Queen’s debut album ‘Queen’ (often wrongly described as ‘untitled’ by various journalists) has been released in a remixed version as ‘Queen 1’.
This reissue presents the album in a completely new light as it has been remixed from the original multitrack masters for the first time as the only Queen album that offers listeners and fans a completely new listening experience according to Brian May and Roger Taylor.
They have coordinated this project as ‘executive producers’. Brian has said in various interviews, including with Jools Holland on the BBC, that the album now sounds the way they always wanted it to.
The original album was recorded in 1972 and released in July 1973 by EMI Records in the UK and Western Europe and Elektra in the US. With the singles Keep Yourself Alive and Liar the album reached gold status in the UK and the US and has been a classic among Queen fans ever since.
I bought this LP just after the summer holidays of 1973 at the record store De Troubadour in Emmen, after I had heard four songs on the radio program of TROS DJ Hugo van Gelderen on Hilversum 3 a week earlier and I liked them so much that I went to the store the next day during lunch break.
The band and LP were unknown, but fortunately they were on the release list and so I ordered them right away and then advised the owner to order more copies because I was convinced that this would become a very big band.
And how does this 2024 version sound? In terms of sound, as far as I’m concerned, it’s a-ma-zing! I hear details that I never noticed or, better said, never heard in all the hundreds of times that I’ve listened to this album, both on vinyl and on CD.
The music is of course still superior after almost 50 years, it’s not for nothing that it’s my all-time favorite Queen album, but I still have criticisms!
Because as nice as it is that they added the song Mad The Swine, which was dropped from the album at the time, they should have done this differently, namely as the last track and not as the fourth song… because the experience of the album is immediately different because you have been used to hearing the song My Fairy King after Great King Rat for years… and that really takes some getting used to!
Mad The Swine was not dropped from the album for nothing at the time… should have left it that way, as far as I’m concerned. To be clear: it is certainly not a bad song and I already knew it from previously released CDs, so I have known it for years.
And furthermore: I thought I heard with some songs that Freddie’s vocals had been tinkered with, which is of course unimaginable and should never have been done! But anyway, that is my opinion and to be honest I have now gotten used to the 2024 mix and I don’t really hear that anymore.
The second CD ‘Queen 1 Sessions’ contains twelve session recordings of the songs from the original album, supplemented with the B-side of the first single Keep Yourself Alive, the bluesy See What A Fool I’ve Been, which I have always found a beautiful song. In between the songs, which were recorded in both studios Trident and De Lane Lea, you hear the voices of the band members, with Freddie Mercury in the lead role, but also Brian, Roger and John.
This CD is, as it were, a compilation of the 63 songs on 6 CDs in the box set. It is nice to be able to hear all those older versions of the songs.
The aforementioned box is of course a great treat for the ‘real and diehard’ Queen fans, on which you can hear the songs in all stages of construction (with and without ‘guide vocals’ and sometimes instrumental) and with a lot more talking between the songs, often discussions about what has just been played.
In addition, there are BBC recordings and beautiful live recordings from Imperial College in London (1970), the Rainbow Theatre in London and from San Diego (1976), on which you can hear that the band was already a strong live band in the early seventies. In addition to those CDs, there is also a 180 gram LP in the box with the 2024 remix.
The box is definitely recommended, but expensive. I think it’s a shame that no surround versions have been added, for example the 2024 mix on 1 DVD… after all, they had all the multitrack tapes at their disposal. A mistake in my opinion. It should have been possible for that price…
Tracks:
CD 1: 2024 Mix
01. Keep Yourself Alive
02. Doing All Right
03. Great King Rat
04. Mad The Swine
05. My Fairy King
06. Liar
07. The Night Comes Down
08. Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll
09. Son And Daughter
10. Jesus
11. Seven Seas Of Rhye…
CD 2 Queen I Sessions
01. Keep Yourself Alive (Trident Take 13 – Unused Master)
02. Doing All Right (Trident Take 1 – with Guide Vocal)
03. Great King Rat (De Lane Lea Take 1 – with Guide Vocal)
04. Mad The Swine (Trident Take 3 – with Guide Vocal)
05. My Fairy King (Trident Backing Track In Development)
06. Liar (Trident Take 1 – Unused Master)
07. The Night Comes Down (De Lane Lea Takes 1 & 2 – with Guide Vocal)
08. Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll (Trident Takes 8 & 9)
09. Son And Daughter (Trident Takes 1 & 2 – with Guide Vocal)
10. Jesus (De Lane Lea Take 2 – with Guide Vocal)
11. Seven Seas Of Rhye… (Trident Take 3)
12. See What A Fool I’ve Been (De Lane Lea Test Session)
