Queen - The Studio Collection: Coloured Vinyl Box Set

• All 15 hit studio albums sourced from the original master tapes
• Mastered by Bob Ludwig
• Half-speed lacquers cut at Abbey Road Studios
• Pressed on heavyweight 180 gram coloured vinyl
• Includes a lavishly illustrated 108 page hardback book

Queen on Vinyl: This is how listeners first heard the now legendary Queen in the 1970’s when vinyl was the predominant format for recorded music. This September Queen will hit the crest of an already massive wave – a world-wide renaissance of vinyl and record players – with the ultimate set of vinyl LPs, the complete collection of Queen studio albums, re-mastered to the highest standards of quality in both audio and artwork.

15 albums. 18 discs? What’s the story ?

Queen always had a special fondness for vinyl, the medium in which they first began to create, around 1970. As a matter of principle, every Queen studio album was offered at the time of original release on vinyl, even well into the era when CD’s had taken over as the medium of choice for most of the public. However, the final two albums, ‘Innuendo’ and ‘Made In Heaven’ were actually formatted primarily with the CD in mind, with a longer running time, so the contents had to be edited down to fit them on to the two sides of a vinyl album. Now, specially for this edition, for the first time, these two albums have been cut at full length as double vinyl LP’s - four sides each – making up a vinyl set that is complete in every way.

The box-set offers many other special features. Most noticeable is the coloured vinyl: designed for collectors, each album has been given a different colour, in keeping with its original artwork, giving a unique record-deck experience. The colour discs have been custom-produced especially for this set, using new material technology which ensures the sound quality is uncompromised.

There are more surprises in the box set; ‘Queen II’ originally never had a designated ‘A side’ or ‘B side’ - but ‘Side White’ and ‘Side Black’. For this new edition, the album has been cut on two separate discs, black and white, each with a custom etching on the reverse side, a nice bonus for collectors.

The collection has been five years in the making. Throughout this time Queen’s production team has worked extensively on all stages of this painstaking mastering process. The first step was the tape research; locating and confirming the correct versions and best sources for all tracks. Most notably, Under Pressure, plus five tracks on the ‘Innuendo’ album, were improved hugely after the discovery of better sources during this period. Particular attention was paid to the original releases to ensure that nothing was lost or changed for the worse by reverting to earlier sources.

Mastering: To ensure optimum quality in mastering the music, the Queen team asked a number of world-renowned mastering engineers to deliver their best efforts on the same three songs; after double-blind comparison tests, Bob Ludwig’s work was a clear winner, and he was asked to master the entire catalogue for this project. Ludwig is probably the best-known mastering engineer in the world. His skills, combined with a perfect acoustic environment and the some of the world’s finest analogue and digital equipment at Gateway Mastering in Portland, USA, allow him to produce matchless quality in the final result. The Queen team were pleased to confirm his reputation, as well as fulfilling their own exacting demands.

The original plan was to master everything straight from the analogue mix tapes, where available. But in fact most of those tapes, having suffered from the effects of time, were in need of some restoration. The problems encountered included speed errors, missing audio, newly developing clicks and other unwanted noise. So the decision was made to create new super-high quality digital masters, using 24 bit samples and a sampling rate of 96 kHz. All the restoration was then performed in the digital domain, and the vinyl was cut from these perfected files. All restoration was carried out with the lightest of touches, with a profound respect for the originals, and the resulting masters are undoubtedly the finest ever.

The Cut: Of course, with the vinyl process, everything depends on the final stage – the physical cut – one continuous modulated spiral groove on each side, carrying all the sound information which will eventually reach our ears.

For this process, there was only one man in the frame: Miles Showell at famed Abbey Road Studios, London, has perfected the technique of cutting at half speed. Showell runs the source file and the cutting lathe at 50% of the normal speed, which means double the accuracy in the cutting of the groove, resulting in superior reproduction of the music via the stylus in your record player. Showell uses a beautifully maintained Neumann VMS80 lathe boasting cutter-head amplifiers fitted with custom designed RIAA filters. These filters have been optimised for the very cleanest sound. Showell started by cutting the albums onto acetate discs to check the process for every track, and only after he’d fixed any sibilance or other vinyl-specific problems did he cut the lacquers to be sent to the manufacturing plant.

More trials were carried out before eventually deciding to manufacture at Optimal in Germany. Optimal have an enviable reputation for audiophile-quality pressings, plus unparalleled capability for the printing and manufacture of all the elements to be contained in the box set. The Queen team worked closely with the technicians at Optimal in an exhaustive quality control program where test-pressings of every disc, in black and coloured vinyl, were checked to minimise unwanted noise. Finally, the finished results were compared with original pressings of the LPs, on a top quality modern record player, to answer the question: "Was it all worth it?"

True to the final words of the song: "Yes, it was a worthwhile experience!!!"

The 18 vinyl LP box set comes with a lavishly illustrated 12 x 12 inch 108 page hardback book which features introductions to each album, quotes from Queen themselves, hand-written lyrics, rare photographs, memorabilia, and information on singles and videos - all made possible with unlimited access to Queen's own archive plus the personal archives of Brian May, Roger Taylor and some generous fans. Thanks to all.

