Queen

[FunkyMonkey]

PRESS RELEASE - QUEEN FIRST FIVE ALBUMS RE-ISSUE ON ISLAND

QUEEN: FIRST FIVE ALBUMS RE-ISSUED ON ISLAND RECORDS ? MARCH 14th 2011

?We aimed for the top slot and we were not going to be satisfied with anything less.? Freddie Mercury

March 2011 sees the re-release of Queens first five albums - one of the most exciting and influential back catalogues of all time. Recorded in the maelstrom of the early 1970?s London music scene Queen created a groundbreaking and unique soundtrack that remains globally influential today. Theatrical, imaginative, diverse, melodic and unpredictable they had a sound and a look all of their own. Sitting alongside their contemporaries like Led Zep and David Bowie, Queen set the standard for British rock in the 1970?s and became one of the most thrilling, glamorous and downright rock n roll bands of all time, directly influencing a contemporary roll call of artists from Foo Fighters & Axl Rose to Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.

?Queen?, ?Queen II?, ?Sheer Heart Attack?, ?A Night At The Opera? and ?A Day At The Races? have been specially re-mastered and each will be released as a standard CD as well as a deluxe 2 disc set which will feature new bonus content. Each deluxe album will be released on iTunes featuring bonus tracks plus additional sleeve notes, unseen pictures and videos. The albums also set the scene for their bands forthcoming Stormtroopers In Stilettos Global exhibition that launches in London on 25th February.

From the pure raw rock of ?Queen? through to the majestic anthems on ?A Day At The Races?, the first five albums highlight the diverse talent, musical ambition and already global success of a band made up of some of the best songwriters, musicians and performers of all time.

?Queen?, recently nominated by Dave Grohl as his favourite album of all time, was recorded in the same studio that David Bowie was recording Ziggy Stardust. Because they didn?t have any money, the album was recorded on Bowies downtime, so Queen were literally recording at 3AM after Bowie had gone to bed. ?Queen? is their heaviest album, influenced by The Who, Hendrix and Led Zep and contains some of their hardest rocking songs, and also some of their most imaginative. Like all subsequent Queen albums, no two songs sound the same and there are mixtures of light and shade, the band teasing one minute with a lullaby, then blowing your head off.

?Queen II? is the real beginning of Queen as we know it. It?s the first time we hear the multi layered overdubs, the harmonies, the varied musical styles (ballads, folk, blues, thrash metal, pop and rock, it?s all there). It also includes their first hit single ?Seven Seas of Rhye?, which led to the first of many iconic performances on Top of the Pops. The band recorded ?Queen II? in just over a month in 1973 ahead of its release in 1974. The album cover was shot by legendary photographer Mick Rock and inspired by a Marlene Dietrich portrait. The image was later brought to life in the revolutionary Bohemian Rhapsody video.

?Sheer Heart Attack?, Roger Taylor?s favourite Queen album, was released in 1974 and reached Number 2 in the UK. Prior to this Queen were mostly considered a heavy rock band, but this album experimented with a variety of musical genres, including music hall, heavy metal, ballads and ragtime. At this point Queen started to move away from the progressive tendencies of their first two releases into a more radio-friendly, song-orientated style, illustrated by ?Killer Queen?, which was their biggest hit at that point reaching No 2 in the UK. It also went to No 12 in the US Billboard Charts, the first of many hits there. A song about a high-class call girl, it contains the guitar solo that Brian May is most proud of and won Freddie his first Ivor Novello Award.

?A Night at The Opera?, named after the Marx Bros film, is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest albums of all time. Exceptional on every level, musically, lyrically and artistically, Queen took the strongest elements of their previous two albums to make the ultimate winning combination. The most expensive album ever recorded at that time, it delivered rock, opera, heavy metal, romance, ballads, pop, sci-fi folk, music hall, ?trad jazz? and even the National Anthem. The album contains perhaps the most famous rock song of all time, ?Bohemian Rhapsody? which went on to spend fourteen weeks and number one, be voted Song of the Millennium, become the only song in history to reach Xmas No 1 twice and sell a million copies on two separate occasions. Queen also recorded the first official pop promo for ?Bohemian Rhapsody? as they were on tour and could not appear on Top of The Pops and this video paved the way for MTV and VH1.

By 1976, Queen were back in the studio recording ?A Day At The Races?, which was written and recorded by Queen at their happiest, riding on the crest of a wave and loving every second. The album is an infectiously jubilant piece of music full of love, optimism and good old fashioned rock and roll. Like ?A Night at the Opera? it again borrowed the name of a Marx Bros movie, and its cover was similar to that of ?A Night at the Opera?, a variation on the same Queen Crest. It reached number one on the British charts and features the classics ?Tie Your Mother Down?, Freddie Mercury?s personal favourite composition ?Somebody To Love? and ?Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy?

