Queen - Greatest Hits

[Love Expresso]

I guess "A Night At The Opera" could be ranked as a "classic album"?

I've heard some people try to make that argument, but is it REALLY loved like Sgt Peppers, Pet Sounds, Abbey Road, Tubular Bells, Rumours or even BiA? I don't think it is.

Of course you could count in sale figures from all these as well to compare their quality. I think there is room enough for different views. Mentioning BIA, it is a classic album for sure but most of the time it is not so much mentioned for its musical quality but for the CD momentum thing. Sales are six times higher than A Night At The Opera though so you have a point.

LE

[wayaman]

I guess "A Night At The Opera" could be ranked as a "classic album"?

I've heard some people try to make that argument, but is it REALLY loved like Sgt Peppers, Pet Sounds, Abbey Road, Tubular Bells, Rumours or even BiA? I don't think it is.

Of course you could count in sale figures from all these as well to compare their quality. I think there is room enough for different views. Mentioning BIA, it is a classic album for sure but most of the time it is not so much mentioned for its musical quality but for the CD momentum thing. Sales are six times higher than A Night At The Opera though so you have a point.

LE

I don't think that sales marks what makes an album a classic. Obviously sales makes a cd more famous, but my point of view is the musical quality of the record what makes it a classic, how influential it was amongs people and other musicians at the time, and still is.

[dustyvalentino]

I guess "A Night At The Opera" could be ranked as a "classic album"?

I've heard some people try to make that argument, but is it REALLY loved like Sgt Peppers, Pet Sounds, Abbey Road, Tubular Bells, Rumours or even BiA? I don't think it is.

Of course you could count in sale figures from all these as well to compare their quality. I think there is room enough for different views. Mentioning BIA, it is a classic album for sure but most of the time it is not so much mentioned for its musical quality but for the CD momentum thing. Sales are six times higher than A Night At The Opera though so you have a point.

LE

Absolutely, it's all about opinions and there's no hard and fast rule as to what makes a "classic" album.

I've been absorbing all this stuff in books, magazines, online and even (gasp) in person interactions for 40 odd years and I've just never got the feeling that A Night At The Opera is loved and "broke through" to a wider audience like, say, Nevermind by Nirvana.

Queen's Greatest Hits is another story which begs the further question... can a compilation be a classic album?!

[Love Expresso]

I guess "A Night At The Opera" could be ranked as a "classic album"?

I've heard some people try to make that argument, but is it REALLY loved like Sgt Peppers, Pet Sounds, Abbey Road, Tubular Bells, Rumours or even BiA? I don't think it is.

Of course you could count in sale figures from all these as well to compare their quality. I think there is room enough for different views. Mentioning BIA, it is a classic album for sure but most of the time it is not so much mentioned for its musical quality but for the CD momentum thing. Sales are six times higher than A Night At The Opera though so you have a point.

LE

Absolutely, it's all about opinions and there's no hard and fast rule as to what makes a "classic" album.

I've been absorbing all this stuff in books, magazines, online and even (gasp) in person interactions for 40 odd years and I've just never got the feeling that A Night At The Opera is loved and "broke through" to a wider audience like, say, Nevermind by Nirvana.

Queen's Greatest Hits is another story which begs the further question... can a compilation be a classic album?!

The initial idea for this thread came up when I read that Queen's Greatest Hits is Britains Best selling Album of all times (while listening to it on repeat on a rainy Sunday) which astonished me for a country that's so relevant  important in music/Pop culture with countless big acts. . So maybe Queen defies a new categorie and makes Greatest Hits countable?

LE

[Love Expresso]

About if a compilation can be a classic album... this double album has a really homogeneus sound and quality, has a real album feel with a great running order and great varity at the same time. Astonishing for a compilation! Perfect album in many ways.

LE

[wayaman]

A greatest hits is a compilation of different songs from different albums. Not a classic album itself. In my opinion.

[Robson]

A greatest hits is a compilation of different songs from different albums. Not a classic album itself. In my opinion.

Exactly!

[JF]

For me, the classic album is the last one.

The last one is pretty boring to me, for me the last ones that are really good ones are "The Miracle" and "Innuendo". "Made in Heaven" is only interesting because it was the last one with Freddy Mercury recordings on it.

+1000

[JF]

I guess "A Night At The Opera" could be ranked as a "classic album"?

I've heard some people try to make that argument, but is it REALLY loved like Sgt Peppers, Pet Sounds, Abbey Road, Tubular Bells, Rumours or even BiA? I don't think it is.

Of course you could count in sale figures from all these as well to compare their quality. I think there is room enough for different views. Mentioning BIA, it is a classic album for sure but most of the time it is not so much mentioned for its musical quality but for the CD momentum thing. Sales are six times higher than A Night At The Opera though so you have a point.

LE

I don't think that sales marks what makes an album a classic. Obviously sales makes a cd more famous, but my point of view is the musical quality of the record what makes it a classic, how influential it was amongs people and other musicians at the time, and still is.

+1000

[JF]

A greatest hits is a compilation of different songs from different albums. Not a classic album itself. In my opinion.

+1000

[JF]

here are all episodes from the "classic albums" documentaries serie :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_Albums#Episodes

obviously, a night at the opera is among them, but not BIA

[wayaman]

here are all episodes from the "classic albums" documentaries serie :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_Albums#Episodes

obviously, a night at the opera is among them, but not BIA

Before "Classic Albums" was a tv show, it was a radio show, and BIA was one of them:

"History:

The first hour-long series, produced independently by Pidgeon and Scott, opened with Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms in May 1989, followed by The Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet, Genesis' Invisible Touch, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, The Who's Who's Next, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, The Police's Synchronicity, Eagles' Hotel California and U2's The Joshua Tree. Scott died of cancer five months later, and the second series aired posthumously. Further programmes were presented by Richard Skinner.

The first episode of Classic Albums was actually a documentary called "The Making of Sgt. Pepper". This documentary focused on The Beatles' landmark album and was produced in much the same way as the Classic Albums series. Isis Productions and Nick de Grunwald helped co-produce this documentary and it helped lay the template for the Classic Albums series. It aired in 1992 both on the Disney Channel in the United States and ITV's The South Bank Show in the UK."

[dustyvalentino]

Yeah, the TV show doesn't make an album a classic album in my opinion. That really just depends on who they could get to participate. I have no doubt they asked MK and he didn't want to do it. Brian May and Roger Taylor have been VERY keen to talk about themselves since Mercury died.

Some examples of "classic" albums from the TV series:

Suede - Coming Up
Gil Scott Heron - Pieces of A Man
Three different Frank Zappa albums

[dustyvalentino]

About if a compilation can be a classic album... this double album has a really homogeneus sound and quality, has a real album feel with a great running order and great varity at the same time. Astonishing for a compilation! Perfect album in many ways.

LE

Interesting thing... this apparently has different track listings around the word. I own both on (original) vinyl and CD here in the UK, and they are both single albums.

[Robson]

For me, the classic album is the last one.

The last one is pretty boring to me, for me the last ones that are really good ones are "The Miracle" and "Innuendo". "Made in Heaven" is only interesting because it was the last one with Freddy Mercury recordings on it.

+1000

I was thinking about Innuendo