album reissues with Universal confirmed on the 40th Anniversary

bambams-paradise wrote: If the remasters sound anything like what they did for the eYe remixes, I think it will sound fantastic. I just put alot of that stuff on CD in my car, and it just absolutely blows my mind how mammoth those remixes are. I don't know who did those mixes, but maybe that's who they should have in charge of doing the remasters. Make the songs we all fell in love with back in the day just absolutely sound mammoth! Especially things like Innuendo and The Miracle which can really benefit from some TLC. That is something I would be happy to go and buy. Ilisten to the Breakthru remix from The eYe, and it just sounds phenominal!

Whilst the Eye remixes are interesting and great to listen to, I don't think there is anything special in how they are mastered from a sonic point of view.  Are you confusing mixing/remixing with mastering?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a product that includes un-released material from the vaults and I will be bitterly disappointed if that doesn't happen (Hammy 79 pleeeeeeeeease.....!)

However, I must say that, based on their tremendous back catalogue alone, how could you possibly "lose interest" in Queen? Being frustrated is one thing but dismissing them for good (as the comment infers) is a different kettle of fish. I'm know that I'm one of the older Queen fans here (first being 'attracted' to the band in 1974 when SSOR was released) but I never have and never will lose interest in the band, simply because their musical legacy is just too damn good to ignore.

I guess it's just a design defect of human nature; no matter what treasures they already have, people will always want more.

cmsdrums wrote:

[QUOTE]Whilst the Eye remixes are interesting and great to listen to, I don't think there is anything special in how they are mastered from a sonic point of view.  Are you confusing mixing/remixing with mastering?[/QUOTE]

Have a listen to the attached file - Capitol Records vs. The Eye.  To me there's absolutely no comparison.  Listen to the difference in the mastering.

The tracks on The Eye are completely new remixes. The whole back catalogue could do with being re-mixed - just merely re-creating the old mixes without the unncessary analogue compression fresh from the multitracks would do it wonders.

rhyeking wrote:

It looks promising, for sure, but frankly I'm not sure what fans are expecting here?

+++++ hi rhyeking .... I see we live in oposite worlds here

We've really been quite spoiled as far as Queen releases go, when you
look at what a lot of other bands do. Most are content with just
re-issuing the albums, a few hits collections, and not much else. People
like Springsteen have yet to even to a proper remastering of all the
studio albums.

++++++ not the best example .... Ask Bruce´s fans if they´d prefered having a proper remaster of every studio album instead of the 4-disc Tracks Boxset, the Born To Run Boxset (wich included the album remastered) or the forthcoming Darkness On The Edge Of Town Boxset (wich will include the album remastered). Now let´s do the same question to Queen fans ... there´ll be exceptions, I see, but I guess the winner option would be ...

I can't speak to every bands' releases, but I can say a lot of bands I like
haven't gone nearly as far as Queen have in issuing rare material over
the years. We've been given, to name a few:

+++++++ our conception of the word "rare" differs ....

1985 - The Complete Works
ok, in 1985 they were going the right way with the inclusion of the b-sides album there.

1991/1992 - The remastered HR catalogue with bonus tracks and a whack of promo remixes/edits/versions

only released in the USA. The import costs for an EU citizen in 1992 weren´t friendly. From all those ealbums I´ll save:
Mad The Swine
KYA long-lost retake
See what A Fool I´ve Been
Fat Bottomed Girls remix
I Go Crazy
Scandal (extended version)

The rest, at least to me, is pure crap (SSOR remix anyone?). The rule for wich they didn´t include A Human Body, Soul Brother or The Miracle b-sides is still a mistery

1992 - Box Of Trix
So limited and price-unfriendly ... Yes, very rare.

1992 - Karaoke Hits
Only released in Japan (and Korea?). Instrumental versions. Nice ? yes. Rare. No.

1993 - The Queen Collection boxed set
limited; price unfriendly. Nothing rare in there

1995 - Made In Heaven
nothing rare. It was released as the final studio album. It was a labour of love and we all thank Brian , John and Roger.

1997 - No One But You
one new song. Nothing rare there. Thankyou again Brian, Roger and ... bye bye John.

1998 - Queen: The eYe
instrumental edits + an extremely difficult game to play. I enjoy listening to the cd´s, but there´s nothing rare.

1999 - Hits III
Yes very rare. The inclusion of that hip-hop AOBTD and Driven By You makes it extremely rare.

2002 - A Night At The Opera DVD-A
That made me happy and wanting for more.

2003 - Live At Wembley Stadium
rare ? no

2003 - The Game DVD-A
that made me happy ... and waiting for more. In 2010 you can find more than 2 albums from any band in 5.1 sound

2004 - Live At The Bowl
rare ? no

2005 - Q+PR Live Downloads
crappy mp3. Go check livemetallica.com

2005 - Return Of The Champions
rare? something had to be released, isn´t it ? I enjoyed the DVD extras so much.

