Queen Rogue Xxx

Following their hugely successful 32 date European arena tour Queen plus Paul Rodgers release this double CD capturing the magic of their performance. Featured alongside some of the most famous Queen songs are Bad Company and Free classics such as "All Right Now" and "Can't Get Enough"…

With Queen officially enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Hollywood Records reintroduces the band yet again with the release of Platinum Collection, Vols. 1-3. While Vols. I & II are full of Queen classics you already know by heart, the third cobbles together odds and sods from the far corners of Queen's canon along with solo cuts from Freddie Mercury and Brian May…

Queen had long been one of the biggest bands in the world by 1980's The Game, but this album was the first time they made a glossy, unabashed pop album, one that was designed to sound exactly like its time. They might be posed in leather jackets on the cover, but they hardly sound tough or menacing – they rarely rock, at least not in the gonzo fashion that's long been their trademark…

In one regard, Queen II does indeed provide more of the same thing as on the band's debut. Certainly, of all the other albums in Queen's catalog it bears the closest resemblance to its immediate predecessor, particularly in its lean, hard attack and in how it has only one song that is well-known to listeners outside of their hardcore cult: in this case, it's "Seven Seas of Rhye," which is itself more elliptical than "Keep Yourself Alive," the big song from the debut. But these similarities are superficial and Queen II is a very different beast than its predecessor, an album that is richer, darker, and weirder, an album that finds Queen growing as a band by leaps and bounds.

Essentially, the 2007 release Queen Rock Montreal is the long-delayed official release of the soundtrack to the We Will Rock You concert video, capturing highlights from the group's two-night stand at the Montreal Forum on November 24 and 25, 1981. This double-disc contains the full set, including the previously unreleased "Flash" and "The Hero," and it benefits from the ebb and flow of a full concert, giving a broader, fuller sense of Queen at the peak of their power, which they were close to being at the time this was recorded…

In one regard, Queen II does indeed provide more of the same thing as on the band's debut. Certainly, of all the other albums in Queen's catalog it bears the closest resemblance to its immediate predecessor, particularly in its lean, hard attack and in how it has only one song that is well-known to listeners outside of their hardcore cult: in this case, it's "Seven Seas of Rhye," which is itself more elliptical than "Keep Yourself Alive," the big song from the debut. But these similarities are superficial and Queen II is a very different beast than its predecessor, an album that is richer, darker, and weirder, an album that finds Queen growing as a band by leaps and bounds.

The Singles Collection, Vol. 2 contains CD replicas of the 13 singles Queen released between 1979 and 1984, a five-year span when the band was one of the biggest acts in the world…

Following Tom Lehrer’s decision in 2020 to release almost 100 of his songs into the public domain (for anyone to perform and adapt without permission), The Queen’s Six find themselves unable to resist… 'Lehrer […] has just announced that he is surrendering the rights to his songs so that everyone can help themselves to his ‘catchy and savage musical satire’ without fear of breaching copyright. His timing, as ever, is perfect, because what the world needs urgently is a strong dose of Lehrer.'

Like any patchy but promising debut from a classic rock group, it's often easy to underrate Queen's eponymous 1973 debut, since it has no more than one well-known anthem and plays more like a collection of ideas than a cohesive album…