OK, I talked to Jim Beach a bit in Cologne. Our conversation was like this:
MS: "Jim, where's the damn Queen anthology? You promised to release it soon."
JB: "Oh yes, it's scheduled for a release."
MS: "Yes, sure but for what date? 2024?"
JB: "2009 actually."
MS: "OK, enough jokes... when will it be released?"
JB: "2009, seriously."
There you have it. Don't know if he was kidding or not but he seemed to be serious.
The first one should come out in 2011 so that they can re-release the catelog in dual disc form to also include 5.1 like Sony have done for their artist. They need the re-released catelog first so that the box sets will have the latest information concerning what has or has not been released at that point. PLUS the catelog needs to be re-released as dual discs and in 5.1 first so that any unreleased material and film that they want to release with the actual original studio l.p.s will be included and again so that the boxsets will have the latest information concerning their studio c.d. releases. You don't want the box sets released and then re-release the catelog like I said afterwards having material on them that is not discussed on the box sets. Plus they will need a few years for the catelog to sell before any huge box sets are released...
So far for me, the Queen Box set I have been waiting on since 1996, so thats what, 13 some odd-end years?
I remember when made in heaven came out, and at the end of the year they said how Queen was gonna do a box set..*sigh*
Actually I remember in the summer of 1992 that they said that they were going to release a box set of some sort later that year. They did in the U.S. where I am from and it was really cool! It was "The Queen Collection" which was of "Classic Queen", "Greatest Hits", and and interview disc from 1989 (which was quite a rare interview from that time period) which featured their 1984 rare A side single release "Thank God It's Christmas". Other than that I thought that they were going to do a four c.d. set like so many other artists have done or in the same vain as the Led Zeppelin one released in the U.S. in 1990. I still understood after the release of "The Queen Collection" that such a release was going to happen for years after that but Gregg Brooks explained that such a thing was not going to happen but something better and that was to be the what the upcomming box sets will be in a few years. Again the catelog needs to be re-released as dual c.d./d.v.d discs (perhaps two disc sets with one side being the artwork and basic information, the other being the c.d. music side, the second disc being the c.d. music and its opposite side being the d.v.d. part that has all the c.d. music in 5.1 and whatever rare film associated with the project.). Sony have been doing this with many releases so far and I look forward to the industry following suit. I also hope that the booklets will be loaded with more information, pictures, and artwook pertaining to the project itself.