Great King Rat (Hollywood Records)

Great King Rat (Preliminary Mix), Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon (Preliminary Mix), and Save Me (Original Single Mix) have been added to the site.  Thanks for discovering these versions guys!

Do you mention the pointless Rare Live I Want It All edit?

No, but I can add it.

Anybody got that elusive FIRST edition Queen II on cassette with the alternate mixes on?

I bought one from the original run (though not necessarily the first pressing) but it doesn't seem any different from the standard version. There were a few problems with the tape in places so I might have missed something.

Might be worth asking John S Stuart about it, his Ultimate Collection is the only place I've seen it mentioned.

The original analogue releases by most 70's artists are worth tracking down - Queen and Bowie especially. The digital remastering process has changed much sonically - cleaner, yes, but thinning out the sound and making tracks sound flimsy for some reason. Can't comment on Queen 2 specifically as I lost that long ago!

Super. The tape / vinyl versions of Live Magic had edited (and superior) versions of Hammer To Fall, Another On Bites The Dust and A Kind Of Magic.

Orignal LP mixes of Live Magic available not only on vinyl, but also on 1986 Japanese CDs (cat. nr. CP32-5173).

All in all, following different versions from Live Magic exists:

-A Kind of Magic (Original Version) — available on LPs and 1986 Japanese CDs.
-Another One Bites the Dust (Original Version) — available on LPs and 1986 Japanese CDs.
-Hammer to Fall (Original Version) — available on LPs and 1986 Japanese CDs.
-Under Pressure (Promo Version) — stand-alone version released on 1986 7" promo single.
-We Will Rock You/Friends Will Be Friends/We Are the Champions (Promo Version) — medley with fade-out before God Save the Queen, B-side of promo 7"

I'd like that CD. As I said in the other thread I loved the 'short' version of the album on tape. I'm alone in that I bet.

dysan wrote: I'd like that CD. As I said in the other thread I loved the 'short' version of the album on tape. I'm alone in that I bet.

========
I even say that this CD sounds much better than remastered version. On remasters, sounding became not so clean, while original issues have good smooth and clean sound.

Re: Live Magic

The LP and CD contain the same versions of the tracks. The CD notes it has the full-length versions, which is true, but the LP does as well. The only difference between the LP and CD is that Freddie's improv after "Another One Bites The Dust" is absent from the LP. 

I hunted down the LP in order to find these edited tracks and was surprised that they actually weren't altered at all. 

Why that note was put on the CD baffles me.

Hmmmm. I was going to find a copy of the LP this weekend. I still might, mind just to have the fold out of the helicopter picture :o)

I might rip the audio from the tape.

As a matter of fact, all Japanese CD reissues of LIVE MAGIC until the 2001 one had the vinyl master.

The only copies of Live Magic I own are the original CD and original LP, not the re-issues, so I can't comment on those.

I can say with 100% certainty that the only difference between the two original editions is the absence of the improv between Freddie and the crowd after "Another One Bites The Dust." The supposedly edited tracks are not altered in any way. Besides, the CD sleeve only says it contains the Full-Length Versions, which we all assume means somewhere there are edited versions. It's a logical assumption, given the phrasing, but the only other place these edited versions (if they exist at all) might be is on the original cassette, which I don't own.

Definitely on the original cassette, hence assuming they were on the vinyl too. Which is curious.