| Queenzone Ghost 26.01.2011 10:41 |
“We aimed for the top slot and we were not going to be satisfied with anything less.†Freddie Mercury March 2011 sees the re-release of Queen’s first five albums – one of the most exciting and influential back catalogues of all time. Recorded in the maelstrom of the early 1970’s London music scene Queen created a groundbreaking and unique soundtrack that remains globally influential today. Theatrical, imaginative, diverse, melodic and unpredictable they had a sound and a look all of their own. Sitting alongside their contemporaries like Led Zep and David Bowie, Queen set the standard for British rock in the 1970’s and became one of the most thrilling, glamorous and downright rock n roll bands of all time, directly influencing a contemporary roll call of artists from Foo Fighters & Axl Rose to Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. “Queenâ€, “Queen IIâ€, “Sheer Heart Attackâ€, “A Night At The Opera†and “A Day At The Races†have been specially re-mastered and each will be released as a standard CD as well as a deluxe 2 disc set which will feature new bonus content. Each deluxe album will be released on iTunes featuring bonus tracks plus additional sleeve notes, unseen pictures and videos. The albums also set the scene for their bands forthcoming Stormtroopers In Stilettos Global exhibition that launches in London on 25th February. From the pure raw rock of “Queen†through to the majestic anthems on “A Day At The Racesâ€, the first five albums highlight the diverse talent, musical ambition and already global success of a band made up of some of the best songwriters, musicians and performers of all time. ‘Queen’, recently nominated by Dave Grohl as his favourite album of all time, was recorded in the same studio that David Bowie was recording Ziggy Stardust. Because they didn’t have any money, the album was recorded on Bowies downtime, so Queen were literally recording at 3AM after Bowie had gone to bed. ‘Queen’ is their heaviest album, influenced by The Who, Hendrix and Led Zep and contains some of their hardest rocking songs, and also some of their most imaginative. Like all subsequent Queen albums, no two songs sound the same and there are mixtures of light and shade, the band teasing one minute with a lullaby, then blowing your head off. ‘Queen II’ is the real beginning of Queen as we know it. It’s the first time we hear the multi layered overdubs, the harmonies, the varied musical styles (ballads, folk, blues, thrash metal, pop and rock, it’s all there). It also includes their first hit single ‘Seven Seas of Rhye’, which led to the first of many iconic performances on Top of the Pops. The band recorded ‘Queen II’ in just over a month in 1973 ahead of its release in 1974. The album cover was shot by legendary photographer Mick Rock and inspired by a Marlene Dietrich portrait. The image was later brought to life in the revolutionary Bohemian Rhapsody video. ‘Sheer Heart Attack’, Roger Taylor’s favourite Queen album, was released in 1974 and reached Number 2 in the UK. Prior to this Queen were mostly considered a heavy rock band, but this album experimented with a variety of musical genres, including music hall, heavy metal, ballads and ragtime. At this point Queen started to move away from the progressive tendencies of their first two releases into a more radio-friendly, song-orientated style, illustrated by ‘Killer Queen’, which was their biggest hit at that point reaching No 2 in the UK. It also went to No 12 in the US Billboard Charts, the first of many hits there. A song about a high-class call girl, it contains the guitar solo that Brian May is most proud of and won Freddie his first Ivor Novello Award. ‘A Night at The Opera’, named after the Marx Bros film, is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest albums of all time. Exceptional on every level, musically, lyrically and artistically, Queen took the strongest elements of their previous two albums to make the ultimate winning combination. The most expensive album ever recorded at that time, it delivered rock, opera, heavy metal, romance, ballads, pop, sci-fi folk, music hall, ‘trad jazz’ and even the National Anthem. The album contains perhaps the most famous rock song of all time, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ which went on to spend fourteen weeks and number one, be voted Song of the Millennium, become the only song in history to reach Xmas No 1 twice and sell a million copies on two separate occasions. Queen also recorded the first official pop promo for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ as they were on tour and could not appear on Top of The Pops and this video paved the way for MTV and VH1. By 1976, Queen were back in the studio recording ‘A Day At The Races’, which was written and recorded by Queen at their happiest, riding on the crest of a wave and loving every second. The album is an infectiously jubilant piece of music full of love, optimism and good old fashioned rock and roll. Like ‘A Night at the Opera’ it again borrowed the name of a Marx Bros movie, and its cover was similar to that of ‘A Night at the Opera’, a variation on the same Queen Crest. It reached number one on the British charts and features the classics ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, Freddie Mercury’s personal favourite composition ‘Somebody To Love’ and ‘Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy’ Source: link |
| Michael Scapp 26.01.2011 18:15 |
start saving your pennies. I wonder if after all the albums are re-released, if they then decide to release a huge box which includes all of the albums and their respective bonus discs in one package. |
| Kacoblin 26.01.2011 20:48 |
FULL TRACKLISTINGS FOR EACH ALBUM: Queen 1. Keep Yourself Alive 2. Doing All Right 3. Great King Rat 4. My Fairy King 5. Liar 6. The Night Comes Down 7. Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll 8. Son And Daughter 9. Jesus 10. Seven Seas Of Rhye Bonus Tracks 1. Keep Yourself Alive (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971) 2. The Night Comes Down (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971 3. Great King Rat (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971) 4. Jesus (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971) 5. Liar (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971) 6. Mad The Swine (June 1972) Queen 2 1. Procession 2. Father To Son 3. White Queen (As It Began) 4. Some Day One Day 5. The Loser In The End 6. Ogre Battle 7. The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke 8. Nevermore 9. The March Of The Black Queen 10. Funny How Love Is 11. Seven Seas Of Rhye Bonus Tracks 1. See What A Fool I’ve Been (BBC Session, July 1973 – 2011 remix) 2. White Queen (Live at Hammersmith Odeon, December 1975) 3. Seven Seas of Rhye (Instrumental Mix 2011) 4. Nevermore (BBC Session, April 1974) 5. See What A Fool I’ve Been (B-side version, February 1974) Sheer Heart Attack 1. Brighton Rock 2. Killer Queen 3. Tenement Funster 4. Flick Of The Wrist 5. Lily Of The Valley 6. Now I’m Here 7. In The Lap Of The Gods 8. Stone Cold Crazy 9. Dear Friends 10. Misfire 11. Bring Back That Leroy Brown 12. She Makes Me (Stormtrooper In Stilettos) 13. In The Lap Of The Gods . . . Revisited Bonus Tracks 1. Now I’m Here (Live at Hammersmith Odeon, December 1975) 2. Flick of the Wrist (BBC Session, October 1974) 3. Tenement Funster (BBC Session, October 1974) 4. Bring Back That Leroy Brown (A cappella Mix 2011) 5. In The Lap of the Gods..Revisited (Live at Wembley Stadium, July 86) A Night At The Opera 1. Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To…) 2. Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon 3. I’m In Love With My Car 4. You’re My Best Friend 5. ’39 6. Sweet Lady 7. Seaside Rendezvous 8. The Prophet’s Song 9. Love Of My Life 10. Good Company 11. Bohemian Rhapsody 12. God Save The Queen Bonus Tracks 1. Keep Yourself Alive (Long-Lost Retake, June 1975) 2. Bohemian Rhapsody (Operatic Section A cappella Mix 2011) 3. You’re My Best Friend (Backing Track Mix 2011) 4. I’m In Love With My car (Guitar & Vocal Mix 2011) 5. ’39 (Live at Earl’s Court, June 1977) 6. Love Of My Life (South American Live Single, June 1979) A Day At The Races 1. Tie Your Mother Down 2. You Take My Breath Away 3. Long Away 4. The Millionaire Waltz 5. You And I 6. Somebody To Love 7. White Man 8. Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy 9. Drowse 10. Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) Bonus Tracks 1. Tie Your Mother Down (Backing Track Mix 2011) 2. Somebody To Love (Live at Milton Keynes, June 1982) 3. You Take My Breath Away (Live in Hyde Park, September 1976) 4. Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (Top of the Pops, July 1977)(Mono) 5. Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) (HD Mix) It appears as though we won't be recieving anything really new. I suppose the de lane demos in high definition will be nice. I guess this is Queen's way of attracting moderate queen fans into venturing further into their music. I'm looking forward to seeing the unseen videos, and bonus songs on i-tunes. |
