"Deep Cuts Volume One" is designed as a companion piece to the first five Queen albums, which are being re-issued by Island Records on March 14 as part of the band’s 40th anniversary celebrations.
Designed to dig a little deeper than their multi-million selling "Greatest Hits" compilations ("Greatest Hits," by the way, is officially the biggest selling British album of all time, with sales of an incredible 5.7 million copies so far in the UK alone), "Deep Cuts Volume One 1973-1976" showcases a less well-known side of the early Queen story and reveals some brilliant tracks to listeners looking to delve into the band’s founding years’ work for the first time.
The first five Queen albums – “Queen,” “Queen II,” “Sheer Heart Attack,” “A Night At The Opera” and “A Day At The Races” - are a testament not only to the band’s skills as songwriters and musicians, but also to their determination to push the creative and technological envelopes to their absolute limits.
For Queen, the studio was a place of boundless possibilities. From the raw energy and heavy rock of “Queen I” to the more polished “A Day At The Races,” they continued to challenge and innovate. Listening to "Deep Cuts" in the 21st century, you can hear how Queen revolutionized both rock music itself and the way rock music was made.
The booklet notes for "Deeper Cuts" were especially commissioned by Roger Taylor and Brian May from comedy actor and writer Rhys Thomas, an unlikely but unquestionable Queen fan and expert. Thomas publicly showed his vast knowledge of the band appearing on the New Year special edition of Celebrity Mastermind where, answering questions of the subject of his favourite band, Queen, he achieved the distinction of scoring the highest number of correct answers in the history of the television series.
Queen
“Deep Cuts Volume One 1973-1976”
Due: March 14
01 – Ogre Battle
02 – Stone Cold Crazy
03 - My Fairy King
04 - I’m in Love with my Car
05 - Keep Yourself Alive
06 - Long Away
07 - The Millionaire Waltz
08 - ‘39
09 - Tenement Funster
10 - Flick of the Wrist
11 - Lily of the Valley
12 - Good Company
13 - The March of the Black Queen
14 - In the Lap of the Gods...Revisited
Further Queen re-issues will follow in groups of five on June 13 and September 5 through the year as part of Queen's 40th anniversary – each batch will come with its own "Deep Cuts."
Queen Queen – Ogre Battle
Hammersmith Odeon – London, UK – December 24, 1975
See also:
Queen: first 5 albums to be reissued in March
Queen to celebrate 40th Anniversary in 2011
