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| | Description | Exclusive to Amazon Customers: Queen's first five studio albums remastered in deluxe reissue editions with rare bonus material all in one collectible box with a 24 panel Poster for the ultimate Queen fan. Albums included in the box:
Queen
Queen II
Sheer Heart Attack
A Night At the Opera
A Day At the Races Queen's 40th anniversary is now upon us, and the band plans to pull out all the stops to celebrate this historic occasion. This yearlong event will be marked by a series of releases, re-releases, special limited-edition items and events around the world. As the centerpiece in the 40th anniversary celebration, Queen's studio catalog is being reissued in a series of deluxe editions. Every note is being tweaked, every piece of artwork is being cleaned, freshened up and resourced, wherever necessary, with the legendary Bob Ludwig doing the remastering, working from the original source material. Each studio album will be released in a new two-CD edition, the first containing the updated, remastered original LP, the second disc packed with rarities--and we don't use the term lightly. Some of these gems have never before seen the light of day, even in crappy bootleg form. To cite a particularly fascinating example, five first-album demos recorded at London's De Lane Lea Studios in December 1971 were pulled from the only existing copy on the planet--an acetate from May's personal archives. Not even his bandmates had a copy. And now they can be yours in this fan centric box set only available at Amazon. | |
| | Product Details | | Audio CD Release Date: | May 17, 2011 | | Studio: | Hollywood Records | | Number Of Discs: | 10 | | Format: | Box set | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 38 reviews |
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| | Track Listing | | Disc: 1 | | 1. | Keep Yourself Alive | | 2. | Doing Allright | | 3. | Great King Rat | | 4. | My Fairy King | | 5. | Liar | | 6. | The Night Comes Down | | 7. | Modern Times Rock `n' Roll | | 8. | Son And Daughter | | 9. | Jesus | | 10. | Seven Seas of Rhye | | | Disc: 2 | | 1. | Keep Yourself Alive (The De Lane Lea Demos) | | 2. | The Night Comes Down (The De Lane Lea Demos) | | 3. | Great King Rat (The De Lane Lea Demos) | | 4. | Jesus (The De Lane Lea Demos) | | 5. | Liar (The De Lane Lea Demos) | | 6. | Mad the Swine (1972)(The De Lane Lea Demos) | | | Disc: 3 | | 1. | Procession | | 2. | Father To Son | | 3. | White Queen (As It Began) | | 4. | Some Day One Day | | 5. | The Loser In The End | | 6. | Ogre Battle | | 7. | The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke | | 8. | Nevermore | | 9. | The March of The Black Queen | | 10. | Funny How Love Is | | 11. | Seven Seas of Rhye | | | Disc: 4 | | 1. | See What A Fool I've Been (1973 BBC Session) | | 2. | White Queen (As It Began) (Live At Hammersmith Odeon 1975) | | 3. | Seven Seas of Rhye (Instrumental Mix) | | 4. | Nevermore (BBC Session 1974) | | 5. | See What A Fool I've Been (Alt B-Side Version) | | | Disc: 5 | | 1. | Brighton Rock | | 2. | Killer Queen | | 3. | Tenement Funster | | 4. | Lily of the Valley | | 5. | Now I'm Here | | 6. | In The Lap Of The Gods | | 7. | Stone Cold Crazy | | 8. | Dear Friends | | 9. | Misfire | | 10. | Bring Back That Leroy Brown | | 11. | She Makes Me (Stormtroopers in stilettos) | | 12. | In The Lap Of The Gods ....revisited | | | Disc: 6 | | 1. | Now I'm Here (Live at Hammersmith Odeon) | | 2. | Flick of the Wrist (BBC Session, 1974) | | 3. | Tenement Funster (BBC Session 1974) | | 4. | Bring Back That Leroy Brown (2011 A Capella Mix) | | 5. | In The Lap Of The Gods (Live at Wembley Stadium, 1986) | | | Disc: 7 | | 1. | Death On Two Legs/Dedicated to... | | 2. | Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon | | 3. | I'm In Love With My Car | | 4. | You're My Best Friend | | 5. | `39 | | 6. | Sweet Lady | | 7. | Seaside Rendezvous | | 8. | The Prophet's Song | | 9. | Love Of My Life | | 10. | Good Company | | 11. | Bohemian Rhapsody | | 12. | God Save The Queen | | | Disc: 8 | | 1. | Keep Yourself Alive (Long Lost 1975 Retake) | | 2. | Bohemian Rhapsody (Operatic A Capella Mix 2011) | | 3. | You're My Best Friend (2011 Backing Track Mix) | | 4. | I'm in Love With My Car (Guitar and Vocal Mix) | | 5. | '39 (Live At Earl's Court 1977) | | 6. | Love Of My Life (Acoustic Live, South American single version) | | | Disc: 9 | | 1. | Tie Your Mother Down | | 2. | You Take My Breath Away | | 3. | Long Away | | 4. | The Millionaire Waltz | | 5. | You And I | | 6. | Somebody To Love | | 7. | White Man | | 8. | Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy | | 9. | Drowse | | 10. | Teo Torriarte (Let Us Cling Together) | | | Disc: 10 | | 1. | Tie Your Mother Down (Backing Track Mix 2011) | | 2. | Somebody To Love (Live at Milton Keynes 1982) | | 3. | You Take My Breath Away (Live, Hyde Park 1976) | | 4. | Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy (Top Of The Pops, July 1977) | | 5. | Teo Torriarte (Let Us Cling Together) (HD Mix) | |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 38 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
71 of 79 found the following review helpful:
 best remasters yet May 18, 2011
By T. Fleming
"massive garage sale - everything must go!"
