Absolute greatest

Absolute greatest
Compilation album by Queen
Publication (s)	November 11, 2009 (Japan), November 13 (Germany, Austria), November 16 (rest of Europe), November 17 (USA, Canada)
Label (s)	Parlophone / EMI ; Hollywood Records (USA)
Format (s)	CD, double CD, book / CD edition, 3-LP set, download
Genre (s)	skirt
Title (number)	20th
running time	79:23
occupation	John Deacon - bass Brian May - guitars , vocals Freddie Mercury - vocals, piano Roger Taylor - drums , vocals, percussion Guest musicians: David Bowie - vocals on Under Pressure Michael Kamen and National Philharmonic Orchestra - on Who Wants to Live Forever Fred Mandel - keyboards on Radio Ga Ga and I Want to Break Free
chronology The Cosmos Rocks (2008, Queen + Paul Rodgers) Absolute greatest Deep Cuts Volume 1 (1973-1976) (2011)

Absolute Greatest is the sixth compilation album by the British rock group Queen , released in 2009 .

The album

On this album 20 of the most famous single hits of the band were compiled from the Queen's compilation albums Greatest Hits I , II and III, which were released between 1981 and 1999 . The album contains - apart from the debut LP Queen and the soundtrack Flash Gordon  - pieces from all studio albums that the group recorded with the original cast.

The singles released between 1974 and 1995 had reached at least top 10 positions in the charts. The only exception is the title Who Wants to Live Forever , which can also be heard in the film Highlander , which achieved rank 24 as the highest ranking in Great Britain: Absolute Greatest does not contain the 4-minute single version of this track , but the slightly shortened album version. Version already found on Greatest Hits II . A Kind of Magic is the only studio album that has more than two tracks on Absolute Greatest .

The six-and-a-half-minute title track on the album Innuendo , however, was not taken into account, although - alongside Bohemian Rhapsody and Under Pressure  - it was one of three Queen singles that reached the top of the British charts during Freddie Mercury's lifetime . The Show Must Go On and These Are the Days of Our Lives were selected for Absolute Greatest and appeared only as the so-called "double A-side" of the 1991 single, Bohemian Rhapsody , which was released for the second time .

Of Absolute Greatest , there is in addition to the single CD numerous other variants. The double CD and the book edition include an additional CD with audio commentary by Brian May and Roger Taylor on the individual tracks on the album. In the US, where Hollywood Records only offers the standard CD, the album is distributed exclusively by Best Buy .

Track list

1. We Will Rock You ( May , 1977) - 2:02
2. We Are the Champions ( Mercury , 1977) - 3:01
3. Radio Ga Ga ( Taylor , 1984) - 5:48
4. Another One Bites the Dust ( Deacon , 1980) - 3:35
5. I Want It All (Queen [May], 1989) - 4:01 (single version)
6. Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Mercury, 1979) - 2:44
7. A Kind of Magic (Taylor, 1986) - 4:25
8. Under Pressure (Queen / Bowie , 1981) - 4:03
9. One Vision ( Queen , 1985) - 4:04 (single version)
10. You're My Best Friend (Deacon, 1975) - 2:51
11. Don't Stop Me Now (Mercury, 1978) - 3:30
12. Killer Queen (Mercury, 1974) - 3:00
13. These Are the Days of Our Lives (Queen [Taylor], 1991) - 4:13
14. Who Wants to Live Forever (May, 1986) - 4:55 (abridged album version)
15. Seven Seas of Rhye (Mercury, 1974) - 2:46
16. Heaven for Everyone (Taylor, 1995) - 4:43 (single version)
17. Somebody to Love (Mercury, 1976) - 4:55
18. I Want to Break Free (Deacon, 1984) - 4:19 (single version)
19. The Show Must Go On (Queen, 1991) - 4:32
20. Bohemian Rhapsody (Mercury, 1975) - 5:56

expenditure

• Standard CD
• Special Edition Double CD
  Contains an extra CD with audio commentary by Brian May and Roger Taylor on the tracks on the album.
• Limited book edition
  incl. 52-page A4 hardcover book, u. a. with previously unpublished photographs by Johnny Dewe Matthews, memorabilia and handwritten song lyrics; 20-track CD; CD with audio commentary; exclusive access to the online video stream of 20 live performances.
• 3-LP box set
  Incl. 180g vinyl; 16-page photo book; exclusive access to the online video stream of 20 live performances.
• Digital download editions of the first two variants mentioned

The video stream includes excerpts from the following concerts: London / Rainbow 1974, London / Earls Court 1977, Houston 1977, Paris 1979, Tokyo 1979, London / Hammersmith Odeon 1979, Montreal 1981 ( Queen Rock Montreal ) , Milton Keynes 1982 ( Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl ) , Rio de Janeiro 1985 ( Rock in Rio ), London / Wembley 1986 ( Live at Wembley '86 ) , Budapest 1986.

Chart positions and awards

Absolute Greatest achieved the highest positions in the charts with 3rd place in Great Britain, furthermore in Portugal (4th) and in the Scandinavian countries Sweden (5th), Denmark and Norway (6th each). The album reached number 10 in Austria, number 15 in Switzerland and number 23 in Germany. In Great Britain, Absolute Greatest went double platinum .

	UK	AT	CH	DE	US
Highest rankings	3	10	15th	23	195

Reception in the media

Allmusic summed up in its review from an American perspective as follows: “And, overall, it's a nicely balanced collection of 20 highlights, delivering all the usual suspects […] plus good latter-day hits, making it a solid overview but not a definitive one. "

The Austrian daily Kurier awarded the highest rating of five points and wrote about the album: "After three greatest hits parts, the best-of-best-of: 20 hits for the ages from a band that goes from prog to big, from gay operetta to pop. Good gateway drug. "

The British magazine Q summarized: "Oddly selected, but still winning compilation." It addressed the lack of some songs - "no sign of the Number 1 Innuendo" - and went closer to Taylor and May's "entertaining track-by-track summary" a. At the end it says: "Ad hoc it may be, but this varied, often inspired collection makes a mostly unarguable case for this band of four songwriters."

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} UK Top 40 Hit Database everyhit.com; Retrieved December 12, 2009
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Absolute Greatest . austriancharts.at; Retrieved December 12, 2009
3. ↑ Absolute Greatest . hitparade.ch; Retrieved December 12, 2009
4. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Absolute Greatest . musicline.de; Retrieved December 12, 2009
5. ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine: Absolute Greatest - Queen. Review. In: Allmusic ; Retrieved December 12, 2009
6. ↑ Guido Tartarotti: Queen: Absolute Greatest (Rock) . In: Kurier , November 22, 2009, p. 42.
7. ↑ John Aizlewood: Queen - Absolute Greatest . In: Q , January 2010, p. 131. (see Queen Online ( Memento of August 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ))