If you're new to Queen and you're planning on getting the Platinum collection, then I can tell you for sure that you won't be dissapointed... however, it would be a better choice to get the old "Greatest Hits I & II" box set with "Made In Heaven" added.
Why??... because "Greatest Hits I & II" has the best of Queen from 1974-1991, and the only album that Queen put out after Freddie Mercury's death in 1991 was 'Made In Heaven'

Greatest Hits 3 has the hit tracks from Made In Heaven, plus some good hits that weren't before included (These Are The Days, No One But You, Princes Of The Universe, Thank God It's X-mas).
The bad thing is that Greatest Hits 3 has a bunch of refills that should have never been included... "Under Pressure (Mix)", "The Show Must Go On" (w/ Elton John) and a horrible version of "Another One Bites The Dust" by Wyclef Jean that ruins this album just as much as Jar Jar Binks ruined Star Wars: Episode I.

What is even more annoying about Greatest Hits 3 is the fact that they left out REAL QUEEN HITS, like... Tie Your Mother Down, Scandal, and Love Of My Life and they had to include a bunch of tracks that aren't even QUEEN songs.

You wouldn't regret buying 'The Platinum Collection' but I can almost guarantee that when you listen the 3rd CD, you'd want to skip tracks 1,2, and especially 14!!.

Note the name of this compilation of songs. "Queens greatest hits". Not the best of, or queen stuff or something like that. The first 2 Cds are great but the third is pure rubbish! Maybe it is because the 3rd is severely wanting that they felt the need to combine it with the other two. What is the point? You probably already own at least GH one or two or maybe "classic queen" but there is no real reason to own GH3. Don't buy it!

Queen is one of my all time favorite rock bands and i own 2/3 of all their albums. I persoanlly think it is an abomination that songs performed by other people would make a so called queen CD. If somebody wants to do a queen tribute Cd using various artists much like they did with elton john's songs it would be great. But to throw these songs onto queen greatest hits CD? It's obvious that this is just a way to keep the wheel greased. That maybe; probably; a wycliff jean, david bowie, elton john or george micheal fan will snap this up just because they appear on it. I just think it harms the queen legacy.

I also object to using marginally popular solo efforts on a GH CD. Including freedie's or brian's solo material just cheapens evertything. The solo stuff just isn't the same, isn't as good. Sorry.

Want to experience queen? Than buy the first album "Queen". Then buy "Queen 2" and then maybe "Night at the opera". Experience one of rock's great bands the way you should.

3 discs, 17 songs each, 51 songs. The Platinum Collection supplants the gold Greatest Hits I & II CD along with the third greatest hits CD that came out later. But is uniting them justifiable? For Queen completists, this is the best thing barring a box set collecting all their albums together. For me, the sound of Freddie's voice, backed by the operatic backing vocals of the others did it for me.

On the first disc, all the familiar tracks that have been played to death on radio are here. The perennial classic, "Bohemian Rhapsody" leads the disc. The disc ends with another all-time classic, the overplayed "We Will Rock You" and its companion track, "We Are The Champions." which will be heard as long as America has sports events. Then there's "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race." "Flash" is a campy but fun track from Flash Gordon, and I always had a thing for the skiffle/50's rock of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love."

Two Highlander songs are on disc two, "A Kind Of Magic" and "Who Wants To Live Forever." The classic David Bowie collaboration "Under Pressure" is also here. "I Want It All" is a hard-driving rocker from The Miracle. A quick note: I was at NMSU when Freddie Mercury died, and my colleagues Nicholas and Frank speculated that "Who Wants To Live Forever" and "The Show Must Go On" took on new meanings, as we figured that Freddie knew he was dying and had stoically accepted his fate. The same can be said for "Too Much Love Will Kill You", on disc three.

The third disc should not, repeat, be denounced as a plate of warmed over leftovers. Far from it, most of them have Freddie Mercury on vocals, whether with Queen or solo. Elton John proves himself worthy of subbing for Freddie in "The Show Must Go On," a tragic anthem that fit both Freddie and Princess Diana. The mix of "Under Pressure" isn't that bad either. And the anthemic "Princes Of The Universe" from Highlander is thankfully included. The hard driving (pardon the pun) "Driven By You" proves that Brian May has got what it takes to be the new lead singer should he and the other two decide to make an album as a threesome. And the inclusion of Wyclef Jean's take on "Another One Bites The Dust" is tolerable.

My personal favorites: "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Under Pressure", "The Show Must Go On", "Who Wants To Live Forever", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Flash", "I Want It All", "Headlong", "Somebody To Love", and "Driven By You".

The history and chart successes of each single, along with the picture of each single album cover in the booklet really helps out. I had to laugh at the members in drag on the "I Want To Break Free" single.

If one has the gold Queen double CD along with the third greatest hits volume, this collection is superfluous. However, for those who want a crash course in Queen, this is ideal.

Queen was pure glam rock. Freddie Mercury was 1 in a million, his voice was the best in rock (Robert Plant's is second). He was incredibly flamboyant, and operatic and Queen definitely gave the greatest live shows of our time. They sounded like no other band with four hit songwriters who wrote many songs that would later become sports anthems or movie themes such as the amazing Flash, Who Wants To Live Forever, One Vision, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions and Another One Bites The Dust. The 1st Disc is 70's glam rock Queen and the second disc is 80's pop rock Queen. I prefer this collection over the 2 previous Hollywood releases of 'Classic Queen' and 'Greatest Hits' because this version has one of my favorite Queen songs, "Innuendo," and the song "Flash" that was on the original greatest hits album from 1981. The song order is also better. The only flaw on the second disc is the recording of "Under Pressure." This version sounds different than the one on `Classic Queen.' The base is much softer and the vocals don't flow as well.

A reminder: Disc Three is not a greatest hits cd. It's a cd of mostly solo works, songs from the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, and songs from the album `Made In Heaven,' an album that came out after Freddie died. The third disc does not do the band any justice and should be re-released with actual hits or songs from Queen during their prime years. Hopefully, Queen's Brian May will someday release a true best-of collection with classic songs that did not make the hit chart but were true masterpieces. I'm talking about the songs: Spread Your Wings, You Take My Breath Away, Love of My Life, Melancholy Blues, Teo Torriatte, Death On Two Legs, The Prophet Song, 39', and Seaside Rendezvous. Songs on 'Queen II' like Procession, White Queen, The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, Nevermore and March Of The Black Queen should also not be ignored.
If you want a great introduction to Queen with their most popular hits, this is it. But, if you want more on the best of Queen, I recommend you pick up 'Queen II', 'A Night At The Opera,' and `A Day At The Races.' These are Queen's three best albums and Queen during their prime.

I remember growing up in the 70's when Queen was perhaps one of the first rock acts to make me sit up and listen. When I got this Platinum Collection at a bargain price of ..., I assumed that the whole collection would stand on its own. To me, it doesn't. The songs from Greatest Hits I are indeed classics, as are some from Greatest Hits II. But midway through II and into most of III, you get the feeling the "best" of Queen pretty much resides in the albums themselves as secret nuggets (hell, News of the World is better than II or III individually). The "greatest hits" from II and III are really better known in the UK; a large chunk of these selections will likely be unfamiliar to most casual fans, but then again, maybe I lost touch with Queen after The Game in the early 80s. I found a large majority of the songs on the second and third discs to be mediocre, dated, and very synth-oriented. However, the clarity and remastering make up for the flaws, and disc one by itself (and the enclosed booklet) is worth the price of admission. For a casual Queen fan, don't expect to know much beyond disc II.