Music Review: Queen - 2011 Remasters: Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night At The Opera, A Day At The Races - Page 3

Queen fans should find the bonus EPs included with each disc to be true diamonds in these treasures, though. The EPs include five to six extremely rare or never-before-released tracks from each album. None of them get any rarer than those included with Queen. The first five (of six) cuts were recorded as demos in 1971, before the band even had a contract. The only known source was a 12” acetate from Brian May's private collection. The songs were all re-recorded later for the LP.

While those demos are a pretty incredible find, there are plenty more goodies as well. These include live sessions at the BBC, appearances on Top Of The Pops, concert recordings, remixes, and forgotten B-sides. The complete liner notes contain all the pictures and lyrics from the original releases, plus information about each of the bonus cuts.

The next five Queen albums in the series will be released later this year, and should prove to be just as fascinating. But for now I am very content to sit back and enjoy the first phase of the group’s remarkable journey.

God Save The Queen, indeed.

Article Author: Greg Barbrick

Greg Barbrick is a Seattle native who was first published in 1988, in his hometown music magazine, The Rocket. Since then his work has appeared in print and online for numerous sources. He Googles himself so often that his mother told him it would make him go blind.
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