2005 - ANATO 30th Ann. CD+DVD
great remaster, crappy bonus content. If only the ANATO making of documentary had been attached .. that would have made a decent release.

2007 - Queen Rock Montreal
rare? no

2008 - The Cosmos Rocks
rare ? no. I liked it. A new studio album from two of my heores. Thankyou ! ah ! the lack of promotion made it indeed very rare

2008 - Q+PR Live Downloads
take a look again at livemetallica.com in case you can´t believe yet how it could have been done

2008 - The Singles Collection Vol. 1
aka The ruined Singles collection. Nor the joe public nor the hardcore fans are buying it.

2009 - Live In Ukraine
the crappiest show election ever. You enjoy watching 350.000 people? not me. I´d prefer watching 30.000 argentinos and a better setlist

2009 - The Singles Collection Vol. 2
2010 - The Singles Collection Vol. 3
idem as Vol. 1

To sum up, they're put out NEW material, older concerts, 5.1 surround mixes, remixes, new concerts and live tracks, and a bunch of other stuff (and that's not even including the stuff I didn't list, like solo material).  But since the so-called Queen Anthologies haven't materialized, the band have failed us and you're going to give up on them (Holly...looking at you here!)?

+++++++ ok you can look at me , too. Why on earth did they announce the anthologies back in year 2000 ?
why on earth did they announce the BBC sessions back in 1995 ?

Oh no, they put out a few releases hardcore fans didn't care for (Singles Collections and some
spuerfluous hits collections) and focused their energy on NEW recordings (Q+PR), so it's totally about time we abandon ship! They've fail us and are milking the fans.

+++++++ we should precise your words here: they put out a few releases we don´t care, a bunch of hits release we don´t care, they worked with Five, Robbie Williams, Britney Spears, Beyonce, Pink and even the fucking Muppets and focused their energy on ONE NEW RECORDING (singular).

Unbelievable.

++++++ not. Not that much. I guess some thousands agree with me. Just go and check any Youtube video of any Queen rarity and you´ll always read a comment from some Joe guy going like: "hey! when will they release a boxset with rarities?". That´s what people wants !

If you´re happy with Universal releasing all the studio albums remastered without any extra content, that´s ok. I respect your opinion.

But I´m happy with Springsteen giving the fans what they really want and, from time to time, remastering one of his key albums. For God´s sake, even Depeche Mode and The Cure are doing it ! not to name Genesis, Neil Young, Dylan, the Stones, Bowie ...

anyway, mate, we think totally different on this matter and nothing´s gonna change our minds ... but I´m really enjoying your alternate Jazz tracklisting ;)

cheers
Vali

sorry double post

Vali - I absolutely agree with you ...

zephead2112 wrote: Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a product that includes un-released material from the vaults and I will be bitterly disappointed if that doesn't happen (Hammy 79 pleeeeeeeeease.....!)

However, I must say that, based on their tremendous back catalogue alone, how could you possibly "lose interest" in Queen? Being frustrated is one thing but dismissing them for good (as the comment infers) is a different kettle of fish. I'm know that I'm one of the older Queen fans here (first being 'attracted' to the band in 1974 when SSOR was released) but I never have and never will lose interest in the band, simply because their musical legacy is just too damn good to ignore.

I guess it's just a design defect of human nature; no matter what treasures they already have, people will always want more. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I guess that's addressed to me. Mostly I'm talking about new releases -- I've bought very little Queen stuff in the last 15 years, mostly becasue it's been a series of re-releases with little 'new' or interesting. (I've mentioned what I like already, no need to repeat it). If they produce interesting releases, I'll buy them. As for the old catalogue, it's great, of course, but I find myself listening to it less and less these days. Plus some albums I'm not keen on anyway, i.e. almost everything after The Game. Unless you;re going to try to convince me that Hot Space, The Works or AKOM stand the test of time and are still worth listening to over and over. Hardly. Brian is more interested in other matters instead of music these days. I'm not interested in what he's interested in -- that doesn't make me 'greedy' as you are suggesting, just human. Roger is capable of doing interesting stuff, but we'll have to wait to see how the Foo Fighters thing pans out. John has retired. Fred is gone. My interest is fading.

ps I'll just add one thing to this, the best thing I;ve heard from Queen in the last decade is the unofficial Brighton Rock multitracks -- what does that say about Queen releases recently?

100% agree with Vali and Holly.  While there have been some great releases in the last 10 years, the quality and quantity of the releases of the back catalogue and rarities pales in comparison to most other major bands.

With regard to what's been released since Fred's death.

Let's be brutal here.  What, out of everything that has been released so far, has actually had anyone sit there and go "Wow!" on listening or watching?

