Singles Box III - Missing guitar...?

Adam Unger (QueenVault.com) wrote: While we are at it....

The version of Hang On In There that appears on singles box 3 isn't the same one that appears on the original I Want It All CD single; instead it is the album version.

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I suppose you "turned it up insanely loud to hear it" ? ;)

I did... the neighbors aren't happy.

I have the US "I Want It All" cassette single and when I turn it up, I all I hear is ridiculous hiss at the very end, so I trust all those who reliably inform me that the CD single allows this difference to be heard in all its glory.

Which is the difference between Hang On In There on CD single and CD album ?

CMI wrote: Which is the difference between Hang On In There on CD single and CD album ?
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I´d suggest you check Adam´s excellent site, http://www.queenvault.com , anytime you´re in need of such info:

Hang On In There (Single Edit) 3:43
Written by Queen
Appears on: I Want It All 7" vinyl, I Want It All 12" vinyl, I Want It All CD single

A little known edit, probably because no one bothered to listen for it. The entire track is the same as the "album version," except for the last few seconds. The single edit version fades out slightly earlier and is missing a final guitar chord. You'll have to turn it up insanely loud to hear it though.

I think the Hang On In There version was first mentioned on Jason's Queen Trainspotter's Website.

GT wrote: I really didn't think anyone would spot this.
I'm impressed it got spotted in under a week of it's release.
So there is another 'first' on these 'Singles Collection' boxes then, if only a small thing.....not all bad then eh? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We have also spotted the ommission of the US single edits of "Liar" and "It's Late" though.
Yes, I know they probably don't fit the remit of the Singles Boxset (top 40 hits), but due to their very nature of being heavily edited and therefore a MAJOR difference to their album counterparts, it's still a shocking ommission.
Maybe they could be included in box set number 4 as a bonus CD just to keep us happy?

brians wig wrote: ... the US single edits of "Liar" and "It's Late" (... ) Maybe they could be included in box set number 4 as a bonus CD just to keep us happy?

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You´re asking too much, I guess !
We won´t get a booklet, so your suggestion looks quite ... utopic :)

Ok, THIS FIND ALONE puts the whole "10 min per disc, booklet-less, 50 USD per set" Single boxes series under a new perspective

Now where's my checkbook? :)

Viewed a different way, buying these sets gets you:

From Hot Space:
1) Staying Power
2) Back Chat (Single Re-Mix)
3) Body Language
4) Put Out The Fire
5) Life Is Real
6) Calling All Girls
7) Las Palabras De Amor
8) Cool Cat
9) Under Pressure
+ Soul Brouther

That's 8 of the 11 album tracks ("Dancer" and "Action This Day" are absent, "Back Chat is the remix)

From The Works:
1) Radio Ga Ga
2) Tear It Up
3) It's A Hard Life
4) Man On The Prowl
5) Machines
6) I Want To Break Free (Single Mix)
7) Keep Passing The Open Windows
8) Hammer To Fall (Headbanger's Edit)
9) Is This The World We Created?
+ I Go Crazy
+Thank God It's Christmas

That's 7 of 9 album tracks (the two absent are single versions, but in a way, the entire album is here)

From A Kind Of Magic:
1) One Vision (Single Version)
2) A Kind Of Magic
3) One Year Of Love
4) Pain Is So Close To Pleasure (Single Remix)
5) Friends Will Be Friends
6) Who Wants To Live Forever
7) Gimme The Prize
8) Don't Lose Your Head
9) Princes Of The Universe
+ Forever
+A Dozen Red Roses For My Darling
+Blurred Vision

That's 7 of 9 album tracks (again, though all songs are accounted for, just with two single versions)

I'm not saying this should convince people to buy the box sets who don't want to, I'm just pointing out that a by-product of these sets is almost 3 complete remastered albums. And the remasters here do sound great!

This is part of a review of the new and completely unnecessary Oasis singles collection. I thought of Queen when I read it.