FULL TRACKLISTINGS FOR EACH ALBUM:

Queen
1. Keep Yourself Alive
2. Doing All Right
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

Bonus Tracks
1. Keep Yourself Alive (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)
2. The Night Comes Down (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)
3. Great King Rat (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)
4. Jesus (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)
5. Liar (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)
6. Mad The Swine (June 1972)

Queen 2
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

Bonus Tracks
1. See What A Fool I?ve Been (BBC Session, July 1973 - 2011 remix)
2. White Queen (Live at Hammersmith Odeon, December 1975)
3. Seven Seas of Rhye (Instrumental Mix 2011)
4. Nevermore (BBC Session, April 1974)
5. See What A Fool I?ve Been (B-side version, February 1974)

Sheer Heart Attack
1. Brighton Rock
2. Killer Queen
3. Tenement Funster
4. Flick Of The Wrist
5. Lily Of The Valley
6. Now I'm Here
7. In The Lap Of The Gods
8. Stone Cold Crazy
9. Dear Friends
10. Misfire
11. Bring Back That Leroy Brown
12. She Makes Me (Stormtrooper In Stilettos)
13. In The Lap Of The Gods . . . Revisited   

Bonus Tracks
1. Now I?m Here (Live at Hammersmith, Dec 75)
2. Flick of the Wrist (BBC Session, Oct 74)
3. Tenement Funster (BBC Session, Oct 74)
4. Bring Back That Leroy Brown (A capella Plus)
5. In The Lap of the Gods..Revisited (Live at Wembley July 86)

Night At The Opera
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

Bonus Tracks
1. Keep Yourself Alive (Long-Lost Retake, June 75)
2. Bohemian Rhapsody (Operatic Section A cappella)
3. I?m In Love With My car (Guitar & Vocal version)
4. You?re My Best Friend (Backing Track)
5. ?39 (Live at Earls Court, June 77)
6. Love Of My Life (South American Live Single June 79)

A Day At The Races
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 Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)

Bonus Tracks
1. Tie Your Mother Down (Backing Track)
2. Somebody To Love (Live at Milton Keynes, June 82)
3. You Take My Breath Away (Live in Hyde Park, Sept 76)
4. Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (Top of the Pops July 77)
5. Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) (HD Mix)

[FunkyMonkey]

 

IS LADY GAGA THE NEW VOICE OF QUEEN?

October 6,2011

Guitarist May, 64, who has been a member of the band since 1971, reveals he is looking to recruit the eccentric US star to solve ?the singer problem? the band have had since front man Freddie Mercury died two decades ago.

?We get a lot of offers to work with other people. I worked with Lady Gaga and she?s very creative and is someone we?ve talked about singing, fronting the band with. She?s not just a singer, she writes her own material.?

He also said that 25-year-old Gaga isn?t the only person he has considered.

?We have talked about doing duets with other people and in a strange way I almost pressed the yes button. We were debating the idea of a TV show where we have all these guest stars. We didn?t press it today but we are still looking at it. Lady Gaga has said she would like to do something with us.?

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/275747/Is-Lady-Gaga-the-new-voice-of-Queen-

[metallex78]

Interesting, I only own the Queen Greatest Hits compilation albums, but looking through those tracklistings, I don't know ANY songs from the first two albums.

Did they not have any hits until they reached album number three?

[hRob]

Interesting, I only own the Queen Greatest Hits compilation albums, but looking through those tracklistings, I don't know ANY songs from the first two albums.

Did they not have any hits until they reached album number three?

Well, Seven Seas of Rhye from Queen II was their first bigger hit..although Keep Yourself Alive from their debut was the first song that got out to the radio.

[FunkyMonkey]

 

Adam Lambert to sing with rock band Queen at Britain?s Sonisphere 2012 summer festival

Tuesday, February 21

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/adam-lambert-to-sing-with-rock-band-queen-at-britains-sonisphere-2012-summer-festival/2012/02/21/gIQATmduQR_story.html?tid=pm_entertainment_pop

From Adam Lambert:

As many suspected, I can finally confirm: I have been invited by Queen to sing one very special concert! Sonisphere at Knebworth July 7th!
Sorry to be coy about the details the past few weeks, but I made a promise to keep it under wraps as best I could. Gonna be a surreal night!
Haters: y'all just adding fuel to my fire! U make me work harder. Thank you for the motivation.

https://twitter.com/adamlambert

[DeN]

best Queen cover ever 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqymcJRSbxI

[spgunner]

Peter "Phoebe" Freestone was Freddie Mercury?s personal assistent for most of his life. Nowadays, he does something great for the fans ? he asnswers questions about both Freddie n? Queen online (http://www.freddiemercury.com/institutional/ask). Below, he talks about Freddie?s voice n? about the way people see live gigs these days (the absurd of spending time looking for small imperfections).

Worth reading if you?re one of the ones who criticizes Axl or anyone in the band on daily basis about one or another little ?mistake? when they?re performing live:

Uli (a fan) wanted to know how Freddie kept his voice in shape.

Peter "Phoebe" Freestone?s reply to Uli:

?Freddie didn?t do any exercises at home or the studio. He used to warm up the voice a little before recording and also before shows. He didn?t have a teacher and as far as I know the only training he had was at school for the School Choir. He had a natural talent for singing and developed it himself. In a studio it is possible to sing something time and time again, until it comes out as you want. During a show occasionally the lack of proper training would appear when the voice wouldn?t always do what he wanted and he would crack on a few notes, or the voice would sound a bit tired. When you were at the show none of this mattered as the atmosphere soaked up any small mistakes and was part of the event. It is only now, where there are so many live shows around on the internet, that some people spend their time scouring for the slight imperfections.?

GNR4LIFE!