demos or inferior recordings here. The hoards of fans who
will be propelling this album into the charts probably couldn't care less which
versions of 'Headlong', 'Hammer To Fall, 'Stone Cold Crazy', 'Seven Seas Of
Rhye', and 'I'm In Love With My Car' the disc contains, just so long as they are
included. But it would have made a huge difference to the thousands of more
discerning fans.
Had the video version of 'Headlong' or the Headbanger's Mix,
of 'Hammer To Fall' been included, then it would have satisfied the whole
spectrum of fans. This is a rock compilation, after all, so surely the
12"-only 'Headbanger's Mix' of 'Hammer' would have been better than the
version we've already got on 'Greatest Hits ll'. 'The Works', 'Classic Queen'
and the 1985 3" CD reissue?
If 'Queen Rocks' is intended to reassert the band's
hard-rocking credentials, why leave off such songs as 'Princes Of The
Universe', 'Sweet Lady; 'Gimme the Prize', 'Ogre
Battle', 'Flick Of The Wrist', 'Machines (Back To Humans)',
'The Hitman', 'Liar', 'White Man', 'Dragon Attack', 'Son
and Daughter', 'The Hero', 'Dead On Time', and 'Let Me
Entertain You'? And what about Brian May's non-album track, 'I Go Crazy',
the omission of which is utterly inexcusable? Furthermore, let's ask why
we have to buy yet again half-a-dozen tracks which we've already got on
compilations like 'Greatest Hits' and the American CD, 'Classic Queen'.
I think I'm correct in saying that at the last count, the
first volume of 'Greatest Hits' had been certified 14 times platinum. Its sequel
cannot be too far behind. Is it really necessary, therefore, to include 'GH'
staples such as 'We Will Rock You', 'Seven Seas Of Rye', 'Hammer To
Fall', 'I Want It All', and 'Headlong', And in exactly the
same form as before? If EMI feel compelled to put out those songs one more time,
then surely they could have done so using alternative cuts.
Am I being unreasonable here? I just want the chance to
add to my collection some of those hard-to-track down edits, remixes and
alternative versions of some of my favourite Queen songs. The edited version of
'It's Late' (with two minutes of its mid-section slickly excised) still awaits
its CD debut after precisely 20 years. And it's damn good, too! The
inclusion of that, instead of the standard version, would have made this album
worth buying on its own. And, I hasten to add, the standard version is already
on CD, while the edit is still only accessible on 19-year-old copies of the
Japanese 'Sheer Heart Attack' single.
And are the 'Queen Rocks' versions of 'Seven Seas Of
Rhye', 'Stone Cold Crazy' and 'I'm In Love With My Car' the bonus
remixes, issued in the States by Hollywood Records in 1991 (and still
unavailable in the UK and Europe)? Unfortunately not. However, there
is light at the end of the tunnel. 'Fat Bottomed Girls' is the less familiar
'Jazz' album cut, and 'I Want It All' is the full version from 'The Miracle',
while the reworked 'I Can't Live With You' is a spectacular,
return-to-the-good-old-days no-synths version. Great! This is more like it.
'Put Out The Fire' is a great song. But unfortunately, merely
the standard album cut. Okay, so I made that one up, but did anyone at EMI think
to take advise, or consult anyone as to whether such alternative mix was
available? Take it from me that had they done so, and had they included the
afore-mentioned AWOLS, then this album would have been both a Queen 'rocks' and
a semi-rareties collection rolled into one, and a marketing man's dream.
But
let's not forget that 'One Vision' appears here in extended form, which is fine,
but it is already available as a bonus track on Hollywood's A Kind Of Magic CD,
rather have seen it left off all together (five minutes of it) in favour of
'Sweet Lady' or 'Princes Of The Universe'. The latter of which would have kicked
off the album with decidedly more oomph than 'We Will Rock You' - which is a
timeless piece, but very overplayed.
The edit of 'It's Late' and the dropping of 'One Vision' all
together would have made way for two of the many conspicuous absentees.
The inclusion of material of this type proves that EMI are
not averse to issuing alternative cuts, so why did they stop there? Moving on.
Notwithstanding the new song, 'No One But You', on which Freddie's absence is
all too apparent, this album could have had a good seven or eight additional
selling points, instead of its two or three: previously unreleased alternative
versions, long overdue first appearances on CD, and the inclusion of some
archetypal, but seldom heard Queen rockers.
'Queen Rocks' is a terrific idea but is, in reality, rather
more of a 'Queen Tap Their Feet A Bit' affair. That said, and I don't suppose
that I should admit this to EMI, but I still bought the album, because Queen's
collective talents still move me more than anyone else's, and because I'm the
loyal type of fan. But I didn't rush home with the vigour to play it, that I
might otherwise have done.