The 6CD + 1 LP I box set contains 63 tracks with 43 brand new mixes, comprising the original album with its intended running order restored, intimate fly-on-the-wall audio of Queen in the studio, demos, rare live tracks, and previously unheard recordings from Queen's first ever live performance in London, August 1970. Absent from the 1973 release, the song "Mad the Swine" has been reinstated to its original place in the running order. A 108-page book containing handwritten lyrics and memorabilia accompanies the release.
Queen recorded the album with producer Roy Thomas Baker at Trident Studios, where the band was forced to follows the company’s standard procedures despite their attempts to request the freedom to use the tools they felt they needed to capture their musical vision on tape.
"They had this very dead drum sound, and it was never the sound we wanted,” says Roger Taylor. “They had a drum booth, and it was a well-known sound. It was kind of American. Very dry, quite fat, dead sound, which is not what I wanted. I wanted to hear the drums resonate, to hear the sound of the drum. I didn't even have my proper kit in there. It was a bit rough really. So the album never sounded as we wanted it to."
"This is not just a remaster," writes Brian May in the CD sleeve insert notes, "this is a brand new 2024 rebuild of the entire Queen debut album, which, with the benefit of hindsight, we have re-titled QUEEN I. All the performances are exactly as they originally appeared in 1973, but every instrument has been revisited to produce the 'live' ambient sounds we would have liked to use originally. The result is "Queen" as it would have sounded with today's knowledge and technology - a first. ‘Queen I’ is the debut album we always dreamed of bringing to you."
Originally launched with the lead single “Keep Yourself Alive”, the project went on to reach the top 25 in the band’s native UK as the group introduced themselves to music fans around the world.
The 2024 edition has been remixed and restored by Justin Shirley-Smith, Joshua J Macrae and Kris Fredriksson to sound the way the band always wanted it to; this is the very first time that a Queen album has ever received a new stereo mix.
The set also features a series of 1971-1972 demos recorded at London’s De Lane Lea Studios; backing tracks and out-takes recorded in both UK studios; BBC radio broadcasts from the era; and, a live recording presenting the best performances of the first album's songs from Queen's triumphant March 1974 headline date at London's Rainbow Theatre, with several previously-unreleased tracks added.
"Essentially with the Queen I box set we've made the actual album sound the way we wanted it to sound using the techniques that we have now,” adds Taylor. “We've made the drums sound like they should sound and, the overall sound of it is better, the mixes are better. So it's been a delight to improve it, to bring it up to where we wanted it to be."
“Queen 1” will be available in a 6CD+1LP box set Queen I Collector's Edition, as well as Vinyl LP Queen I - 2024 Mix plus 1 CD, 2CD Deluxe Edition, 1LP Picture Disc and Cassette formats.
Pick up some Queen for your collection here.
See also:
Queen guitarist Brian May recovering from stroke
Queen announce expanded Queen Rock Montreal release
Queen share final episode of The Greatest Live
Queen share Freddie Mercury tributes on The Greatest Live
Search Queen at hennemusic
