Nobody’s favorite Queen album is their 1973 self-titled debut. And Queen has agreed until now.
Half a century after its release, the group is reissuing the album with a completely rebuilt remix that it hopes will do justice to the rest of the songs. The reissue, due Oct. 25, has a new track list and has been packaged into a lavish edition with alternative takes, demos, and live recordings — including audio from Queen’s first concert in 1970. A track off the reissue, “The Night Comes Down,” will premiere on Friday.
The website for guitarist Brian May, who recently survived a stroke, posted the news and included excerpts from his liner notes for the release, explaining its significance to him. “This is not just a remaster,” he wrote, “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.” He added, “Queen I is the debut album we always dreamed of bringing to you.”
Drummer Roger Taylor explained how he felt the album always sounded mediocre. “They had this very dead drum sound, and it was never the sound we wanted,” he wrote. “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.”
So they decided to “fix the mix,” as May puts it. The new album includes a song, “Mad the Swine,” that they had hoped to include on the original track list. The second disc features the “De Lane Lea Demos,” which the band cut in 1971 and features several songs that made Queen. The recordings have been restored and remixed. There are also discs of session mixes and backing tracks. And the final two discs include live recordings, including songs cut at the BBC and in London in 1974. A team of recording engineers — Justin Shirley-Smith, Joshua J Macrae, and Kris Fredriksson — worked on the box set.
The reissue will also be available as a standalone LP and CD with the 2024 mix, a double-disc CD with the 2024 mix and album sessions, a picture-disc LP, and a cassette. A 7″ vinyl of “The Night Comes Down” will come out Oct. 4.
The last two Rolling Stone album guides rated it two stars out of five, and the blurbs, which described Queen’s origins as a “somewhat crude glam-metal outfit with arty underpinnings,” skipped over both it and Queen II (two-and-a-half stars) to talk about Sheer Heart Attack. Nevertheless, amid its somewhat crude underpinnings, the single “Keep Yourself Alive,” which became a concert staple, helped it eventually achieve gold status. And in fairness, Rolling Stone’s original review of the album described it as “a monster.” Now it’s alive again.
Queen I Collector’s Edition track list:
Disc One: 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…”
Disc Two: De Lane Lea Demos – 2024 Mix
1. “Keep Yourself Alive”
2. “The Night Comes Down”
3. “Great King Rat”
4. “Jesus”
5. “Liar”
Disc Three: 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)
Disc Four: 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…”
Disc Five: 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)
Disc Six: 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)
An included LP includes the Queen I 2024 mix.