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Queen (album)

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Queen is the first album by English band Queen, released in 1973. The album was recorded at Trident Studios and De Lane Lea, England. It was engineeed by Roy Thomas Baker (as Roy Baker), Mike Stone, Ted Sharpe, and Dave Hentschel.

This album consists of heavy metal music, influenced by Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, while lyrically it covers subjects such as the mythical (My Fairy King) and religious (Jesus). On this album Mercury composed five of the ten tracks. May contributed four songs, and Taylor one, which he sang.

The album was recorded over a long period of time, in contrast with many debut albums; this was because the band used the recording studio during off-hours to save money.

Tracks 1, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9 were played in concert as early as March of 1972.

Included as the last song on the album is a short instrumental version of "Seven Seas of Rhye"; the full version, including vocals, appeared on the band's next album, Queen II.

John Deacon was featured as Deacon John ('Deacon John on bass' on the sleeve). Brian May explains: "We used to call him that, so we put it on cover. John agreed, but he had reclamations later and wanted to be called John Deacon."

The band included the comment 'No synthesizers' on the album sleeve, as some listeners had mistaken their elaborate multi-tracked and effects-processed guitar and vocal sounds as synthesizers.

Queen about the record:

Brian May: "Queen sold really well over a longish period and coincided with our breaking ground concert wise. So we really had matured as a group and had our audience before the press caught on to us. I think that actually gave us a better start because we were better prepared."

"The album took ages and ages - two years in total, in the preparation, making and then trying to get the thing released"

Roger Taylor: "There were lots of things on the first album I don't like, for example the drum sound. There are parts of it which may sound contrived but it is very varied and it has lots of energy."

Contents

Album History

When Queen was signed with Trident Studios in 1972, they had already been doing the club/college circuit in and around London for almost two years. A chance opportunity allowed them access to test out De Lane Lea Studios' new recording facilities, which they used to put together a fairly polished demo tape of five songs: "Keep Yourself Alive", "The Night Comes Down", "Great King Rat", "Jesus" and "Liar". Despite its quality, no record company would take them on, except for a low bid from Chrysalis Records, which they used to try to entice other companies. They were finally taken aboard by Norman and Barry Sheffield, who were setting up Trident Studios. The set up for the fledgling band was that they were allowed to record only during the studio's downtime, when the paying artists had left (usually between 3am and 7am). While waiting one day for the studio, Freddie Mercury was asked to record vocals by producer Robin Cable, who was working on a version of "I Can Hear Music" and "Goin' Back". Mercury enlisted Brian May and Roger Taylor, and the tracks were recorded.

This downtime arrangement lasted from June to November of '72. Because of the limitations, the band focused on completing one track at a time, before moving onto the next. Problems arose almost immediately. The band had thought highly of the De Lane Lea demo tracks, but producer Roy Thomas Baker asked them to re-record the songs, now with better equipment. "Keep Yourself Alive" was the first to be re-recorded and Queen did not like the result. They recorded it once again, but in the mixing sessions no mix met their standards, until engineer Mike Stone stepped in. After a reported 7 or 8 failed attempts, Mike's first try met with Queen's approval. Stone would stay on to engineer and eventually co-produce their next 5 albums. The first re-record of "KYA (Keep Yourself Alive)" was later released by Hollywood Records in the US, titled "(Long Lost Re-take)", with Brian May's approval. Another track proved problematic. "Mad The Swine" was recorded for the album, yet Baker and Queen disagreed on the quality of the percussion. Without resolving the issue, the track was left off the album entirely. It, too, surfaced in 1991, however, as both the B-side to the "Headlong" CD single in the UK, and on the Hollywood Records re-release of the album. The version of "The Night Comes Down" which appears on the album is, in fact, the De Lane Lea demo recording, as its quality was apparently up to the standards of the rest of album's recordings.

Other recordings from this time period have surfaced in the form of acetate pressings, now owned legitimately by private collectors. Known tracks recorded are: "Silver Salmon" (a Smile track), "Polar Bear" (also a Smile track), "Rock And Roll Medley" (a live encore staple from the era), and the infamous track "Hangman" (whose existence was long denied officially, beyond live concert recordings).

