Queen 40, Volume 3

( REVIEW ON QUEEN 40th VOL. 3 RED BOX ) As I have said before, I'm A Big QUEEN Fan Since The Early 1970's. In fact I grew up with and still have their Vinyl LP'S. As for me these are about the best U.S. CD releases I have ever owned. As for the sound quality, Even though these are a tiny bit louder then previous U.S. CD's. I think these have a fuller and are truer to the Original sound that I remember. As for the Bonus EP CD included with each of these, It's kinda skimpy and they could have put much more bonus material "I Think". On a Positive note, I'm glad they put the bonus tracks on a separate disc. And the way I Look at it, I still would have wanted this remastered series even if they did not have the bonus tracks/discs. This series is a Must for any QUEEN fan that wants to own their complete studio albums "Sets Vol. 1 BLACK, Vol. 2 WHITE & Vol. 3 RED = Their 15 Original Studio Albums". Now as for each of the five Albums/CD's of this set Vol.3 Red Box, THE WORKS 5.0 (A strong album with a powerful punch and a huge improvement over HOT SPACE. Not only the hit's such as ""Radio Ga Ga" , "I Want to Break Free" & "Hammer to Fall", but some great album tracks as well such as "Man on the Prowl" , "Keep Passing the Open Windows" & "It's a Hard Life" ) A KIND OF MAGIC 4.5 (Opens nicely with "One Vision". Of coarse this album also had a couple very nice soft songs such as John Deacon's "One Year of Love" and Brian May's "Who Wants to Live Forever". Between both the softies & rockers, An overall Great Album by a Great Band) THE MIRACLE 5.0 (Originally released in 1989, The album was recorded as the band recovered from Brian May's marital problems and Freddie Mercury's HIV diagnosis in 1987. The album opens with 2 tracks that are actually butted together "Party & Khashoggi's Ship" it also had some powerful tracks such as "The Miracle" , "I Want It All" , "The Invisible Man" & "Breakthru" .. Freddie & John teamed up on the song writings for "The Miracle", "Rain Must Fall" & "My Baby Does Me" ) INNUENDO 5.0 (Sadly This was the last Queen Album Freddie lived to see. The band and producers were aiming for a November or December release date in order to catch the crucial Christmas market, but Mercury's declining health meant that the release of the album did not take place until February 1991. This album is great in my personal opinion. From Rogers Drum Roar in the opening to the final "Show Must Go On". I simply love both songs and their B/W videos "I'm Going Slightly Mad" & "These Are the Days of Our Lives". The music video for "Days of Our Lives" was Mercury's last appearance in a video medium, and with his knowing farewell look straight at the camera, Mercury whispers "I still love you" at the end of the song. Also had the song "Delilah" a song Mercury penned for his favorite female tortoiseshell cat, which was called Delilah. This album also had other great songs such as "Headlong", "Ride the Wild Wind" , "The Hitman" & "All God's People" ) MADE IN HEAVEN 5.0 (Their fifteenth and final studio album. Released on 6 November 1995 on Parlophone and Hollywood Records. After Freddie Mercury's death, bass player John Deacon, drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Brian May worked with vocal and piano parts that Mercury recorded before his death, adding fresh instrumentation to the recordings. "Mother Love" A very nice and meaningful song that was the final song co-written by Mercury and May, and was also Mercury's last ever vocal performance. Also had another very nice song by John Deacon "My Life Has Been Saved" as well as other nice tracks such as Roger Taylor's "Heaven for Everyone" , Freddie's "It's a Beautiful Day" , "I Was Born to Love You" , "A Winter's Tale" & Made in Heaven" and some song's credited simply as writers "Queen" such as "Let Me Live" & "You Don't Fool Me"......Another overall splendid album by one the the beast and artistic rock bands of all time "in my opinion" One Word of CAUTION if you decide to buy this series, The CD Discs fit very tightly onto the jewel cases disc holders. Be very careful when removing the disc not to crack the center of disc trying to get it loose. Kinda turn the CD Clockwise and gently twist it off.