For me, I can honestly say that only the MK '82 release has in terms of the sound quality.  I'd had the audio boot for a LONG time (as we all did) so none of the material was new but the sound was something to behold.

Absolutely nothing else has really captivated me in any way at all.  All of the material we've been "treated to" has been available elsewhere either officially or unofficially in various guises.  I can'tsee anyone being excited about any of the singles boxes or the fact that they could re-jig a live set list and purport it to be unedited (Montreal) and expect people to be happy with that.

This is a chance to make us all thrilled to bits to be Queen fans.

Let's hope they don't fuck it up.

I must say I am getting incredibly fed up with Queen. The lack of interesting product is becoming beyond the joke!
After many years of blaming Jim Beach (who I'm sure is not guilt free), I'm starting to believe that its Brian who is the problem.

We all know that he is a perfectionist, and since Freddie has gone seems to have turned into a control freak. He is also terribly insecure.

This is one of the reasons we dont get any live releases which dont have multi-tracks. And its not because they cant do a 5.1, its because May cant overdub his fuck-up's! Brian May is my favourite guitarist bar none, but the fact is he can't get through a live show without fucking something up (correct me if im wrong)? I'd put money on it that the reason Hammy '79 wont be released is because he can't re do the Save Me solo. And because its one of his songs, he won't release the show without that song.

Vali mentioned the Metallica stuff. The reason Queen+PR will have done it this way (individual songs as opposed to full shows) is because BM will have wanted only the tracks that turned out perfectly.

I've no doubt it will be the same with pretty much everything else in the vaults. If its not perfect in his opinion, or if mistakes can't be rectified, they will never see the light of day.

Vali wrote:
2004 - Live At The Bowl
rare ? no

I think anyone of us even didn't know or remember the complete setlist of the gig before it was released. So when it was released in complete form it was revelation!

As for the subject:
I think Universal is the proper company to release Deluxe editions. I think there must be 3 different editions for each album: 1) cd (album) 2) cd (album) + cd (extras) 3) cd (album) + cd (extras) + dvd (video of the period)

And it'll be fantastic if we'll receive whole cd of extras and dvd of tv apps, original aspect ratio videos and possibly live clips or some interviews.

I hope it'll be not just a dream...

To keep us Queen fans busy, I think Greg and his minions get to work on transferring Brian's tape archive of Queen shows to lossless digital audio albums and have them for purchase and download on queenonline.com. What do you think???

Hi Vali :-)

I said a few other things you neglected to reproduce in your reply to my post, such as what we're likely to see and not see in the way of demos and also that I feel most or all of the genuine treasures have been mined already.

It's a pity the Hollywood Records bonus tracks were exclusive to North America and not the world and that various tracks weren't included. I agree 100% that all the non-album b-sides ought to have been accounted for before the 1991 remixes and the Original Extended Versions. That said, given that HR could very well have given us nothing, I'll take what they offered, most of which I like or appreciate.

As I've noted repeatedly, Hollywood Records should be commended for their massive promotion of the band in North America. Dozens of promos were issued and they were a big part of getting Queen back on the airwaves (though Freddie dying and Wayne's World helped too. When the news of Freddie's passing hit, radio DJs had a great stack of promos to reach for). It's perverse that people hate Hollywood Records because of the remixes, when the remixes were a genuine effort to advance listenership of the band in the States. After The Game, Queen were pretty much forgotten here. Hollywood R invested time and money in turning that right around and they succeed! They were not trying to tarnish the band's legacy, but to expand it.

I guess it's easier to hate them for the remixes than to see that they were trying to help and gave you something you didn't like.

Also, I'm well aware of the definition of rare. If you read my post entirely, instead of picking and choosing what to reply to, you'd see the argument I was making was that in addition to all the non-album tracks, alternate versions, promos and remasters, Queen have put out NEW stuff as well. The list was qualifing NEW releases, not just "rarities" and old stuff.

And Vali, just because you're not interested in a release, a song or a version does not immediately disqualify it from inclusion in the Queen canon of output.

I ask you, if the Wyclef Remix of "Another One Bites The Dust" got just one new fan into the band, was it worth it? My answer is "Yes."

We were all new fans once, never forget that.

New fans can grow into seasoned fans, but they have to have a place to start. Promoting what is a new release, whether it's older material or new, will cycle newbies into the fold. North America, unlike the rest of the world, is consumer-driven hell. The reason there are so many Hits and Best Of Queen collections here is because the public has the attention span of fish. But they sell and they do their job. They get new fans in, which is a good thing.

Lastly, and this is important, I said I'm interested in whatever demos and outtakes these Universal releases contain, just like you. I also said I'm more interested in NEW material. I dread the day Queen and Brian and Roger stop releasing new things. What do you do then, when all the old studio rarities are out and there's nothing left in the vaults and nothing new on the horizon?