Queen’s ‘The Platinum Collection’ Set To Make Vinyl Debut In June
Due out on June 17, the new collection features all three of the band’s ‘Greatest Hits’ albums in an exclusive boxed set.
Queen’s compilation The Platinum Collection, featuring all three of their Greatest Hits albums, is to be for the first time on vinyl on June 17. It contains unrivalled track record of chart-topping, award-winning, record-breaking rock and pop classics writen by all four band members, Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon.
The Platinum Collection was recently certified by UK music industry organization the BPI as eight times Platinum, representing sales of 2.4 million achieved since its June 2011 re-release as part of Queen’s 40th anniversary celebrations.
June 17 will see the limited edition 6LP color vinyl set released in a slipcase with brand new artwork. Each piece of vinyl will be a different color and come in its own individually designed sleeve. The set also comes with an exclusive 24-page 12″ photo booklet.
Queen Greatest Hits, first released in 1981, is the best-selling album of all time in the UK, having sold over 6.8 million copies, with global sales in excess of 25 million. Spanning Queen’s triumphant first act, from 1974 to 1980, Greatest Hits includes some of the world’s most beloved rock standards, including the stadium-sized symphonic chart-topper “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the roof-raising “We Are The Champions,” which was named the most catchy song of all time by a team of scientists in 2011.
The album also offers the crowd-rousing “We Will Rock You,” the irreverent “Fat Bottomed Girls,” the late 7ss disco-inspired “Another One Bites the Dust,” the jukebox retro-rock homage “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” and the soaring, impassioned, gospel-fired “Somebody To Love.”
Queen Greatest Hits II, originally released shortly before Mercury’s death in 1991, has sold over 19 million copies worldwide. It spans 1981 to 1991, the period which followed Queen having dropped their famous ‘no synthesizers” rule elevating them to new heights of creativity. Opening up their guitar-heavy sound to embrace funk, disco and electronics resulted in rich rewards, as the former 70s glam rockers were transformed into contemporary super-group.
Built around an improvised studio jam, their infectious David Bowie collaboration “Under Pressure” became a global chart-topping smash. The retro-futurist epic “Radio Gaga” and the humorously romantic “I Want To Break Free” display their early mastery of synthesizers, while the muscular riffs of “Hammer To Fall” and the octave-vaulting “It’s a Hard Life” are vintage Queen, both sonically and lyrically. Officially the tenth best-selling album of all time in the UK, Greatest Hits 2 also features the tender sentiments of “Friends Will Be Friends,” the synth-rock fanfares of “One Vision,” and the defiant swansong “The Show Must Go On,” featuring Freddie in his last days, still playing shamelessly to the gallery.
Queen Greatest Hits III, rarely available on vinyl, features their latter-day songs, the band members’ solo hits and the band’s collaborations with other artists including Elton John, Montserrat Caballé, George Michael, and Wyclef Jean.
