If you’re looking for a collection of Queen videos, Greatest Video Hits is a two-disc set has 33 of them – Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon’s often campy, certainly explosive, sometimes quite effective forays into the world of video over the course of their illustrious career.
The first disc is mostly 70s stuff. Yes, the four-headed Wayne’s World touchstone “Bohemian Rhapsody” is here, as is “Another One Bites The Dust” and the leather jacket swing of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” There are also lesser known videos like the animated “Save Me” and a mock live performance of “Tie Your Mother Down,” a very big staple of video production pre-MTV, complete with lights and explosions.
There’s some truly bad interspersing with the “Flash” video from the Flash Gordon movie and an ‘in studio’ take of “Somebody To Love.” And what’s not to love about the naughty bicycle race from 1978 with 65 naked women racing on 10-speeds around Wimbledon Greyhound Station in the uncensored video for “Bicycle Race.”
The later stuff from the 80s that flew in way under the MTV and VH1 radar has a few gems. Highlights include the ultra cool video game look of “The Invisible Man” and the band playing “A Kind Of Magic” on top of a speeding train. The clip from 1982 of “Las Palabras De Amor” from the BBC television program, Top of Pops is priceless.
Also included is the great “I Want To Break Free” video of the four Queen members dressed as women, Mercury rolling over the bodies on “Body Language,” and a much younger version of Queen portrayed in “The Miracle.”
Interestingly, “I’m Going Slightly Mad” from their Innuendo album is not here, perhaps because it has the unfortunate distinction of showing Mercury at one of his worst moments near the end of his life. With commentary from Roger Taylor and Brian May and a splendid remastering of the sound and picture, Greatest Video Hits is most definitely…a hit.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
