Did Elektra keep the rights to Queen's back catalogue after they signed to Capitol (and before they signed to HR in 1990, of course)? I would think so because Elektra released the single "Body Language/Calling All Girls" in the Spun Gold series in 1984 ("Spun Gold" was a series of singles where two former hits by a same artist were put together on a 7"). They also re-released some Queen albums on CD between 1983 and apparently as late as 1987, like NOTW and GH.
So if Elektra did keep the exclusive rights to Queen's back catalogue between 1983-1990, why didn't they release some compilation (not necessarily a GH) or a box set to try to "milk the cow"? Did they think it would be worthless because they considered the band finished in North America? Even if they thought that, Queen were still big in Japan, so why not releasing more products there? And why didn't Capitol try to acquire the rights? Did they also think it was worthless? If that's the case, it's kinda strange they didn't have more faith in the band they just signed...
I am pretty sure that Elektra held the rights to the earlier work when they signed to capitol.I remember seeing an article about the party in the U.S which stated that Brian had signed a solo deal with them(starfleet).They had signed for five albums in Europe on EMI.When Hollywood purchased the back catalogue,it didn't include Hits which has turned out to be hugely popular shifting well over 8 million copies to date,hardly an unpopular band.............
If they didn't include "hits" dies that mean that they acquired it later?
Initially you could only get hits with hits 1&2,
Later they produced the Platinum Collection as well.
According to Wikipedia :
"In 1991, Queen sought to issue a second Greatest Hits collection worldwide, this time with a standard track listing. However, the band had just changed record labels in the US, from Capitol to Hollywood Records, who were keen on a massive promotion of the band's back catalogue. The problem was that Elektra still held the US rights to that first 1981 collection (despite being Hollywood's US licencée). Hollywood Records decided to not release Greatest Hits II to the U.S. market, but instead created their own collection, Classic Queen (1992). (...) Hollywood Records, later that year, re-released a companion collection Greatest Hits."
Classic Queen was a fairly decent compilation.. good running track on that one. and an interesting Under Pressure mix. I must have played that tape at least a couple of hundred times. it was one of the few in my very very young collection... i was 8 at the time.
I never noticed that Under Pressure had a different mix on Classic Queen, I thought it was just an edited version. It's been a very long time since I listened to this album (and to any Queen compilation for that matter!) The tracklist was nice but One Year Of Love was totally out of place on this compilation IMO.
Jimmy Dean wrote:
Classic Queen was a fairly decent compilation.. good running track on that one. and an interesting Under Pressure mix.
Maybe somebody can correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that "interesting mix" the same version with one line of vocals accidentally removed?
At least I know this as the "not so okay" -version because of this mistake.
No the version of Under Pressure on the US compilation Classic Queen is an exclusive mix to this release most notably at the end where Roger's vocals are more prominent in the mix.
The "not so okay" version is on Greatest Hits II and was not a mistake but an edit so all the tracks would fit onto one CD.
UP in GH2 is edited a bit but it's not the "that's Ok" but it cuts one of the "this is our last dance" towards the end.
In Classic Queen it is a slightly different mix which amps up the bass and Roger's vocals and omits the "that's Ok" part. The song is not edited/cut as it has the same length but the "that's Ok" part can't be heard.
I mainly remember the edit of The Miracle from Classic Queen, or rather I remember hearing the original version for the first time and being quite surprised when the 'fast part' came in....lol
And was it that song, or another one, they had the wrong running time listed for? Like it said the running time of the non-edited version, but it was the edit....
^ I'm just glad to hear that it wasn't a CASH GRAB reason for issuing a new compilation that split Bohemian Rhapsody from the greatest hits listing.
I thought that was an original attempt to sell lesser albums of interest by misguiding the albums tracks into a new almost random series of selections.
For CLASSIC QUEEN they would have done well to include something "weird" like Sheer Heart attack or 39' instead of HIGHLANDER'S "ONE YEAR OF LOVE"..
Hardly anything "CLASSIC" about that song except the instruments.
Strangely happy that it was a corporate decision for once. But for a classic Queen Album isn't it odd that none of the songs were truly old age Queen except KYA?
Bogus (although still great) collection.
^ there were Bo Rhap, Tie Your Mother Down and Stone Cold Crazy as well from the 70s. I think the basic idea was to have some kind of equivalent to GH2 for North America's market, minus the non-US hits plus some other fan favourites and classics. Bo Rhap was included mainly to capitalise on its renewed success due to its appearance in Wayne's World.
It was just Hollywood wanting to have their own version of GH and GHII.....remember there was their version of Greatest Hits that came out a little while after, as a complement to Classic Queen.