The Queen Fanthology - Chapter One: Queen

Over their long history, Queen have released many versions of their material; remixes, edits, remakes, B-sides, collaborations, mistakes, there are literally hundreds of variations to the songs you will find on Queen’s albums. Add in a healthy dose of unreleased songs that have surfaced over the years and you have A LOT of material to listen to and collect.

I’ve listened to and collected Queen for 20 years, and ever since I started these variations and versions have fascinated me. Now, there are several excellent guides online to all this material, but what’s always frustrated that none of them were definitive. All of them have omissions and errors, and never really had all the detail I wanted.

So, I could either complain about that, or do something about it. That is where this guide comes in. It aims to list and describe every variation and version of every Queen track, no matter how big or small the difference. From songs that never made it to the album to the most minor of edits, you’ll find it all here.

In this guide, each album will have its own chapter, and each chapter will follow the same format:

1) A guide to the album background; including a track listing and key facts about when and where it was recorded, who produced the album etc. This section will also include information on the original release dates, formats and catalogue numbers.

2) A list of album remasters; including who remastered the album, where it was remastered and release details of the remaster.

3) Details of the album versions of each song; including the author and track time, to allow comparison to the different versions.

4) A comprehensive list of each of the song versions; including track time and a description of what makes that version different.

5) A list of releases (where applicable) that feature that song version.

There is a ot of information contained in this guide, so before you get stuck in I recommend you read the following few paragraphs to help you get the most out of it. This will give you all the background needed on understanding what’s in the guide.

As always with a work of this size it’s possible a few mistakes have crept in here and there. If you spot anything incorrect please let me know. You’ll also see ??? where there is any missing information, so please get in touch if you can fill in those blanks. I can be contacted at jam_monkey@hotmail.com

If you have any questions on the content, please ask! I intend to publish one album at a time (much like John S Stuart’ ‘Ultimate Collection threads from a few years ago) and hope to have this on a dedicated website at some point in the future.

So, that said, here is the first chapter…

[b]What’s in and what’s out:[/b]
This guide aims to list all song versions where there is any variation (however minor) to the standard album version. This includes both officially released and unreleased material studio material, as well as officially released live material.

There is, however, one exception to this rule. Over the years Queen have released several official documentaries which feature a lot of songs in their soundtracks. Many of these songs are just short clips of the album versions, and to keep this guide focused on what really matters, the music, the decision was taken not to include these short clips and I’ve only listed documentary tracks when there has been some form of remixing.

[b]Releases:[/b]
Along with each song version you’ll find a list of releases that that version features on. It would be near impossible to list every release, so the following approach has been adopted:

1) Only releases from the three major Queen territories of the UK, US and Japan are listed; unless the song version in question doesn’t feature on releases from those counties, or there is some other good reason for including other territories

2) Some releases have also been issued a multitude of times over many years and in a variety of packages (for example, Greatest Hits). In these cases it wasn’t always possible to list every single issue and reissue, but I have tried to list as many as possible.

3) The list of releases is focused on vinyl and CDs, generally I’ve only listed cassette sources when there is no vinyl or CD equivalent.

For a lot of the releases mentioned you’ll also find an indication of its rarity, and which releases might be easier to find. This is obviously quite subjective and should only be taken as a suggestion; collecting Queen has never been an exact science.

[b]Unreleased Material:[/b]
To the delight of many fans, and the frustration of the band, a large catalogue of unreleased material has found its way into the hands of collectors. Some of this material circulates freely amongst the community of Queen fans, while some is exceptionally rare and in the hands of only a few people.

To make it absolutely clear what material is available and what is not you’ll see a status attached to every listing of unreleased material. The categories are:

1) Shared: The track definitely exists and it has been freely shared amongst Queen fans, so anyone should be able to get hold of it.

2) Uncirculated: The track definitely exists and it is in the hands of collectors, but it has not been shared freely and may be difficult to get hold of.

3) Not Recorded: A status relating to convention tracks. We know it was played at the convention, but no
recording has come to light.

4) In The Vaults: The track has been confirmed to exist by an official source but it has never leaked
to collecting circles.

5) Advert: The track has been advertised for sale/trade but not heard by anyone. Related mainly to some acetate discs.