"One can and must reserve special criticism for the truly talented who choose commercial gain over artistic endeavour, when everyone from Prince to Johnny Cash and (yes, indeed) The Beatles realised that it was possible to combine both ventures."

rhyeking wrote: Viewed a different way, buying these sets gets you:

From Hot Space:
1) Staying Power
2) Back Chat (Single Re-Mix)
3) Body Language
4) Put Out The Fire
5) Life Is Real
6) Calling All Girls
7) Las Palabras De Amor
8) Cool Cat
9) Under Pressure
+ Soul Brouther

That's 8 of the 11 album tracks ("Dancer" and "Action This Day" are absent, "Back Chat is the remix)

From The Works:
1) Radio Ga Ga
2) Tear It Up
3) It's A Hard Life
4) Man On The Prowl
5) Machines
6) I Want To Break Free (Single Mix)
7) Keep Passing The Open Windows
8) Hammer To Fall (Headbanger's Edit)
9) Is This The World We Created?
+ I Go Crazy
+Thank God It's Christmas

That's 7 of 9 album tracks (the two absent are single versions, but in a way, the entire album is here)

From A Kind Of Magic:
1) One Vision (Single Version)
2) A Kind Of Magic
3) One Year Of Love
4) Pain Is So Close To Pleasure (Single Remix)
5) Friends Will Be Friends
6) Who Wants To Live Forever
7) Gimme The Prize
8) Don't Lose Your Head
9) Princes Of The Universe
+ Forever
+A Dozen Red Roses For My Darling
+Blurred Vision

That's 7 of 9 album tracks (again, though all songs are accounted for, just with two single versions)

I'm not saying this should convince people to buy the box sets who don't want to, I'm just pointing out that a by-product of these sets is almost 3 complete remastered albums. And the remasters here do sound great!
In that case, why not just buy the original full albums for a hell of a lot less money?!!

I haven't got the singles boxes, so can anyone confirm who does the remastering on these?  For the tracks that also appear on Absolute Greatest are they the Bob Ludwig remasters from AG?  If not, have all the tracks on the singles sets been remastered yet again by someone else? 

Brian has openly said that the Bob Ludwig masters are the best available, so if that's the case and these don't appear on the singles boxes, are buyers of the boxes being 'fobbed off' with inferior sounding remasters???

I believe the Singles Collections were remastered by Peter Mew, at Abbey Road. They sound much clearer than the Hollywood Records 1991 remasters (which themselves sound pretty great compared to the original releases). I've not had time to sit down and compare each new remaster that comes along. The albums I've own for almost 20 years are prmarily the 1991 HR re-issues (Queen to The Miracle), with the subsequent original releases that followed being bought as they hit the shelves (Innuendo to The Cosmos Rocks, including all the Hits collections and live albums), along with things like the 30th Anniversary "Opera" set.

Maybe if someone with a copy of each release of a particular album, like "A Night At The Opera," could provide us with a decent review of each one's "improved" sound, release by release, we could have an idea of which is The Best Remaster.

yes, Peter Mew did the remastering for the Singles Collections at Abbey Road studios.  They are NOT the same masters that appear on AG or previous Japan 2001 reissues.  These are NEW (2009-2010) masters.

As i said in a previous post, the AG tracks are louder overall - seemingly meant for general consumption (iTunes crowd, earbud / iPod listening).  The Singles Collection masters are NOT compressed for loudness.  They sound almost like vinyl to me, actually.  not quite as warm, but not thin or sterile at ALL.  They sound fresh and alive.  They beg to be played on a great stereo at a good volume level.

I'm in the U.S., and I've gotten each box for only about $50 (incl. shipping) from Amazon.co.uk...  and I'm not a completist.  If these didn't sound better than versions I already have, i wouldn't have bothered buying them.

personally, i also like having various remastered versions.  that process is an art - different people add different amounts of EQ, compression, and limiting that bring out different nuances of these songs. 

but overall, i have to say Peter Mew's work on the Singles collections is probably the best remastering to date, and since it keeps a lot of the dynamic range (wide scope of soft to loud) i suspect it is the most true to the band's original work...

joesilvey wrote:

As i said in a previous post, the AG tracks are louder overall - seemingly meant for general consumption (iTunes crowd, earbud / iPod listening).  The Singles Collection masters are NOT compressed for loudness.  They sound almost like vinyl to me, actually.  not quite as warm, but not thin or sterile at ALL.  They sound fresh and alive.  They beg to be played on a great stereo at a good volume level.

but overall, i have to say Peter Mew's work on the Singles collections is probably the best remastering to date, and since it keeps a lot of the dynamic range (wide scope of soft to loud) i suspect it is the most true to the band's original work...

That's excellent info - thanks.  This is just the type of confirmation (or otherwise) that I was after, and seems very promising that the main things wrong with previous versions (too loud, no scope for the dynamic range etc..) seems to have been addressed.

It does make me wonder why they remaster EVERY single time a collectin is released - logic tells us though that the next 'Best Of..' compilation will be remastered AGAIN, because it wil include album versions of some hits, and not the single mixes on the singles boxes.

Cheers