Queen NEW Press release

The Dude wrote: Be careful what you ask for. Remasters are basically making the music louder. it sounds impressive at first, but ear fatigue happens qwuick. Remasters are the biggest rip off. i learned the hard way. Only a few remasters are actually any good. Google and you tube "loudness war" and you will see what i mean. Just turn up the old CD's to hear funny things like bass.

True... that's what I meant. It's just trickery and looks interessting when saying to the main public an album is remastered. But let me be possitive.... time will tell.

Is there any way to de-1980s the sound on The Works and AKOM? Maybe add real strings, real drum sounds etc. And maybe put some fire back into the Red Special? I'm only half-joking about this. No doubt Queen got lazy and greedy in the 80s, not wanting to pay royalties to real musicians when a computer could create an approximation of that sound. But god does it sound dated and cheesy. I'd love to see a reworked version of some 1980s songs but no doubt Brian in particular thinks of them as works of art that can't be touched. Same goes for Queen 1 and Jazz, which Brian seems to think are historical documents which shouldn't be 'tampered' with.

AlexRocks wrote: O.k.    Wow.    First off they have SIXTEEN  studio l.p.s    Secondly Greaserkat just because someone says something does not make it so.    Neither The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson or whoever can or do back-up or explain their music sales.
Excuse me but what is the sixteenth LP? Unless you're counting Live Killers as a studio LP (which, to be fair could be half right!) or The Cosmos Rocks then I don't know what you are referring to.

Deacy must be looking foward to next years royalties cheques with relish !!!!!!!!!!!!

@GT... any confirmation on who is doing the remastering for these re-issues?

Thought i'd read that Brian thought AG was the best their stuff had ever sounded, and perhaps someone else saying that Bob Ludwig was tapped to remaster new 2011 albums.

Now, dynamic range on CDs is a subjective thing... I've said before, I like the punchy / compressed sound of AG... but I love the utterly uncompressed spacious mix in the MFSL Queen releases.  It's not just about loudness.  I'm actually a big fan of remastered 80s or 90s cds that bring the bass and drum presence forward.  But these things can also bury the vocal at times.  Am I the only one concerned about the overall sonic results of these reissues if Bob Ludwig does them in the same way he did AG?

Especially if he's remastering the unreleased tracks this way... I have to say I'll be holding onto my bootleg versions if the ONLY official way to hear the BBC sessions, De Lane Lea, etc. is in squashed and pumped up form...

I like the new logo, and I'm cautiously excited about this news! I assume the press releases will start about 4 weeks before the releases happen, so we should have something to talk about in Feb!

Let's face it - Universal aren't stupid.  They know that the game's up as far as on-going interest in Queen is concerned; Cosmos Rocks wasa  commercial disaster in terms of numbers sold in the key US and UK markets and with the way that Brian is increasingly marginalising himself with regard to his musical profile these days, they know that this is kind of a last-ditch attempt at being able to realistically re-issue Queen's catalogue with a market available at which to aim it.

With a bit of luck, QPL are playing ball where access to material is concerned.  Chances are; they're holding back.

As far as I'm concerned, I'll buy any deluxe re-issue (so long as it doesn't contain a "making-of" DVD) up to and including Hot Space.

Um...yes.    "The Cosmos Rocks" is the sixteenth studio l.p. ...and one of their best.

AlexRocks wrote: Um...yes.    "The Cosmos Rocks" is the sixteenth studio l.p. ...and one of their best.
Ah I see, thanks for clearing that up. While not strictly a Queen album, it is still a rather good one (in my opinion).

I doubt it is being re-issued as it is only a couple of years old, and is in no need of remastering. I doubt they'd have much bonus content for it either!

AlexRocks wrote: Um...yes.    "The Cosmos Rocks" is the sixteenth studio l.p. ...and one of their best.
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So it's up there with Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, and News of the World?

Err... okay.

Yes it is Holly2003!

On one hand I hope/think/can't believe that Universal would just remaster the albums and repackage them. Queen are not the Beatles. Yes, they are/were are big band - but the general public will not buy any of the Queen albums if they can just get Hits 1 + Hits 2 for a bargain price I think. I'd be interested to see how many copies were sold of the 30th anniversary ANATO 2-disc set.

But somehow I can't believe that Queen Productions will suddenly give up the goods and release 'new' material. I wouldn't be surprised if the albums include only the b-sides/single versions which are already remastered for the singles collection sets. And to be honest - I'd be pretty excited already about a repackaged and hopefully remixed Queen II with See What A Fool added on as a bonustrack, a nice thick booklet with quotes/information/pictures from that era and a beautiful digipack. I can't even imagine how I would react if tracklists leak out in 3 months with demos/alternate versions/takes/instrumentals! :)

What truly sucks is, IF (and that's a big ass if) these re-releases are truly deluxe (b-sides, demos, etc etc) they're not getting a US release since fucking Hollywood Records is still their American label so I'll have to fork out import dollars for these damn things.

In all honesty though, Michael, do you really believe there to be that level of interest in the band in the US any longer?

Michael Allred wrote: What truly sucks is, IF (and that's a big ass if) these re-releases are truly deluxe (b-sides, demos, etc etc) they're not getting a US release since fucking Hollywood Records is still their American label so I'll have to fork out import dollars for these damn things.

Tb be fair thought, we had to fork out to import all the lovely Hollywood records stuff from 1991 onwards!!!

I'm sure that once the Hollywood deal expires (anyone know when??)  QPL will have held some rare material back so that they have some leverage to get the best new deal with whoever wants the rights to their North American catalogue. We (Europe) will then have to shell out the dosh again to get those re-releases!  It all seems to go round in circles!!