I just bought Queen first album, Japanese mini LP 2001 remastered with the diamond obi strip. To my surprise, this copy I bought also has three bonus tracks from Hollywood Records 1991 version - Mad The Swine, Keep Yourself Alive (long lost retake) and Liar (remix) - and there is no mention about those songs on the back cover and inner sleeve. Is it supposed to be like that? Does anyone in this forum have copy like mine?
One more thing. Upon the closer hearing, I don't hear much difference in sound quality between this version and 1993 Parlophone version. Please tell me what do you think. Thanks.
Thank you for your response. I don't know if I have bought a pirate copy. The print quality of cardboard cover, inner sleeve and CD is very good. So I thought if they did wonderful job in replicating those elements, why they didn't might as well put the proper tracks in it?
I also bought Queen II, A Day at the Races and News of the World. While I only noticed little improvement in sound quality in Queen II, the sound improvement in A Day at the Races and News of the World is amazing!
Where did you buy it ? If it was on eBay or some similar auction site, there is a big chance that the seller had both the HR remaster and the Japan mini-LP and accidentally swapped the discs before he sent it to you.
In this case it's a good idea to contact the seller.
I can't scan the cover and disc. I don't have scanner. But it looks exactly the same like the pictures of any other "Queen" mini LP that I saw on the internet.
Yes, I bought it from eBay, but I don't think the seller has accidentally swapped the disc with HR version. It has Toshiba-EMI Ltd print on it. The disc label side is yellow with the big red EMI logo on the left and track list on the right. But unlike other mini LPs that I bought, it doesn't have "compact disc digital audio" logo on it, and on the data side of the disc there is Q-94802 serial number.
So I think it's either a very well made pirate copy (apart from the unusual track list), or there was an error in pressing.
Anyway, for those of you who have "normal" copy, does "Queen" Japanese mini LP really sound superior than Parlophone version?
jarfath wrote:
I can't scan the cover and disc. I don't have scanner. But it looks exactly the same like the pictures of any other "Queen" mini LP that I saw on the internet.
Yes, I bought it from eBay, but I don't think the seller has accidentally swapped the disc with HR version. It has Toshiba-EMI Ltd print on it. The disc label side is yellow with the big red EMI logo on the left and track list on the right. But unlike other mini LPs that I bought, it doesn't have "compact disc digital audio" logo on it, and on the data side of the disc there is Q-94802 serial number.
So I think it's either a very well made pirate copy (apart from the unusual track list), or there was an error in pressing.
Anyway, for those of you who have "normal" copy, does "Queen" Japanese mini LP really sound superior than Parlophone version?
I think I have solved the mistery! When I was comparing the copy I have with these images link , I noticed the numbers in the box on the back of obi strip.
This "normal" copy has numbers 04.2.11 (73.7.1), while my copy has numbers 04.2.25 (91.1.30).
I think the numbers represent the time of release of this newly remastered version and the original one.
The "normal" copy has track list from original LP which was released on July 1st 1973, and my copy has track list from HR version which was released on January 30th 1991. So, the copy I got is an alternate version of Japan mini LP!
So it was settled. I consider myself lucky to have this rare version instead the "normal" ones.
From what you write it seems that the OBI is from the Innuendo album.
Not only that, the one you have seems to be a fake... I think all the mini-vinyls were repressed in 2007/2008 in Russia.
The differences between the real ones and the fake ones are tiny, but can easily be seen.
The differences:
- no DISC logo (left from the EMI logo) on the fake disc
- under the TRIDENT logo there are 5 lines of text on the original.On the fake one line 4 and 5 are separated
- underneath the big red EMI letters (on the fake disc) other text (cyrillic?) can be seen
Thanks. No, all the fake discs have things that are different. Sometimes the OBI is slightly different, but the thing that gives it away for all discs is the ring and the matrix.
The fake ones all have an all coloured ring around the centre of the disc.
Very interesting thread, indeed. Now I'll know what to check before buying them on the web ! Hopefully I only have two of these (Queen and Queen 2) and they are genuine, according to the detailed information given here.
Thanks once again !
Regards,
Olivier,
Belgium.
Damn! I've been duped by that eBay seller bastard! Thank you for your information Walter B. Let this be a warning to the others who want to buy Queen mini LPs.
