GREATEST HITS II Released: October 28, 1991, UK (EMI /Parlophone)
1995 USA (Hollywood Records)
Charts: UK...entered at #1, four straight weeks at #1 in December, sixty nine straight weeks in the Top 75.
#1 in Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland
#4 in Australia
1992:
#1 in Austria, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, and Spain
#2 in the UK, Germany, and Sweden
#4 in Norway
1993: UK #29
1994: UK #32 (and five of the next six years in the Top 80)
2006: Italy #28
2012: USA #25
2018: Ireland #49
2019: Belgium #25
Certifications:
13x Platinum in UK, Platinum in USA (GH Vol 1 & II ‘box set’)
9x Gold in Germany
Platinum in Italy, Mexico, and Sweden
2x Platinum in Brazil, Finland,
4x Platinum in Austria
5x Platinum in Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland
8x Platinum in Australia
Diamond in Argentina
UK vinyl cover
John Deacon - bass guitar, keyboards
Brian May - guitars, vocals, keyboards
Freddie Mercury - vocals, piano, keyboards
Roger Taylor - drums, percussion, vocals, keyboards
Producers: Queen, Mack and David Richards
SIDE ONE
A Kind Of Magic (Taylor) 4:22
Under Pressure (Queen, David Bowie) 3:57
Radio Ga Ga (Taylor) 5:43
I Want It All 4:01 *
I Want To Break Free (Deacon) 4:18 *
SIDE TWO
Innuendo 6:27
It's A Hard Life (Mercury) 4:09
Breakthru (Queen) 4:09
Who Wants to Live Forever (May) 5:16
SIDE THREE
Headlong 4:37
The Miracle 5:01
I'm Going Slightly Mad 4:22
The Invisible Man 3:58
SIDE FOUR
Hammer To Fall (May) 3:40 *
Friends Will Be Friends (Mercury, Deacon) 4:08
The Show Must Go On 4:37
One Vision 4:02 *
* single versions
All tracks written by Queen unless otherwise noted
****************
The UK and ‘world’ version (minus North America). ‘Under Pressure’ was not available for the UK pressing of ‘Greatest Hits I’, thus its inclusion here.
inner gatefold
sleeves
A somewhat different track order than I would have come up with. ‘One Vision’ or ‘Innuendo’ would have opened, and ‘The Show Must Go On’ would certainly have closed out this collection, along with some changes throughout. The album versions of ‘One Vision’ and ‘I Want It All’ would have been preferable, though I do prefer the 'Hammer To Fall' 45 with its different lead guitar during the instrumental. It was a surprise that the full version of ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ was used.
And then there's that oddity, the 45 version of 'I Want To Break Free', which is
longer than the album version
At the end of the day, with GH I and II, listeners had 33 Top Thirty UK songs available on two discs (minus ‘Las Palabras de Amor (Words Of Love)’, ‘Thank God It’s Christmas’, ‘Scandal’, and uh, er, well ‘Body Language’). ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ (#31), ‘Spread Your Wings’ (#34), and ‘Keep Yourself Alive (NR) still were not part of these UK packages. They would certainly be included on their next hits compilation, right?
Everyone has other favorites to include for their own ‘best ofs’….but there is no filler per se. Personal preference: I replaced 'Radio Ga Ga' with 'Keep Passing The Open Windows', but that's it.
These were their greatest hits after ‘The Game’, and you can’t say they shortchanged the buying public....
....who would rush out to purchase GH II even more so a few weeks later.