Though the album was completed and fully mixed by November of 1972, Trident spent months trying to get a record company to release it. Eventually, they released it themselves, but only after 8 months (1973). During this time, Queen had begun writing material for their next album, but were disheartened by the current album's delay, feeling they'd grown passed that stage, even though the record-buying public was just getting wind of them. They also recorded two BBC sessions during the interum. The first single, "Keep Yourself Alive" (the Mike Stone mix, now considered the standard album version) was released a week before the album (UK dates, July 6 and 13th respectively). The track was edited for release in the US, from 3:47 to 3:30. The US single was issued in October. All countries had the B-side "Son And Daughter". The album was released in the US on September 4.

Elektra Records released a single of "Liar" in a heavily editted form (without the band's knowledge) on February 14, 1974, with the B-side "Doing All Right".

Elektra Records later re-issued the edited version of "Keep Yourself Alive" in July of 1975. This time with the rare double B-side (rare for a 7" single) of "Lily Of The Valley" and "God Save The Queen", both versions unique compared to the album versions.

Hollywood Records released a promo CD single featuring 5 versions of "Keep Yourself Alive", to promote the then-forthcoming "Crown Jewels" boxed set (1998). The version on the CD are: "Long Lost Re-take", "BBC Session #1 Version", "Live Killers Version", "Album Version (Unremastered)" and "Album Version (1998 Remastered Version)".

Track listing

Side 1:

  1. Keep Yourself Alive - (May) - 3:46 *
  2. Doing All Right - (May and Staffell) - 4:09
  3. Great King Rat - (Mercury) - 5:41
  4. My Fairy King - (Mercury) - 4:08
Side 2:
  1. Liar - (Mercury) - 6:26 *
  2. The Night Comes Down - (May) - 4:23
  3. Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll - (Taylor) - 1:48
  4. Son And Daughter - (May) - 3:21
  5. Jesus - (Mercury) - 3:44
  6. Seven Seas Of Rhye [instrumental] - (Mercury) - 1:15
(* single)

When originally issued on cassette, the running order was rearranged, with side one being tracks 1, 2, 5, 9 and 10, and side two being tracks 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8.

In the early stages of the album's mixing and compiling, the original track listing was to appear thusly:

  1. "Keep Yourself Alive (Long Lost Re-take[[Citing sources citation needed]])"
  2. "Doing All Right"
  3. "Great King Rat"
  4. "Mad the Swine"
  5. "My Fairy King"
  6. "Liar"
  7. "The Night Comes Down (co-produced by Roy Thomas Baker)"
  8. "Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll"
  9. "Son And Daughter"
  10. "Jesus"
  11. "Seven Seas of Rhye..."
It is believed acetates exist of this early cut of the album. The most significant differences between the released version and this would be that "Mad The Swine" segued from "Great King Rat", coming in over the final drum-roll, the original album recording of "Keep Yourself Alive" starting off the album (ie. the Long Lost Re-take) and the unused album version of "The Night Comes Down".

Personnel

Freddie Mercury lead & backing vocals, piano, electronic organ, tambourine
Brian May guitar, backing vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano on "Doing All Right"
John Deacon bass guitar
Roger Taylor percussion, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Modern Times Rock N'Roll"
John Anthony producer, backing vocals on "Modern Times Rock N'Roll"

Songwriting trivia

With exception of "My Fairy King" and the instrumental "Seven Seas", all of the tracks in the album were part of the band's live set in early days. The album can be divided into three different periods of songwriting:

"Seven Seas Of Rhye" had been half-written at the time they recorded the first album, then completed for the second.

My Fairy King' was a germinal idea before Deacon joined the band (while the bassist was Barry Mitchell) but wasn't completed until they went to the studio.

"Liar" recycles one riff from Mercury's pre-Queen song, "Lover".

There were some tracks already written by the time of the first album sessions, but remained unreleased or saved for future recordings. Those include:

References

External links

Queen
John Deacon | Brian May | Freddie Mercury | Roger Taylor
Discography
Studio albums: Queen | Queen II | Sheer Heart Attack | A Night at the Opera | A Day at the Races | News of the World | Jazz | The Game | Flash Gordon | Hot Space | The Works | A Kind of Magic | The Miracle | Innuendo | Made in Heaven
Live albums: Live Killers | Live Magic | Live at Wembley '86 | Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl | Return of the Champions
Compilations: Greatest Hits | At the Beeb | Greatest Hits II | Classic Queen | Queen Rocks | Greatest Hits III | Stone Cold Classics
Box sets: Greatest Hits I & II | The Crown Jewels |
DVDs
We Will Rock You | The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert | Greatest Video Hits 1 | Queen Live at Wembley Stadium | Greatest Video Hits 2 | Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl | Return of the Champions | Super Live in Japan
Musicals
We Will Rock You

 

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