If you've been listening to the original late-1980s EMI imports of the first five Queen albums on cd, this is the ultimate remaster or reissue to get.
It's obvious the band & the label have gone all out on this edition of these classic Queen albums. The audio is crisp and deep - the quiet passages are actually QUIET instead of being filled with hiss and digital noise like on the original EMI imports. More to their credit, they didn't mess with the mixes, song lengths, or do any of the other shenanigans that bands/labes often do when they do this kind of comprehensive update of their back catalog.
Each album comes with a second disc of extras - this is where the real gold is once you get used to how phenomenal these new remastered albums sound. "Queen" includes the ORIGINAL Queen demo songs - all of which made the first album (one of them more so that you ever imagined); it's very interesting to hear the subtle differences between the first demo of "Keep Yourself Alive" and the vast change made between the demo of "Jesus" and the final album version (it's easily sped up 10 bpm or more).
The other albums' extra discs contain gems culled from BBC sessions and concerts throughout Queen's halcyon days in the 1970s & 80s. One of the definite highlights is the a capella version of the operatic section in their hit "Bohemian Rhapsody" - no auto-tuning here, and the vocal abilities of Freddie, Brian & Roger shine right through. John gets his own spotlight, too, with a stripped-down version of "You're My Best Friend" that highlights his musical skills.
All in all, if you're still listening to very old Queen cd's, this is the set to upgrade to. Simply amazing audio quality.
47 of 52 found the following review helpful:
Best Release So Far.... May 20, 2011
By boingoinsane
I recieved my Box Set Yesterday and spent most of the night listening to everything. Today, I listened to all 3 versions of Queen II that I have. The '91 Hollywood Records release, the Crown Jewels release, and the 2011 Remastered release. There is a slight increase in volume, but not overly done. I felt that the '91 version was slightly flat compared to the 2011 release. I can only compare the versions that have been officially released here by Hollywood Records. With that being said, I found that the changes made by Bob Ludwig to be very subtle and unobtrusive.
After reading one review, I was a little concerned about the audio compression. So, I compared several songs throughout this box set with their '91 counterparts through audacity. The "Loudness" of the 2011 releases have been raised, but not as much as I would have expected. There appears to be plenty of dynamic range left with these releases. The sound quality is impeccable and have never sounded any better on a U.S. release.
Unfortunately, I feel that the bonus E.P.'s are lacking. There is so much unreleased material that could have been used to fill out the rest of these discs. For this reason, and the fact that the albums were not released in surround sound, I did not give this set 5 stars.
157 of 189 found the following review helpful:
 LOUD-'EM-UP AND RIP US OFF (AGAIN), UNIVERSAL! May 18, 2011
By BOB
Being the 2nd reviewer for this set, and having read T. Fleming's enthusiastic post, I will now ministrate to my respective side of the hydrant.
Ten years ago, I opted for the Queen catalog in Japan mini-sleeves, which I believe had Japan-dedicated remasters. I never heard any of the artifacting in the Toshiba discs that Mr. Fleming speaks of in the European releases. So, please remember as you are reading this, I do not have the domestic Hollywood or European releases, only the Japan discs: If you do not own those, you will probably not reach the same conclusions as I did.
On the heels of those recent, terrible Rolling Stones "remasters", Universal has applied the same odious loudness compression method to another high profile catalog: Queen. If you're not familiar with term, the technical explanation is the application of an increasingly high ratio of compression to the dynamic range of a particular recording, and then increasing the gain of the recording, until the peaks have reached maximum.
In layman's terms: There are no longer any quiet or loud passages in the recording, EVERYTHING is at the same volume. Go to Wikipedia and search "loudness wars". In that article, there is also a link to an excellent You Tube audio/video demonstration.
Basically, the ubiquity of the iPod is the culprit in this plague: When music is played back thru earbuds in any environment with ambient noise present, by having the volume artificially jacked across the entire music spectrum, you can hear the content more clearly.
