GT interview at QOL; questions

I noticed in Gary's interview the following, when asked about what he would like to see released;

"Oh my god, where do I start. The Queen catalogue deserves at least three or four separate box sets of rarities to be released over a period of a couple of years maybe. There is so much that could be included in these Anthologies, that no fan of the band would be disappointed. "

In the past there have been conflicting reports and guesses that there isn't actually that much in the archives after all, or alternatively there should be dozens and dozens of discs worth of material.

This seems to be the closest we have come from someone with insider knowledge as to exactly how much in the way of rarities there is.  Gary states three or four BOXES of RARITIES, so if he is actualyl talking sense the maths here could be;

Four boxes
Possibly 5 discs in each box (could be more, but if any less then it's not really worth issuing in separate boxes)
20 tracks to a disc (could be more, but a good number of rarities could only be snippets or incomplete songs so not that long)

That gives 100 tracks per bos set, meaning 400 rarities in all.

I simply can't see this at all so I think Gary may not have thought this through, (or Gary is including live stuff too that we haven't heard).

Gary - can you confirm that thee are actually a truthful representation of the sort of volume of rarities in the archives, or are you thinking of three of four box sets with standard already released tracks on but a few rarities in each box, or were you just thinking of numbers out of thin air which just don't stack up to the reality?

Cheers

As much as all of us would like an answer to that question (myself included of course...), I don't think he can. I think he can only say so much, and has to keep tight lipped about most everything else. Someone correct me if I'm wrong please...

I agree. We have to remember that he and GB work for the band and the band are technically their bosses. There's probably a ton of stuff they've seen and heard that they aren't allowed to share with us. They're just doing a job and are respecting the wishes of Brian and Roger and probably Jim Beach as well. We shouldn't chastise these guys for doing a job  I wouldn't want anybody working for my band and releasing demos, alternate takes and live recording without my permission.

To my mind that seems either about right or maybe not enough frankly

The band played together for 20 years, every time they set foot in the studio the tape was rolling a good proportion of the time, add to that all the home demos' and folk with video cameras hanging about and I bet there is simply masses of stuff.
How much of it is worth listening to is another matter altogether!

Togg wrote: To my mind that seems either about right or maybe not enough frankly

The band played together for 20 years, every time they set foot in the studio the tape was rolling a good proportion of the time, add to that all the home demos' and folk with video cameras hanging about and I bet there is simply masses of stuff.
How much of it is worth listening to is another matter altogether!

========================

For example: on the Queen from an hour interview 1989 at the BBC Freddie said that they recorded about 30 tracks for the Miracle. Of course a lot of the 20 tracks remaining not to be used on the Miracle are demo's and unfinished songs, some of them used as B-site, Innuendo or for Made in Heaven. But anyway..... there should be a lot of Queen material lying in the Vaults and, like Freddie said, some rather good ones.

proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KvUE-Vg6JI&feature=related

(From 3:20)

So the

Whatever Freddie has said 22 years ago....

I posted it somewhere here that Roger Taylor was recently asked in an interview for german radio whether the bonus tracks for the albums are just "the tip of the iceberg" indicating that there is a box set in the making.
And he denied that there is a wealth of further tracks apart from the ones they are currently working on (he referred to the MJ recordings)

So I would tend to believe him. And the fact that the De Lane Lea demos are already out now also indicates, that the box set of rarities is no longer on the agenda. As Brian May in the late 90s talked of the original "Keep yourself alive" being released in the box set one day....

Well I wouldn't as as it was stated that the whole picking up process of the archival GEMS looked exactly as follows:
(BASED ON WHAT WAS TOLD IN THE INTERVIEWS)

1. GT and GB are researching and cataloguing what is there from this and this period (more specifically: the period of the released Sets so  e.g73-76)

2. They listen to all and pick up those which they find interesting and worth putting as the 2nd disc.

3. They propose their list to Roger and Brian

4. Roger and Brian decide what CAN be placed onto the 2nd disc.

5. Disc is pressed. :D

But, no joking, from this we know 2 things at least: Roger and Brian have seen only this what had been picked as interesting by GT and/or GB, so they haven't seen every single track/take/demo/outtake and so on and it is normal as they are focused on their present projects.

2nd: Those in charge of the archive who have been interviewed are more reliable to my mind.

3rd: They won't pick up any live version of It's a hard life as sadly it has never been played live. Heard it from the first-hand source: Dr May.

Although I said that I would personally love to see 3 or 4 individual box sets to cover an Anthology project, I did take into account other gems that could be included as well as unreleased tracks and demos of songs we all know and love.
I would also like to hear adverts for shows and albums, as well as interviews added to any rarities collection, and some live tracks too. 
Some of the demos have been played by Greg at the various Queen conventions that have taken place over the years, and what you have heard includes a lot of stuff. With the inclusion of more rare and unheard tracks on the current crop of Island CD re-issues, shows just how much stuff there is in the archive.
Of course, we can all only hear what the band wants us to hear, and if they don't want certain tracks to be released then we won't be hearing them.
There is so much to see too. With the amount of video material that has not been released, but has been seen at the recent 'Stormtroopers' exhibition and shown on the 'Days Of Our Lives' documentary, there are a lot of possibilities there also.
At the last two UK conventions we showed some out takes from some of the promo videos, which proved to be really popular, so that is another realm of possible inclusion for a box set.

Whilst you're here Gary, are you able to tell us if there are any unique versions on Deep Cuts 2 please?

Thanks, :)

There's only one on 'Deep Cuts 2', and it's Jealousy.

Thanks Gary for your kind reply. It's really nice of someone in charge of handling those projects/archives actually to answer on this forum.

Cheers Gary.

I know that I'd love to see an archive project phased over a relatively short period of time (like the singles box sets).  As long as the band put some thought into the consistency of the content as opposed to the random 'no rules' extras on the current bonus discs - something like one box covering live stuff, one box of demos, one box of unreleased tracks, one of interviews etc.. would be good.  Hopefully they will do something like that rather than hapharzardly mix stuff up.

Thanks for your thoughtrs and info as always

Each sixteen studio l.p.s should be made into their own box set.     All on Blu-Ray audio.    With 5.1, stereo, unreleased tracks, demos, outtakes, instrumentals, remixes, new and old audio interviews, new and old filmed interviews, short promotional films (music videos), making ofs, recording ofs, and bunches of new re-recorded versions with modern day recording artists too!!!     Plus TONS of pictures (unreleased and old ones) and tons of new exciting artwork!!!!     They should each be in an oversized hardback book with a hard slipcase just like the Freddie Mercury "Solo Collection"  released in the year 2000!!!!

AlexRocks wrote;

Each sixteen studio l.p.s should be made into their own box set.     All on Blu-Ray audio.    With 5.1, stereo, unreleased tracks, demos, outtakes, instrumentals, remixes, new and old audio interviews, new and old filmed interviews, short promotional films (music videos), making ofs, recording ofs, and bunches of new re-recorded versions with modern day recording artists too!!!     Plus TONS of pictures (unreleased and old ones) and tons of new exciting artwork!!!!     They should each be in an oversized hardback book with a hard slipcase just like the Freddie Mercury "Solo Collection"  released in the year 2000!!!! 

Totally agree with you AlexRocks :-) except the re-recorded versions lol

You're right - when compared to some artists such as Pink Floyd, Genesis, Rush, ron Maiden, AC/DC etc.., what Queen regard as a 'special edition', or 'rarities', is really a disgrace