Only the most extreme
Queen fanatic will be able to keep track of all the different regional compilations that have been released over the years. And the list keeps on growing, as 2005 saw a new Japanese compilation,
Jewels, Vol. 2. By this point, just about every
Queen fan will have been long familiar with either the
Greatest Hits or
Classic Queen packages which, when coupled together, do a pretty fine job of covering the bases. But of course a few gems always manage to slip though the cracks. So -- does this mean that
Jewels, Vol. 2 is the compilation that finally includes such overlooked tracks as
"Liar," "White Queen," "Spread Your Wings," "The Hero," and
"Calling All Girls"? The answer is disappointingly no. Once more,
Jewels, Vol. 2 is a compilation comprised mostly of the same old tracks --
"Now I'm Here," "Bicycle Race," "Tie Your Mother Down" -- with really just one oddity mixed in (
"Teo Torriatte"). Quite a few latter-day tracks are spotlighted as well --
"I Want It All," "These Are the Days of Our Lives," "Hammer to Fall" -- but these have been "compiled" before. One day, hopefully, somebody at
Queen's label will put on their thinking cap, and put together a collection of tracks that have not turned up elsewhere several times already. The music here gets an A+; the lazy track list selection gets a C. ~ Greg Prato