| geoagustín 30.01.2011 08:23 |
I am very disappointed with the bonus tracks. Where are Silver Salmon, Polar Bear, Hangman, and all the songs from Trident Sessions. I really don't know who advice them, but the chosen extra tracks sucks!!! They have so much material to release from the early days and they include these!!! PAUPER!!!!!!!!!! |
| silver_salmon 30.01.2011 09:21 |
The only reason to say "This Deluxe edition" are good....is If QP announces a Box with demos, early takes, alternative takes, in order unreleased material. Otherwise, This is a Rip Off! |
| GARKeuz 10.02.2011 23:43 |
HI everyone..Roger and Brian said that they were changing the label due to the poor publicity about Cosmos... and what is this? Is this better? 20 years have passed..many promises of Earls court, Kampuchea, Hyde park, hammersmith, Rainbow, demos,etc..and this is a shame.. a lack of repect for the fans that still wait and spend their money in thngs that we already have,,,remastered for the..fourth? fifth time? please.. can you give us what we want? I dont want an expensive box like the one they did with freddie, id rather a release part by part of intresting material both cd and dvd or blu ray..but this? no thanks... thanks freddie for all that you gave us and to john for stepping out of this almost in time... |
| Soundfreak 11.02.2011 06:20 |
It's quite funny that some fans always see Brian and Roger as the "bad guys" for not giving them exactly what they want. And then they declare Freddie and John as the good guys. Why? John is no longer interested in Queen and would probably release nothing at all. Unlike Brian and Roger he did nothing to keep the memory of Queen alive since he retired. I fully respect that, but I can't see why he is the good guy compared to Brian and Roger. When it comes to Freddie I doubt we would have heard any outtake so far as he was extremely worried about leaving anything unfinished behind in a studio. I doubt he would have ever allowed his box-set to be released These re-releases are definitely not what fans have wanted. But mainly they are made to replace the EMI albums. |
| notimeforlosers 11.02.2011 23:10 |
Soundfreak wrote: It's quite funny that some fans always see Brian and Roger as the "bad guys" for not giving them exactly what they want. And then they declare Freddie and John as the good guys. Why? John is no longer interested in Queen and would probably release nothing at all. Unlike Brian and Roger he did nothing to keep the memory of Queen alive since he retired. I fully respect that, but I can't see why he is the good guy compared to Brian and Roger. When it comes to Freddie I doubt we would have heard any outtake so far as he was extremely worried about leaving anything unfinished behind in a studio. I doubt he would have ever allowed his box-set to be released These re-releases are definitely not what fans have wanted. But mainly they are made to replace the EMI albums. Wow! Where's the "like" button to this post? I'm tired of everyone complaining about Roger and Brian and about their decisions regarding to releases, appearances, contributions and the list goes on. Man, is that the band you love or the band you hate? As much as I respect John he has done nothing to keep Queen alive, pretty differently from Rog and Bri. Stop complaining and enjoy yourselves all the treasures we already have from the official releases through our very bootlegs. Isn't the legacy enough? |
| Goodoldfashionedloverboy 08.03.2011 04:22 |
Interestingly, somebody is going to buy two-disc reissue of the first five studio albums Queen?? |
| The Fairy King 08.03.2011 11:13 |
Maybe the first 3 albums. |