October 1991 saw the release of Queen's Greatest Hits II. This album was released worldwide on EMI Records (and Toshiba for Japan). The album was NOT released in the USA. Remember, Queen had been signed to Hollywood Records in 1990 in the USA and Canada.
Recently I heard a rumour that in 1991/1992 EMI got their American counterpart (= Capitol Records) to press the GHii CD for export outside the USA and Canada. We all know that in the U.S. Queen CD's are made and distributed EXCLUSIVELY by Hollywood records Inc. They paid a fortune for the manufacture and distribution rights.
But...there could be Capitol pressed cd's for GHii then? Has anybody ever heard about this or - even better - have this item?
This should be a completely different disc than the Classic Queen album, including the promo cd with the same title but with different tracklisting!
Micrówave wrote:
I've never seen one.
I did get the promotional "Classic Queen" from Capitol, when The Miracle came out... prior to the Hollywood contract.
Thanks.
The promotional Classic Queen is one of the very few album releases on cd by Capitol. As far as I know only the albums The Works, A Kind of Magic and The Miracle have been released. And maybe GHII...
I used to have an old GH2 CD made in Mexico by EMI Capitol de Mexico. I have found one on the net and it has catalog number 2197979712 and it says "EMI Capitol" but it also has the Parlophone logo in there. The cover was blue, similar to the UK LP, I think.
Sometimes those releases are a bit confusing. I have Mexican releases of The Freddie Mercury album, Brian's Back to the Light and Queen's Jazz in which the disc says it's made in -say- Canada but it has text in spanish and the booklet and the back cover say made in Mexico. I think that GH2 CD was another example of what I'm saying.
I lost it or sold it or something many years ago and years later I bought GH2 again on CD and it had a darker sleeve, I'd say more black than blue and the Queen crest is a bit bigger than in the old blue-ish version. That's the one I see nowadays in stores.
I used to see a lot of these EMI Capitol releases in the early nineties. These were the regular editions we had here in Mexico. Then we started getting regular EMI-worldwide releases.
Hollywood Records versions were also to be found but they were (and still are) imports and more expensive.
I also had an Innuendo CD that had the edited versions of every song, just like the LP. I went for about 7 years being a Queen fan and thinking Bijou was only 1 minute long!
Wiley wrote:
I also had an Innuendo CD that had the edited versions of every song, just like the LP. I went for about 7 years being a Queen fan and thinking Bijou was only 1 minute long!
There was an official release of the Vinyl Edits on CD ? It was not a pirate pressing ? Where can it be found ?
Stalinesque wrote:
There was an official release of the Vinyl Edits on CD ? It was not a pirate pressing ? Where can it be found ?
Yup, apparently there was. Had it with me for a few years but I wasn't too careful with my collection back then (I was 12, you know).
I lost the booklet and I sold the CD to a friend of mine with whom I don't have contact anymore. Maybe I should try to get a hold of him after 8 years or so, hehe :).
I knew about the Innuendo album. I think it was Queenzoner Wilki (or maybe it was you!) that mentioned that the Mexican Made in Heaven has the "banned" version of Let me Live?
Walter B. wrote:
I think it was Queenzoner Wilki (or maybe it was you!) that mentioned that the Mexican Made in Heaven has the "banned" version of Let me Live?
I think only first pressings of the mexican MIH had the banned version of LML, not all of them
Walter B. wrote:
I think it was Queenzoner Wilki (or maybe it was you!) that mentioned that the Mexican Made in Heaven has the "banned" version of Let me Live?
I think only first pressings of the mexican MIH had the banned version of LML, not all of them
You are right. I should have been more precise! Thanks for that.
Walter B. wrote:
Thanks again Wiley.
I googled again using different search words this time and I have found the Mexican GHII you mentioned: http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.mx/MLM-34986442-queen-greatest-hits-vol-ii-cd-_JM
I knew about the Innuendo album. I think it was Queenzoner Wilki (or maybe it was you!) that mentioned that the Mexican Made in Heaven has the "banned" version of Let me Live?
Hello once again, Walter.
Yes, that was me also.
I have that Made in Heaven CD and I think I was the one who shared that song in CD quality, first in MP3 and years later in FLAC.
I was listening to my cousin's MIH album around '98 and LML was my favorite track off it around that time. I played it and I still remember my surprise when I noticed the difference. I made her gave me the CD right away, haha :).
Actually, now that you mention Wilki, I think he has it as well or, at least, he was the one that explained to me why that CD was different from the rest.
About 10 years ago I actually emailed Jacky from the OIQFC and she was like "Well, I GUESS you could say it's kinda rare but not really".
Yeah, I remember that well when the alternate LML appeared here. After you shared the track here in mp3 first, is found its way over the world....I think you love your cousin for giving you her cd ;-)
I took a closer look at the MercadoLibre website and I saw that the GHII disc (Made in Mexico) has variant discs colours: one is silver, the other is blue...Collecting Queen never ends...
About Wilki: unfortunately his website QueenDigital is no longer online. It was a great resource for information. I think he had to put his focus on colleges and "killed" his website. A knowledgeable and friendly guy.