The Fat Angel Sings

The 6CD + 1 LP Queen I box set contains 63 tracks with 43 brand new mixes, comprising the original album with its intended running order restored,

Over half a century since its release and a vital chapter in the band’s story, Queen’s self-titled 1973 debut album has been remixed and restored by Justin Shirley-Smith, Joshua J Macrae and Kris Fredriksson to sound the way the band always wanted it to. A new track listing, alternative takes, demos and live tracks have now been added to create the most complete version of this pivotal work. This is the very first time that a Queen album has ever received a new stereo mix.

Absent from the 1973 release, the song “Mad The Swine” has been reinstated to its original place in the running order. A 108-page book containing handwritten lyrics and memorabilia accompanies the release.

“This is not just a remaster,” writes Brian May in the CD sleeve insert notes, “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.”

Queen began life in early summer 1970, but took their first steps in the studio after vocalist Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor recruited bass guitarist, John Deacon, in July 1971.

“The first three years were really faith and fumes,” says Roger Taylor. “We were penniless but we had a lot of belief in ourselves and a lot of energy.” “We wanted everything to sound like it was in-your face,” says Brian 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.”

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!'”