The series sees Brian May and Roger Taylor revisit and reflect on the rocky road to the recording of their first album.
Now signed to Trident, Queen can follow in the footsteps of some of their idols into the famous studios, and finally start work on their first album. However, it's not quite the experience they imagined it to be.
The first challenge was logistical: with Queen at that point a minnow amongst Trident’s roster of big-hitters, the lineup were expected to snatch sessions at dead of night.
“It was tough in the beginning,” says Taylor. “We were really working off-peak hours when the studio was free. Trident Studios was regarded as the studio of the moment in the ’70s. But we’d arrive at three in the morning and go on for all the hours we could grab.”
“It was very tough because we never knew when we were going to get back in there,” adds Brian of the chaotic results. “Tapes got jumbled up and lost, and there was a discontinuity. Sometimes we had to have a different engineer who didn't realise what we'd done before. It was really a mess. It was a hodgepodge, difficult to hold it together. They were tough times.”
Already, Queen had a distinct vision for their debut – which clashed with their Trident paymasters and left the band dissatisfied with the record’s sound until this year’s remastered “Queen I.”
Even so, as Brian reflects, that original pressing still caught the band’s spirit: “As a band, I think we came through. The energy and creative power actually got onto tape. We had enough passion and belief and indulgence to see through that stuff and realize that even though the sounds weren't quite what we wanted, we still had our energy and our vibe.”
“Queen 1” is now 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 release restored Keep Yourself Alive video
Queen launch The Story Of Queen 1 video series
Queen stream 1974 performance of Modern Times Rock N Roll
Queen share 1975 performance of Son And Daughter
Search Queen at hennemusic
