It’s taken Queen years to do what pretty much every other major band has done and crack open the door to their archives. They dipped a toe in the water with 2017’s 40th-anniversary News Of The World reissue, but this six-CD, one-LP deluxe box is on another level entirely. Queen I – no, the numeral isn’t a typo, it’s a new addition to the original title – is a thing of beauty on a musical, physical and historical level.
First released in July 1973, the band’s debut album has always languished in the shadow of what followed. At times it’s heavier and rockier than anything else they did, not least the Sabbath-esque Son And Daughter, but the seeds of future greatness are already starting to sprout – a direct line can be drawn from the ornate grandeur of My Fairy King to Bohemian Rhapsody.
A brand new mix adds modern sparkle and different musical emphases to John Anthony’s original production, although the addition of lightweight album reject Mad The Swine between Great King Rat and My Fairy King is more contentious – it’s nowhere near as inventive, elegant or strong as anything else here.
That’s easily forgiven considering what else is spread across the remaining discs. Demos from De Lane Lea studios, BBC session tracks from 1973 and early 1974, and cherry-picked selections from their September 1974 show at London’s Rainbow theatre have all been available before, but bringing them together in one place adds to the bigger picture.
But hardcore Queen connoisseurs will be lit up by three things. The first is a CD of unreleased outtakes, which doesn’t just bring the creation of the songs to life, it brings the people behind them to life too; hearing between-take banter (“You fucked it, Brian!”) is a revelation from a band who took great pains to keep the world out. Similarly, three tracks recorded in San Diego in 1976 and two from London’s Imperial College in 1970 (understandably lo-fi) are just as eye-opening, not least because they include hard-rocking original Hangman and what sounds like a bluesy mash-up of Bo Diddley’s I’m A Man and the Spencer Davis Group’s track of the same title, neither of which have appeared on an official Queen release before.
The third item in this holy trinity of Queenabilia is a lavish hardback book that includes everything from unseen photos to Roger Taylor’s contemporary diary entries, rubber-stamping this as something genuinely special. More than just a celebration of an album, Queen I provides a vivid snapshot of a moment in time. Hopefully it’s the first of many.
Queen I is available from the Queen store.