When you listen to these new Queen editions in a home system, however, it's just a sheer wall of high volume sound; there is no dynamic range remaining. The vocals, instrumentation and orchestrations are all now in competition, rather than being in harmony, with each other, and the overall volume of each album is much louder than the previous versions. There is also a noticeable loss of clarity in the cymbals on the 2011 releases; they sound much sharper on the Japan discs.
All of this adds up to a real heartbreaker, because a lot of the bonus material is excellent, and Queen fans have been waiting for a long time for this kind of look under the hood.
There was also no reason to split the bonus material to a 2nd disc on any of these releases, other than to charge a higher price for each title. None of these albums with their respective bonus material approach the full capacity of a CD. There was even room on each album disc to include not only the new bonus material, but also the bonus tracks from the earlier editions. So, especially with the addition of a 2nd CD in each set, making each title more expensive, Universal's choice not to do so borders on the egregious.
NOVEMBER 2011 UPDATE: Amazon has lowered the price on this set by nearly half. I was already regretting buying this set; now I'm just downright pissed, since it's "an Amazon Exclusive". As for the next three boxes (#2 is already out as of this writing), you might not want to buy them until they've also been discounted!
15 of 17 found the following review helpful:
Strong until the end Nov 02, 2011
By Frank Booth
"truthseeker"
This collection of the final five Queen albums may not have as many of the "hits" as the first two sets, however, these are some of the finest albums that they produced. Listening to "The Miracle" and "Innuendo" knowing that Freddie was near the end makes his vocal performances even more impressive. Bob Ludwig's remastering really shines, especially on these digitally-recorded albums, which previously sounded somewhat flat. Don't believe the "audiofools" on some forums that complain about these being "too compressed". These albums have never sounded more alive. The extras on the EP's are OK, but still seems like a missed opportunity. And "Made In Heaven" sounds like what it is, a cut and paste job of what was left behind. Still, that aside, these albums are essential and should be in anyone's collection who appreciates great music.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Lacking in quality and especially quantity - A review of the bonus tracks Dec 05, 2011
By M. Perry
First off - it must be said that Queen is one of my all time favorite bands. While there were some less than stellar albums along the way, on the whole, this band managed to transcend time and continue to release top shelf material right to the unfortunate end.
Per the title, I will not focus on the remastering/overall sound of these reissues. (I think they sound fabulous). There are others here who are far more qualified than I to tackle that. I am solely going to focus on the bonus material.
Overall, I am extremely disappointed in the selection, (or perhaps better said - lack thereof).
The total running times on the 5 bonus discs are as follows:
Queen I - 31 minutes
Queen II - 19 minutes
Sheer Heart Attack - 15 minutes
Night at the Opera - 19 minutes
Day At the Races - 22 minutues
So all in we get 106 minutes worth of music on five discs that could hold approximately 400 minutes worth of music.
Staggering.
So what about the material that is on there?
For me Queen I is by far and away the best of the bunch. Hearing the raw demos of 5 of the album tracks with Roger's drums higher and rougher in the mix than usual Queen productions was beyond fantastic. But where are the BBC sessions? Where is the song Hangman (constantly played at early shows)?
Queen II has a KILLER version of White Queen from the Odeon concert and a very cool instrumental mix of Seven Seas of Rhye where we get to hear the original natural ending. There are also two versions of See What I've Fool I've Been. A song that I've never been super crazy about, but it's cool to hear Freddie's different approaches. But with 60 minutes of space left on the disc, I am left to wonder - why not include more songs from Odeon or the BBC shows? Why not continue to use your imagination and give us alternate mixes of some of the other songs? So frustrating.
Sheer Heart Attack
Another track from the Odeon show (Now I'm Here) which sounds great. Two more BBC songs which are actually just studio mixes with a different lead vocal. (Great to hear the natural begining to Flick of the Wrist). A very cool acapella of Leroy Brown and then an extremely insulting live song from a previously released CD. (Taking a song from another available album is hardly a bonus track).
See above. SIXTY FIVE MINUTES of unused space..... SO MUCH material could have been used here. Outside the obvious BBC and concert material, how about letting us hear Lap of the Gods without Freddie's distorted voice? That would have been a real treat. Or how about letting us hear how Now I'M Here naturally ended in the studio. They were still rocking it out during the fade. Grrrr....
Night At the Opera
Previously available Keep yourself retake. Utterly useless acapella version of the Bohemian Rhapsody opera. (It pretty much was already acapella). Two very cool alternate mixes of You're My Best Friend and I'm In Love with my car. And two VERy cool live tracks from 1977 and 1979. See above. How hard would it have been to include an additional 8 to 10 songs from each show on the bonus disc?
Day At The Races
Very fun instrumental version of Tie Your Mother Down. Another insulting inclusion from available live album. And then for me, the hands down best track of the five discs. Freddie solo playing You Take My Breath Away. Beyond gorgeous....
Two more alternate mixes that are nice, but not vital.
At the end of the day this was a massively missed opportunity to cater to die hard fans who still buy CDs.
See all 38 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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