Greatest Hits: 2

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Released just about a month before Freddie Mercury's untimely death in November 1991, a second best-of collection titled Greatest Hits, Vol. 2, was issued in England only. While the album was resequenced (with other tracks added) and released as Classic Queen in the U.S. in 1992, Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 features all of the band's European hits from 1982 through 1991. Since 1981's Greatest Hits went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time in Queen's homeland (spending 63 weeks on the charts when first released, and reappearing steadily ever since), the band had racked up enough hits to warrant a follow-up ten years later. While Queen's hits from this era may not be as stellar as their '70s predecessors, they were all still very compelling rock compositions. Tracks such as Radio Ga Ga, Friends Will Be Friends, I Want to Break Free, and I'm Going Slightly Mad show that the band could still compose pop gems, while the hard rockers I Want It All, Headlong, One Vision, and Hammer to Fall kept their longtime fans happy. Also included are a few of the band's more epic compositions -- The Miracle, Innuendo, Who Wants to Live Forever, and A Kind of Magic -- which help round out this second excellent collection of British Queen hits. [EMI's 2001 reissue keeps the track list intact, but ups the ante with some lavish packaging.] ~ Greg Prato, Rovi