While this batch finishes off the remasterring of queen's studio album catalog (there are 15 cds in all) it represents the more underrated period of Queen's career. I personally love these albums, but when I would talk to fellow queen fans, they tend to have stopped listening to Queen by this point, aside from A Kind of Magic which had music featured in the film Highlander (I even own the Queen version of that movie as it had a seperate dvd with the queen songs and music videos) But, the Works, A Kind of Magic, the Miracle, Innuendo and Made in Heaven showcases some of the finest music they have ever done. There is "The Invisible Man" a great work of art, showcasing their penchant for artful lyrics, and studio wizadry. You have your anthems like "I want to break free" and "I want it all" you have the heavy hearted, "Too much love will kill you" and the sweeter "I was born to love you" Everything is extremely likable. Innuendo was probably their first album that I had bought without any prior knowledge of it, I didn't even get to hear any singles or samples, but I have loved it ever since. Some criticse Queen as a singles band, but Queen has great album tracks, too many too mention actually. Their singles were defintely strong. But, that doesn't mean that's all there was to them. Queen created masterpieces. Sure they have some of the most popular singles of any band going, sure they have the classics like "We will rock you" and "We are the champions" but if anyone believes queen to be just a singles band and the rest is filler only need to listen to "The Prophet's Song" on " A Night at the Opera". I love the new remasters not just for improved sound but for the extras, the b-sides, the alternate takes etc. These are well crafted and well put together. While I would have loved more extras etc, I have no clue what is actually "out there" to debate whether or not more could have and should have been released. I like how they have two cds for each album, the main album is cd 1 and all the extras are cd 2. So it's a purer way of listening to them. You don't get the distractions of the piss-poor remixes that plagued the early cd releases, where the extras weren't even produced by Queen but by some talentless third party. Queen works best when it works as a group, with each member contributing their vast talents to take the group to such heights that very few can reach. There are no Andrew Ridgeley's here. and vocally Freddie Mercury has got to be the greates Rock front man of all time (Mick Jagger is a close second) his voice, his over the top theatrics, are just a part of Queen's dna as the music itself. There is no one like Freddie in the music world today and never will be again, he can sing Rock/Pop/R&b and just for kicks he can sing opera, and sometimes all in the same song. I recommend getting all 15 cds though, and getting them in the special packaging. The included posters are a plus (one in each of the 3 sets) You can't go wrong adding them to your rock library. Every member of the band adds to the overall phenomenon of Queen, so there are no weak album tracks, sure you may like some better than others, but each song offers something to love. And every album is worth getting. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who loves great music. Real music by real musicians sung by a man who has no equal in rock music or any type of music for that matter. So pop in a cd, sit pack, turn the volume up and enjoy....because they WILL rock you.

Well, I agree with most of the reviewers on here who say these are by far the best sounding Queen cd's released to date. Crisp, clear, full, quiet, beautiful best describes the way they sound. Yes they are louder than the 1992 releases, but no stupidly louder and their is an openness about them, i.e. they don't sound like Metallica's last release! What you wont find here are louded up compressed to hell vintage tunes with no feel or soul to them. The quiet parts are quiet, the loud parts are loud etc. They sound the way the were originally meant to only better. The second cd is cool, but nothing special. It is however a massive step forward from the 1992 releases. What was with some of those remixes? Were they trying to turn Queen into a dance band? I never understood stood some of those remixes back then and still don't to this day! Inside the jewel cases you will find the same stuff you found on the albums with a few more pics thrown in here and there for good measure. Overall, all good stuff and well worth the price in my opinion. As far as tunes go, I like Box set A and C better than box set B. However that's just my take and yours may vary. Box A is killer from start to finish. Box set B has two of my least favorite Queen albums. Both The Game and Flash didn't do much for me back than and still don't today. However I enjoyed Hot Space when much of the population was wondering "what the hell" lol. The first 4 or 5 songs on the game are fantastic, after that it alright. Flash is well Flash, nuff said! Box C also has some great material on it. The only two that again didn't do anything for me were The Works and Made In Heaven. The works has some quality tunes on it, but overall it's lacking in my opinion. Made In Heaven which was put together after Mr. Mercury's passing is what it is, which is a final farewell with songs that were cut and spliced together from old master tapes that had been recorded months or in some cases years before hand. Queen along with Zeppelin are bands that had careers cut way to short by the tragic death of one of their members. These band along with Pink Floyd, Sabbath and a few others are what music is all about. They were creative as hell and deserve to be known as some of the best bands of all time. I don't think you'll find that the bands of today or really the last 20 years will have the kind of loyal following or staying power (to quote Queen lol) these groups have. I'm not sure if it's because they're just not as creative as those older bands were or if it's just because they can't play their damn instruments and thus are limited in what they can do? Whatever it is, they are light years behind those groups who basically got the ball rolling in the late 60's, 70's and early 80's! So in conclusion, if you loved Queen, you will not be disappointed with what you find here.

