Queen (album)

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 it's 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 (ussually 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.

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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. Problem arose almost immeadiately. The band had thought highly of the De Lane Lea demo tracks, but producer Roy Thomas Baker asked them too rerecord the songs, now with better equipment. "Keep Yourself Alive" was the first to be rerecorded 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 were made, 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 rerecord of "KYA" 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-lease 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 it's quality was apparently up to the standards of the rest of album's recordings.

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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 existance was long denied officially, beyond live concert recordings).

Related Topics:
Smile

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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 6th 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 4th.

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

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Elektra Records later re-issued the edited version of "Keep Yourself Alive" in July of 1975, this time with the a 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.

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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)".

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