Queen have announced a new edition of their 1973 self-titled debut album. Scheduled for release on October 25, it’ll be available across a number of different formats, including a remixed, remastered and expanded multi-disc set.
“This is not just a remaster,” writes Brian May, “this is a brand new 2024 rebuild of the entire Queen debut album, which, with the benefit of hindsight, we have re-titled Queen I.
“All the performances are exactly as they originally appeared in 1973, but every instrument has been revisited to produce the ‘live’ ambient sounds we would have liked to use originally. The result is Queen as it would have sounded with today’s knowledge and technology – a first. Queen I is the debut album we always dreamed of bringing to you.”
“They had this very dead drum sound, and it was never the sound we wanted,” says drummer Roger Taylor. “They had a drum booth, and it was a well-known sound. It was kind of American. Very dry, quite fat, dead sound, which is not what I wanted. I wanted to hear the drums resonate, to hear the sound of the drum. I didn’t even have my proper kit in there. It was a bit rough really. So the album never sounded as we wanted it to.”
“We wanted everything to sound like it was in your face,” adds May. “We had this incredible fight to get the drums out of the booth and into the middle of the studio and put the mics all around the room.
“I remember saying to [producer] Roy Thomas Baker, ‘This isn’t really the sound we want. And he said, ‘Don’t worry, we can fix it all in the mix.’ And I think we all knew it ain’t going to happen.”
The Collector’s Edition set is spread across six CDs and a single vinyl LP containing 63 tracks in total, including 43 new mixes. The original album has had the intended running order restored, and Mad The Swine now nestles between Great King Rat and My Fairy King. Mad The Swine was originally released as the b-side of Queen’s 1991 single Headlong, and featured on the 1991 and 2011 reissues of the debut album.
The Collector’s Edition also includes a 108-page book containing handwritten lyrics and memorabilia, fly-on-the-wall audio of Queen in the studio, demos, rare live tracks, and two previously unheard recordings from an early Queen show, recorded at London’s Imperial College in August 1970 before bassist John Deacon had joined the band.
Queen have also released the first single from the set, a newly remixed version of The Night Comes Down, which will be released as a vinyl 7″ single on October 4.
“The Night Comes Down is based on acoustic guitar, my beautiful old acoustic,” says May. “But the guitar harmonies are all electric. People in those days used to say, ‘You can’t mix electric guitar with acoustic guitar.’ They would say the electric guitar is too loud for the acoustic. And I went, ‘Come on, it’s just a question of balancing in the mix.’ The Night Comes Down was like a demonstration. ‘Yes, we can do this. We can make our own rules!'”
In addition to the Collector’s set, Queen I will also be released on single vinyl LP, picture disc and cassette, and in single and double CD editions. Full tracklist below.
Queen I is available to pre-order now.
Queen I Collector’s Edition (6CD+LP)
CD1: Queen I – 2024 Mix
1. Keep Yourself Alive
2. Doing All Right
3. Great King Rat
4. Mad The Swine
5. My Fairy King
6. Liar
7. The Night Comes Down
8. Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll
9. Son And Daughter
10. Jesus
11 Seven Seas Of Rhye…
CD2: De Lane Lea Demos – 2024 Mix
1. Keep Yourself Alive
2. The Night Comes Down
3. Great King Rat
4. Jesus
5. Liar
CD3: Queen I Sessions
1. Keep Yourself Alive (Trident Take 13 – Unused Master)
2. Doing All Right (Trident Take 1 – with Guide Vocal)
3. Great King Rat (De Lane Lea Take 1 – with Guide Vocal)
4. Mad The Swine (Trident Take 3 – with Guide Vocal)
5. My Fairy King (Trident Backing Track In Development)
6. Liar (Trident Take 1 – Unused Master)
7. The Night Comes Down (De Lane Lea Takes 1 & 2 – with Guide Vocal)
8. Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll (Trident Takes 8 & 9)
9. 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)
CD4: Queen I Backing Tracks
1. Keep Yourself Alive
2. Doing All Right
3. Great King Rat
4. Mad The Swine
5. My Fairy King
6. Liar
7. The Night Comes Down
8. Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll
9. Son And Daughter
10. Jesus
11. Seven Seas Of Rhye…
CD5: Queen I At The BBC
1. My Fairy King (BBC Session 1, February 1973)
2. Keep Yourself Alive (BBC Session 1, February 1973)
3. Doing All Right (BBC Session 1, February 1973)
4. Liar (BBC Session 1, February 1973)
5. Keep Yourself Alive (BBC Session 2, July 1973)
6. Liar (BBC Session 2, July 1973)
7. Son And Daughter (BBC Session 2, July 1973)
8. Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll (BBC Session 3, December 1973)
9. Great King Rat (BBC Session 3, December 1973
10. Son And Daughter (BBC Session 3, December 1973
11. Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll (BBC Session 4, April 1974)
CD6: Queen I Live
1. Son And Daughter (Live at the Rainbow – March 1974)
2. Guitar Solo (Live at the Rainbow – March 1974)
3. Son And Daughter (Reprise) (Live at the Rainbow – March 1974)
4. Great King Rat (Live at the Rainbow – March 1974)
5. Keep Yourself Alive (Live at the Rainbow – March 1974)
6. Drum Solo (Live at the Rainbow – March 1974)
7. Keep Yourself Alive (Reprise) (Live at the Rainbow – March 1974)
8. Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll (Live at the Rainbow – March 1974)
9. Liar (Live at the Rainbow – March 1974)
10. Hangman (Live in San Diego – March 1976)
11. Doing All Right (Live in San Diego – March 1976)
12. Jesus (Live at Imperial College – August 1970)
13. I’m A Man (Live at Imperial College – August 1970)
LP: Queen I – 2024 Mix
Side One
1. Keep Yourself Alive
2. Doing All Right
3. Great King Rat
4. Mad The Swine
5. My Fairy King
Side Two
1. Liar
2. The Night Comes Down
3. Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll
4. Son And Daughter
5. Jesus
6. Seven Seas Of Rhye…