The Queen Studio Collection

QUEEN (1LP):

Side A

1. Keep Yourself Alive
2. Doing All Right
3. Great King Rat
4. My Fairy King

Side B

1. Liar
2. The Night Comes Down
3. Modern Times Rock ‘N’ Roll
4. Son And Daughter
5. Jesus
6. Seven Seas Of Rhye

QUEEN II (2LP):

Side A (white side)

1. Procession
2. Father To Son
3. White Queen (As It Begins)
4. Some Day One Day
5. The Loser In The End

Side B

1. Etching

Side C (black side)

1. Ogre Battle
2. The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke
3. Nevermore
4. The March Of The Black Queen
5. Funny How Love Is
6. The Seven Seas Of Rhye

Side D

1. Etching

SHEER HEART ATTACK (1LP):

Side A

1. Brighton Rock
2. Killer Queen
3. Tenement Funster
4. Flick Of The Wrist
5. Lily Of The Valley
6. Now I’m Here

Side B

1. In The Lap Of The Gods
2. Stone Cold Crazy
3. Dear Friends
4. Misfire
5. Bring Back That Leroy Brown
6. She Makes Me (Stormtrooper In Stilettoes)
7. In The Lap Of The Gods…Revisited

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1LP):

Side A

1. Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To…)
2. Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon
3. I’m In Love With My Car
4. You’re My Best Friend
5. ‘39
6. Sweet Lady
7. Seaside Rendezvous

Side B

1. The Prophet’s Song
2. Love Of My Life
3. Good Company
4. Bohemian Rhapsody
5. God Save The Queen

A DAY AT THE RACES (1LP):

Side A

1. Tie Your Mother Down
2. You Take My Breath Away
3. Long Away
4. The Millionaire Waltz
5. You And I

Side B

1. Somebody To Love
2. White Man
3. Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy
4. Drowse
5. Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)

NEWS OF THE WORLD (1LP):

Side A

1. We Will Rock You
2. We Are The Champions
3. Sheer Heart Attack
4. All Dead, All Dead
5. Spread Your Wings
6. Fight From The Inside

Side B

1. Get Down, Make Love
2. Sleeping On The Sidewalk
3. Who Needs You
4. It’s Late
5. My Melancholy Blues

JAZZ (1LP):

Side A

1. Mustapha
2. Fat Bottomed Girls
3. Jealousy
4. Bicycle Race
5. If You Can’t Beat Them
6. Let Me Entertain You

Side B

1. Dead On Time
2. In Only Seven Days
3. Dreamers Ball
4. Fun It
5. Leaving Home Ain’t Easy
6. Don’t Stop Me Now
7. More Of That Jazz

THE GAME (1LP):

Side A

1. Play The Game
2. Dragon Attack
3. Another One Bites The Dust
4. Need Your Loving Tonight
5. Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Side B

1. Rock It (Prime Jive)
2. Don’t Try Suicide
3. Sail Away Sweet Sister
4. Coming Soon
5. Save Me

FLASH GORDON (1LP):

Side A

1. Flash’s Theme
2. In The Space Capsule (The Love Theme)
3. Ming’s Theme (In The Court Of Ming The Merciless)
4. The Ring (Hypnotic Seduction Of Dale)
5. Football Fight
6. In The Death Cell (Love Theme Reprise)
7. Execution Of Flash
8. The Kiss (Aura Resurrects Flash)

Side B

1. Arboria (Planet Of The Tree Men)
2. Escape From The Swamp
3. Flash To The Rescue
4. Vultan’s Theme (Attack Of The Hawk Men)
5. Battle Theme
6. The Wedding March
7. Marriage Of Dale And Ming (And Flash Approaching)
8. Crash Dive On Mingo City
9. Flash’s Theme Reprise (Victory Celebrations)
10. The Hero

HOT SPACE (1LP):

Side A

1. Staying Power
2. Dancer
3. Back Chat
4. Body Language
5. Action This Day

Side B

1. Put Out The Fire
2. Life Is Real (Song For Lennon)
3. Calling All Girls
4. Las Palabras De Amor (The Words Of Love)
5. Cool Cat
6. Under Pressure

THE WORKS (1LP) :

Side A

1. Radio GaGa
2. Tear It Up
3. It’s A Hard Life
4. Man On The Prowl

Side B

1. Machines (Or Back To Humans)
2. I Want To Break Free
3. Keep Passing The Open Windows
4. Hammer To Fall
5. Is This The World We Created?

A KIND OF MAGIC (1LP):

Side A

1. One Vision
2. A Kind Of Magic
3. One Year Of Love
4. Pain Is So Close To Pleasure
5. Friends Will Be Friends

Side B

1. Who Wants To Live Forever
2. Gimme The Prize (Kurgan’s Theme)
3. Don’t Lose Your Head
4. Princes Of The Universe

THE MIRACLE (1LP):

Side A

1. Party
2. Khashoggi’s Ship
3. The Miracle
4. I Want It All
5. The Invisible Man

Side B

1. Breakthru
2. Rain Must Fall
3. Scandal
4. My Baby Does Me
5. Was It Worth It

INNUENDO (2LP):

Side A

1. Innuendo
2. I’m Going Slightly Mad
3. Headlong

Side B

1. These Are The Days Of Our Lives
2. Don’t Try So Hard
3. Ride The Wild Wind

Side C

1. All God’s People
2. I Can't Live Without You
3. Delilah

Side D

1. The Hitman
2. Bijou
3. The Show Must Go On

MADE IN HEAVEN (2LP):

Side A

1. It’s A Beautiful Day
2. Made In Heaven
3. Let Me Live
4. Mother Love

Side B

1. My Life Has Been Saved
2. I Was Born To Love You
3. Heaven For Everyone

Side C

1. Too Much Love Will Kill You
2. You Don’t Fool Me
3. A Winter’s Tale
4. It’s A Beautiful Day (Reprise)

Side D

1. "13"

Note: 'The Studio Collection (Coloured Vinyl Box Set)' is packaged in an individual shipping carton with foam protection and will be dispatched by courier delivery only.