Any Particular Order For Buying Queen Albums?

As a new fan of Queen (about 2 weeks), I do NOT own many Queen Albums. I got Greatest Hits I, II, and III Platinum Edition about a week and a half ago. I especially love GHI. Now, since I'm sure that everyone in my house is sick of hearing "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" on repeat for 2 hours straight (I'm not kidding- I did that while I was cleaning my room), I plan to broaden my Queen library.

Should I buy the CDs in chronological order, as if I had actually been a fan during the 70s, 80s, and early 90s? Or does it not really matter?

It definitely DOES matter! If you start with the Smile CD (Ghost Of A Smile), then progress to Queen I, you will hear the evolution of Queen. You will be so surprised at each progression in each album afterwards. PLEASE don't start with Made In Heaven and go backwards, as some have done in the past -- you need to experience everything in chronological order to fully appreciate Queen's music.

Well, I already bought Greatest Hits I, II, and III. From now on, I'll start from the beginning.

I agree with Lisa (I usually do) - listen from the oldest in order to newest. You should know going into it that most songs on A Day At The Races were said to have been conceived at the same time as most of A Night At The Opera, just finished later. Just fyi - a bit of perspective.

One reason I agree with this order is also to get a firm sense of the tremendous amount they were able to achieve without synthesizers for all those years in the 1970s (everything up through the Jazz LP) - it's truly amazing. Then when they began their use of synths on The Game, not only did they achieve their greatest mainstream acceptance in parts of the globe (for better or worse) but they also left most of their earlier trademarks (guitar echo loops, highly sectional complex songs, etc.) in the dirt, if temporarily. I'd be interested to know what you think once you'd made the trek - have fun exploring!

"..PLEASE don't start with Made In Heaven and go backwards..."

I really believe that order doesn't matter,I enjoy any Queen album without worryin' me about the musical evolution of the group, recently I listened Ibex and Larry Lurex for first time, and I have no reason to don't appreciate their music, I really like, my first Queen albums:

Greatest Hits I
Made In Heaven, GHII
Innuendo
Sheer Heart Attack (one of my fave)
A Night At The Opera

with a small prelude where I bought all Queen videos that I could find

Get Hot Space first.

It makes everything else sound better.

i got them in whatever order i could find. But i do suggest Made In Heaven last.

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]Glossimer wrote: [/QUOTENAME]Get Hot Space first.

It makes everything else sound better. [/QUOTE]

Skip HS. That'll save you both earache and money. :)

[QUOTE][QUOTENAME]GonnaUseMyPrisoners wrote: [/QUOTENAME]I agree with Lisa (I usually do) - listen from the oldest in order to newest. One reason I agree with this order is also to get a firm sense of the tremendous amount they were able to achieve without synthesizers for all those years in the 1970s (everything up through the Jazz LP) - it's truly amazing. Then when they began their use of synths on The Game, not only did they achieve their greatest mainstream acceptance in parts of the globe (for better or worse) but they also left most of their earlier trademarks (guitar echo loops, highly sectional complex songs, etc.) in the dirt, if temporarily. I'd be interested to know what you think once you'd made the trek - have fun exploring![/QUOTE]

Thank you, GUMP! I agree about the synthesizers; it was quite a shock when they started incorporating them into their music when originally they were so proud of not using them (thanks to the incredible sounds from Brian's Red Special) but the results were great. As for Hot Space, when it first came out it was a little painful to listen to but as time went on I grew accustomed to it and ended up actually LIKING it. I understood Freddie's change of direction for that album: he wanted to experiment with new sounds, using horns (!!) and even disco (which was pretty much six feet under by that point in time). Later on, with Mr Bad Guy, it showed up again in the form of dance music.
Freddie was such a chameleon. He was so comfortable with every genre of music and his impressions of them were marvellous!
SP, email me offlist, I have a CDR of all of Queen's albums in chronological order (even Queen At The Beeb!), if you want a copy please let me know!!

Buy them in the order which you are able to find them. I'm not sure why anyone wopuld suggest QUEEN or GHOST OF A SMILE to a novice Queen fan; I would certainly recommend JAZZ, OPERA, or NEWS first. And to say to fully appreciate Queen's music it must be listened to in chronological order is absurd. If that was the case then very few, if any, would "fully appreciate" Queen's music.

My first Queen purchase was the Platinum collection then as a present i recieved Innuendo (recommendation from someone in the shop, my dad said) then basically i started at the end and worked my way back. The order doesnt matter, the only thing that matters is that u have them all! ;)

The first thing I owned by Queen was a tape, side A: mixture of my mum's favourite songs on GH I, side B: mixture of my mum's favourite songs on GH II.
I didn't know when the songs were written and I didn't care until much later when I finally really started to BUY the albums myself.
And I've never bought them in chronological order either and I don't think it would have made a difference if I had. And I don't even have the Smile album.

Once you've got most of them you will notice the difference from album to album.

You've made a good start with the GH compilations cos when you go on buying the albums you will notice that on each album there's at least one song you already know.
Maybe you should start with those albums that feature the songs you like best.

Must Buy chronologicly:-)

haha.
well, for those of you suggesting he starts with in chronological order, I have to disagree.

Imagine getting into Alice Cooper based on his greatest hits stuff which is mainly from his 80's revival onwards and then buying his early albums. Boy, will you be in for a shock. It's not the "heavy Rock" you'd expect!
Again, it's the difference between Queen's early stuff and later stuff and also Aerosmith's early stuff and the stuff they are known for now. Completely different contrasts in musical styles!
Just so you know, I prefer all 3 bands early stuff!!!

My advice is to decide which are your favorite songs on the greatest hits stuff, figure out which albums they are from and buy those albums first.
Personally though, Queen II is the best!!!!!

David

buying? i thought people only downloaded albums these days?