What's it going to take for QPL to start releasing what we WANT!

kevin79 wrote:

In my opinion, they've been doing a pretty good job of releasing some of the stuff we've wanted ever since they signed with Universal/Island. Yeah, the bonus discs with the remastered CD's could have been better. But I think it's more obvious now that they were trying to use some of those bonus tracks as teasers for projects they were working on. We've gotten a great re-release of Wembley with the complete Friday night show as a bonus. They put out a nice set of vinyl re-issues for the Queen vinyl fans. And they finally released some 70's concerts, and not late 70's concerts with more hits. No, they gave us some of their earliest available gigs. And they didn't skimp on those releases. They gave us both complete concerts at the Rainbow on CD and the complete video of the November show. And when most artists would have been happy to release the vinyl studio set that Queen did as a Christmas release, they also gave us the Hammersmith Odeon concert. And, in addition to trying to keep Freddie's solo work alive with a singles collection release, it looks like we'll finally be getting a collection of Queen's radio performances. And while I definitely hope that what's listed by the original poster is also being looked at by the group, I'll gladly take what they've released over the last few years over them trying to figure out how to package their greatest hits to buy them again and again.

Pretty good job? I'm sorry but I can't agree with you on this.

OK, what did they release?

- the new 2 disc versions of each album - I absolutely hate the remasters. They are way too loud, so I have to immediately turn down the volume, and I loose all the fine details which are now inaudible. The bonus discs are fine, but what did they bring us - maybe 4 new songs? On the 15 albums they released? At least they released the De Lane Lea demo tape

- Wembley. Yes, again, f***ing Wembley. I forgot how many times did I buy this concert in the last 30 years. The ONLY positive thing about this release was that it included a big part of the Friday concert, but it was not complete, both nights were converted to NTSC, they look like shit thanks to temporal denoising (or the framerate conversion), it still has the horribly edited DoRo footage (mix of both nights and Knebworth), it has no lossless audio for the Friday concert, not on the DVD, not on CDs ...

- Hungarian Rhapsody - again a re-release. With altered colour palette, altered aspect ratio, the same bad edit as always ... At least we got the almost complete concert on CD.

- Rainbow - this one was finally something pretty good, there are only very small complaints

- Hammy 75 - nothing interesting, a wasted opportunity. If they at least added the documentary which was aired on BBC ...

- Deep Cuts - well we got some alternate versions of some tracks, so for those of us who like that sort of stuff they're at least interesting.

- Icon - pure shit

- Forever - shit with 3 interesting tracks, which are also available for free

- the albums on vinyl - neat if you collect that, I don't so I don't care

- Freddie's Barcelona SE - nice, but why is not the original album not included? That's unforgivable.

- the new Freddie boxset - another re-release/re-package.


If you like the stuff they released, good for you. But the only thing I personally liked was the Rainbow release (even though I hate the fact they released a mix of 2 nights instead of releasing both nights separately), and also the Friday concert from Wembley was nice to have.

So yes, I fully understand the frustration of the original poster. I was really looking forward to an official release of Hyde Park (because the versions we all have look and sound like crap), but even if they release the BBC sessions (21 years after they got officially announced), I'll be happy.

Hi!

Well im a big fan but im also very disappointed! Why not Houston, Earls Court, and of course Hyde park, why not???? Im not buying enything else until we dont get some of this three records. I am not interested in all this compilations. This is all crap, crap, crap!!!

Hi!

Well im a big fan but im also very disappointed! Why not Houston, Earls Court, and of course Hyde park, why not???? Im not buying enything else until we dont get some of this three records. I am not interested in all this compilations. This is all crap, crap, crap!!!

As much as I wish that they'd release something like the two Earls Court concerts, There's always that feeling that we'll get it, but there'll be a figurative price to pay. For example, Earls Court. They'd release it, but it'd be a mix of both night with some autotune done on Freddie's voice etc. and they'll probably show the entire 1st or 2nd night exclusively at some exhibit.

I hate being cynical, but this idea has been growing in my head now. Don't get me wrong, For Rainbow, it turned out okay for me. There's my 2 cents on QPL...

The loudness war has destroyed most of the live releases, too.

Only the March Rainbow show and Montreal sound like when they were recorded. The compression on Milton Keynes and the first night at Wembley destroys the sound. Even the one Hammersmith soundcheck song is just so overblown. And the vocal overdubs on the November Rainbow stuff are unforgivable. It's about a bit too close to Kiss Alive for comfort.

