Dear queen fans,
On the '91 hollywood Record release of the Queen I album is a track called Keep Yourself Alive - Long lost retake.
Is it very different than the original song?
By the way, are those '91 remixes any good? (I'm not much of a remix fan myself).
There are a few exceptions to the remixes that are worth a listen (Ogre Battle, I'm In Love With My Car...).
As for the KYA retake, it's a little more live-ish, and, as Brian said, it has more quirks than the original. That is definately no lie...
I think this version is pretty cool. It kind of fades in at the beginning, with heavy drums keeping up with the guitar melody. It sounds more like a live version in terms of performance, kind of raw, which is probably why they didn't use it. This is not a remix though, it's an alternate version. Later renamed to just 'long lost version' for a promo 5-track of Keep Yourself Alive versions as I understand it.
Some of the Hollywood remixes are not too bad.. Tie Your Mother Down is kind of neat. Others are pointless and just change the sound of the drums with processing (such as 'Liar'). Then we venture into the bad... 'Body Language' simply has an annoying looped drumbeat dubbed over for the entire song and the occasional piano notes inserted.. totally irritating. And then to the horrible.. the house/techno/rap type mixes.
i kinda like the Seven Seas Of Rhye, Somebody To Love, Tie Your Mother Down & Fat Bottomed Girls remixes! but the Stone Cold Crazy, Liar, Ogre Battle, and the rest are pretty useless...
The extra tracks on Hollywood Records cd's like I Go Crazy and Mad The Swine are great