6) Rumour: Gossip, innuendo, wind ups; they are all here. This material may exist, or it may not.

These statuses have been included on listings that relate to recordings from acetate discs as well, as although there is a physical product they have never been officially released and exist only in exceptionally limited numbers.

[b]Repeated Information:[/b]
It’s worth mentioning that you’ll see certain bits of information repeated throughout the guide. This is particularly true of the releases segments. For example, all the De Lane Lea demos come from the same release, and so for each of the five demos the same description of the release was included. While that might get a tad boring if you are reading the whole document, there is a reason for it. This guide is put together in such a way to allow people to ‘dip in and out’, so it’s necessary to repeat certain things.

[b]Beware Fakes![/b]
Over time, many fake Queen tracks have come to light. Sometimes this has been unintentional, but at other times it’s been a deliberate ploy to deceive fans. In each album chapter the most common fakes are listed, but so many circulate it would be impossible to keep track of them all.

Some fakes are so poor you can spot them easily, while others have clearly had a lot of effort put into them. Fake tracks, however, generally fall into these categories:

1) Fan mixes: Many Queen fans turn their talents to remixing songs, made all the more easier these days by the huge collection of computer game stems available. Most share their work freely, but in some cases people have mistaken (deliberately or otherwise) these fan mixes for demos or rarities.

2) 5.1 Mixes: Queen have released several DVDs in 5.1 Surround Sound, and if you have just a little PC knowledge you can separate out the different tracks and listen to each individually. Fun to do, but sometimes these separated 5.1 mixes have been passed off as rarities.

4) Stereo Mixes: Back in the days before 5.1 Surround Sound people only had stereo effects to play with. Many bootlegs contain tracks with just the left or right channel present and try to pass these off as demos.

5) Official releases: Sometimes some more obscure official releases are passed off as demos. Check this guide and you’ll know for sure what’s official and what’s not!

6) New creations: Some people go to the lengths of recording new music, perhaps combining it with genuine samples. Some of it is rather good, but not worth anything at all.

7) Wind Ups: The vast majority of Queen fans are good people, but some like to wind us all up with tales of unreleased tracks that are nothing more than fantasy.

If you are ever offered any Queen rarities in a trade make sure you know what you are getting first, and always ask for a sample!

This sounds fascinating! Thanks for all your hard work - I can't wait to read it! :)

It sounds great. Can't wait to read it. And thanks for the effort and for sharing it.

Thanks for this interesting information!
Really great to read.

Great great stuff! Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

Some mistakes:

Louis Austin didn't produce TNCD, he recorded it (i.e., engineered it), but it was produced by Queen. The rest of the tracks were produced by John Anthony and Roy Baker (but not the band). From 'Queen II' onwards, the band would co-produce everything (so it'd be Queen/Mack or Queen/Richards or Queen/Baker or Queen/Bowie, etc.), but not on the début.

The Austin mistake is repeated on the comment for the DLL version of KYA - he wasn't the producer, he was the in-house engineer, the work was produced by the band.

"Louis Austin didn't produce TNCD, he recorded it"

He pressed the button on the console that said 'record'

[QUOTE] [b]mooghead wrote:[/b]

He pressed the button on the console that said 'record'[/QUOTE]

Exactly. Not the same as producing.

Wow nice job! Thanks for your effort and for sharing it.

Great! Awesome! Thanks :D

Aahhhhh, thi is more like it..........

I predict this to be THE most read thread ever on the board.

Is Greg Brooks listening?

Craig, a couple of things which I miss or don't like

- Microsoft Word in the title of the document :)
- try to avoid words like "recently" - don't forget that this can be read in 2013, but also in 2053 if you're lucky
- pictures. I would LOVE to have a version of this document with pictures. You know - when you write about an acetate version, it would be great to actually SEE a picture of the acetate. Or covers of all the international releases / re-releases / remasters

The amount of time and effort you are ready to commit to this project is amazing. Thank a lot and all the best!

Can I suggest you add a page for version history of each chapter? It can include version number, additons/modifications and the corresponding dates (with credits, if you like).

[QUOTE]Is Greg Brooks listening?
[/QUOTE]
Doesn't matter. He/they wouldn't think of taking up such work because this would only be of interest to hard-core fans and collectors, which QPL do not consider a market, evidently.