The Earls Court clips on one of the latest documentaries are very promising. But my cynical side is pretty sure they're going to find a way to fuck that up too. And the compression heard on the Paris 79 track on the News Of The World remaster is hopefully not an indicator that they'll blow it with the 1979 material some day too. Roger's snare drum has that machine gun sound, nothing like 1979.

The Yes box set Progeny from last year is how it's done - seven uncut concerts from 1972 lovingly restored and sounding far better than the YesSongs album they were originally sourced for. They even put Chris Squire's bass tracks through the rig he played through at the shows, to ensure the sound was authentic. Such attention to detail is not in the cards with Queen. Things are just in the wrong hands, and they will be for quite some time.

I still get more joy from the Boston 76 audience tape than pretty much anything Queen have released since Made In Heaven. But I have long resigned myself to the fact that I am not the target audience. The man on the street who has heard a dozen Queen songs is.

They have indeed released a lot of great stuff. But it's painful to think about the number of lost opportunities, the number of good products that could so easily have been outstanding products.

I enjoyed "Hungarian Rhapsody" a lot, maybe because is better than Wembley both technically and musically, and is probably my favourite show from the Magic Tour.

But continuing with the topic, yeah, most of recent releases are poor mixed, even if is not exactly a "new" thing. In Queen On Fire (2004?) they screwed up big time with the mix... How was that, for the "Loudness War" or maybe because they aren't as experienced as now?

That was a great show and the band put a lot of energy into in, to make the things worse, the old mix from TV sounds better tan the CD/DVD.

Doga wrote:

In Queen On Fire (2004?) they screwed up big time with the mix... How was that, for the "Loudness War" or maybe because they aren't as experienced as now?

Nah, they're working with professionals who know exactly what they're doing. The loudness war was already a few years old at that point.

There's pressure from the industry to cave into the loudness war, but they won't be crucified if they refuse. Plenty of releases of archive material from other bands come out just fine.

^^ Yup. For example the massive King Crimson box sets containing full gigs from 70's sound really good and authentic.

I didn't mind the bonus discs - when taken as a whole it's a nice collection of 'rarities'. Yes, stuff was missing but there was also some quite daring additions. Far more adventurous than say the owners of the Bowie vault would be prepared to do. Fair to say RT seems more keen on archival stuff as he dug out his demos for the project (and yes, I believe they were doctored or tidied up for release) I don't recall and BM demo tracks? That speaks volumes.

I got Rainbow and loved it. I haven't bothered buying the rest of the DVDs or compilations as I don't feel the need. But I do remember the excitement of finding out what was on each new bonus disc. And a little frustration too, but there will always be that I guess.

Stop giving examples of inferior bands which closed shop forever, of course they released everything, they milked the cow for the last time.
Queen vaults are much more valuable to be dumped all at once and in any condition.

Are you Jim Beach?

bucsateflon wrote: Stop giving examples of inferior bands which closed shop forever, of course they released everything, they milked the cow for the last time.
Queen vaults are much more valuable to be dumped all at once and in any condition.

What? King Crimson inferior band that closed shop forever? I guess that's down to an opinion, albeit an ignorant one.

I'm no big Yes fan, but I'm pretty sure they're no inferior band, and I'm very certain they didn't close shop forever, even with Squire gone. If they're gonna milk the cow for all it's worth, that's no problem, at least their milk's good.

bucsateflon wrote:

Stop giving examples of inferior bands which closed shop forever, of course they released everything, they milked the cow for the last time.
Queen vaults are much more valuable to be dumped all at once and in any condition.

Queen hasn't released an album in over 20 years, whereas Yes has released two in the last five years.

Who's milking which cow?

And what the hell are Queen waiting for? If they take much longer to dig into the good stuff, the fanbase they cultivated around their creative peak will be dead.

Whatever you're smoking, I'll have some.

The Real Wizard wrote:

bucsateflon wrote:

Stop giving examples of inferior bands which closed shop forever, of course they released everything, they milked the cow for the last time.
Queen vaults are much more valuable to be dumped all at once and in any condition.

Queen hasn't released an album in over 20 years, whereas Yes has released two in the last five years.

Who's milking which cow?

And what the hell are Queen waiting for? If they take much longer to dig into the good stuff, the fanbase they cultivated around their creative peak will be dead.

Whatever you're smoking, I'll have some.

If you're counting Yes albums without the original line up then you surely must, like it or not, include The Cosmos Rocks?