Queen have announced a newly mixed, mastered, expanded reissue of their 1973 self-titled debut album.
Arriving on October 25, the reimagined version of the band’s breakthrough record comes over half a century after its initial release. It has been remixed and restored by Justin Shirley-Smith, Joshua J Macrae and Kris Fredriksson to fit in with the sound that the members always wanted it to have.
Having formed in 1970 with vocalist Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, bassist John Deacon joined the line-up the following year, and they began work on the debut record.
“The first three years were really faith and fumes. We were penniless but we had a lot of belief in ourselves and a lot of energy,” Taylor said, recalling their time working on the initial release.
“We’d arrive [at the studio] at three in the morning and then go on, for all the hours that we could grab. It was just a grind. I wouldn’t say it was soul-destroying because we were quite confident. We had a sort of innate, gentle arrogance, you know, we thought we were good and quite different.”
As well as delivering a remixed and remastered version of the original tracklist, the reissue also comes with an abundance of new material. These include intimate fly-on-the-wall audio of Queen in the studio, demo tracks, rare live tracks, and previously unheard recordings from the band’s first-ever live performance in August 1970.
Called ‘Queen I’, the boxset comes with six CDs and 1 LP, and contains 63 tracks with 43 brand new mixes.
The song ‘Mad The Swine’ – originally absent from the 1973 release – has also been reinstated to its original place in the running order. It was absent from the original LP following a difference of opinion between the band and one of its producers, however, it is now reinstated as the album’s fourth song. It is slotted between ‘Great King Rat’ and ‘My Fairy King’, just as Queen wanted it to be in 1972.
A 108-page book containing handwritten lyrics and memorabilia also accompanies the release. You can find a photo of the book above, pre-order the boxset here, and find the full tracklist below.
“This is not just a remaster, 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’,” writes Brian May in the CD sleeve insert notes.
“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.”
The ‘Queen I’ Collector’s Edition (6CD+LP) tracklist is:
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…’
News of the remastered version of the debut album comes just a week after May shared a health update with fans, revealing that he recently suffered a stroke which left him without control of one arm.
“I didn’t wanna say anything at the time because I didn’t want anything surrounding it, I really don’t want sympathy. Please don’t do that, because it’ll clutter up my inbox, and I hate that. The good news is I’m OK,” he said on Instagram.
While he seems to be doing much better, he did reveal that he is being made to avoid numerous day-to-day things until he is fully recovered.
Earlier this year, Queen wrapped up a run of tour dates across Japan with Adam Lambert as frontman. They currently do not have any other dates scheduled, meaning that the guitarist will have plenty of time to make a full recovery.