Queen - Greatest Hits II

MINE

In our collection, there's a disturbing amount of Queen.  And there's a reason for this.  In my previous incarnation as a creator of radio programming, I once put together a series of vignettes for the Queen's Birthday holiday here in Australia.  This involved sections of interviews with the various members of Queen plus other celebrities, all taking about Queen songs, to be played in front of a Queen song.  And in order to do this, I rang up the record company distributing their music, and received - free - their entire back catalogue of greatest hits.

So it's not entirely strange that the pointy stick hit on Queen.  What is strange is that I've kept all of this.  Especially this one, which has only a few songs to recommend it.  I really disturbed myself by singing along to I Want It All  and I Want To Break Free - but I've always loved Radio Ga Ga.  Go figure.  Anyhoo, time to keep the songs we like, and dump the rest.  I'm sure there'll be no argument from YourZ.  Although the Live At Wembley CD is pretty good.

VERDICT:THROW IT OUT

YOURZ

There's no mistaking that voice, being one of the most recognisable in the world.  Ah Freddy, I can't help wonder what you'd be singing today

Freddy built his career on his operatic range and grand sweeping gestures, which so suited the stadium rock the rest of Queen built behind him.  They've been part of my life since I first heard Night At The Opera in the late 70s, a favourite album of my best friend at the time.  While I would try to get him to share my love of Status Quo, Deep Purple, Zeppelin, Kiss and Cheap Trick, he would try to do the same with Queen (and Nazareth, if I remember rightly).  But it never really took.

Don't get me wrong, though.  I really like Queen a lot.  I've just never owned any of their albums.  What I have owned, over the years, is a succession of the same edition of Queens Greatest Hits (isn't there an old joke about if you leave a cassette in a glove box long enough it will morph into Queens Greatest Hits?). (Mine says: either Ben Elton or Douglas Adams came up with that, can't remember).  As Mine has pointed out, we have a lot of Queen in the collection.  The bugger is the pointy stick landed on this one, instead of Greatest Hits I, which has what I consider to be their best songs.

Oh yes, this does have Under Pressure, with that bass line (ice ice baby...) and Radio Gaga, which apparently inspired Lady Gaga's name, if you believe the hype.  It also has I Want To Break Free, which caused my friends and I no end of amusement when it first came out not because of the campy video that accompanied it but for the overwhelming presence of Freddy's lisp.  Just picture the scene, if you will, of the rest of Queen sitting around in the studio, trying not to laugh as he sings 'I want to bwake fwee, I want to bwake fwee...' and see if you don't laugh too.  Puerile, I know, but I've never said I wasn't.

Anyway, I agree with Mine on this one.  I don't recognise most of the songs on this collection and there's far too much bad 80s reverb on the drums of most of these tracks for my liking.  Let's get rid of the chaff and keep the wheat.

VERDICT: THROW IT OUT

For more information: http://www.queenonline.com/

In our collection we also have: Greatest Hits, Greatest Hits III, Made in Heaven and Live At Wembley '86

Roisin Murphy - Overpowered

YOURZ

Roisin Murphy is responsible for the vocals for some of the smartest dance music I'd ever heard when she was part of the duo, Moloko. I'm not a big dance music fan but really liked what they did.

I was hoping Roisin would continue in this vein and, for the most part, she has done. Elevating dance above the standard 'doof-doof' to something more is always going to be a hard ask but in Overpowered, she seems to have done it.

But this is what I would definitely term 'girl' music. It's great to play loud and dance about to, if so inclined, but it doesn't feed my inner-caveman and he's always hungry. Thankfully, this is also the sort of music that inspires Mine while she is cooking. The outer caveman is very thankful for this, let me tell ya.

Gripe time: what is it with tiny credit lists. I know CD sleeves are small and sometimes, an artist has a lot of people to give credit to. For trainspotters like me, however, using 2 point font means, short of buying a magnifying glass, I have no chance of reading them. Ms Murphy is most certainly not alone in doing this.

VERDICT: TURN IT DOWN

MINE

I was a fan from her Moloko days, so buying this album wasn't a stretch for me. It's one of my kitchen CDs - I like to play it when I'm on a cooking binge, as its danceability helps bounce me around through the gruelling bits, plus it's not so deep it distracts me. Kitchen music needs to be either danceable or singable - light or super-familiar. There's a CD shelf in the kitchen which usually holds a few compilations (the variety keeps me hopping) plus some big-ass songstresses like Ella Fitzgerald and Dusty Springfield.

While I was doing a bit of research for this post, I was surprised to see her dissing Lady GaGa for copying her looks. But then Roisin's always had her own wild fashion style, and if GaGa did copy it I'd think it'd be more of an homage rather than a straight lift. I guess I just don't like to see female artists catting it up. I prefer Overpowered to The Fame Monster, anyway.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (But careful if you're dancing while holding sharp knives!)

For more information: http://www.myspace.com/roisinmurphy