Great collection of songs and at a decent price

the final 5 queen albums show quuen at their absolute best! with an abundance of massive hits and stellar album tracks - this selection is further enhanced by some of the more interesting B sides of this series of reissues. THE WORKS - simply stunning , from the huge hits of rdio ga ga, i want to break free and hammer to fall as well it's a hard life - every track is a real music gem! the 6 track EP includes 'i go crazy, thank god it's Christmas (non album tracks) as well as a couple of live versions A KIND OF MAGIC - whilst having more of a sense of filler tracks has such outstanding moments it really balances things out nicely, the highlight of the seciond disc being ' a kind of vision' which shows how this one song became two - a knid of magic and one vision' - r rare glimpse into Queen's song writing approach. THE MIRACLE - often over-looked in the Queen catologue, this album has such a brilliant collection of songs as well ass title track, i want it all and breakthru the binus disc has some excellent B side material (worth it for this alone)! INNUENDO - so hard to listen to now, knowing it was Freddie's last. and the phot's in the booklet show a frail looking Frddie -but the voice is as good as ever. a hugely emotive album even without the sad truth behind it's making. MADE IN HEAVEN - i really love this album! i thought it was going to be a dreadful cash in on substandard songs left off other albums -h ow wrong can you be - although a couple of tracks do show up as versions on Brian May and Roger Taylor albums, given the Queen treatment they really benefit! of the 3 reissue collections - this is my favourite. My only gripes are minor, the 'box set' is a thin card slip case with thin small 'poster' the booklets add a little background to the second disc and explain why the dates on those track jump forward and back in time, but could have been expanded much further! what Queen ahave managed to do is protect the integrity of the original records with an enhanced sound quality whilst giving the die hard fans a reason to update the record collection! EXCELLENT!

Lo malo en cuanto a esta compra fue que la caja que contenía los discos venía golpeada y las cajas de plástico de 3 de los álbumes incluidos en esta colección estaban rotas; algunos de los cancioneros tenían evidencia de ser usados. Lo importante (los discos en sí) pasan por nuevos, los cuales se han disfrutado de la misma manera que los demás álbumes de la legendaria Queen. En resumen, hay que tener cuidado con lo que se compra para no ser engañados.

Excelente!!!!

This collection of the final five Queen albums may not have as many of the "hits" as the first two sets, however, these are some of the finest albums that they produced. Listening to "The Miracle" and "Innuendo" knowing that Freddie was near the end makes his vocal performances even more impressive. Bob Ludwig's remastering really shines, especially on these digitally-recorded albums, which previously sounded somewhat flat. Don't believe the "audiofools" on some forums that complain about these being "too compressed". These albums have never sounded more alive. The extras on the EP's are OK, but still seems like a missed opportunity. And "Made In Heaven" sounds like what it is, a cut and paste job of what was left behind. Still, that aside, these albums are essential and should be in anyone's collection who appreciates great music.

Excellent sound quality, very impressed

Molto molto bello. Ogni cd ha un bonus cd con delle chicche davvero eccellenti. Ed ogni cd è griffato con il 40th. Assolutamente da consigliare.

Schöne Do CD Box mit Bonus Tracks.

First time I invested in a collection of Queen albums, after just been listening to compilations for the last lot of years. Bought this first as I'm more of a fan of Queen's latter day works. Everything about the collection is great. Normal jewel cases tho' rather than the super jewel cases that the individually released remastered albums which isn't a problem. Comes with a nice poster from The Works era. Ordering from a US seller on Marketplace is a good idea if you're lucky. The price of the product and delivery makes this worthwhile, but you might get hit with customs tax by Royal Mail if you're unlucky like I was. Just keep your fingers crossed if you order a delivery from the United States.

Tive a sorte de encontrar esse box raríssimo por um preço imperdível, na oferta da Amazon. Com isso, conseguir completar a minha coleção do Queen. Os álbuns são só DISCAÇOS! Verdadeiras jóias da Rainha. Disc Made in México.