Want to hear Freddie Mercury's AY-OH all around you? Queen's self-titled debut album, Queen I, will be re-released on the 13th June as a special limited edition Dolby Atmos Audiophile Blu-ray, giving a spatial surround sound makeover to the classic record. It's already available to pre-order.
Originally released in 1973, Queen I features the iconic lineup of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon and includes early classics like "Keep Yourself Alive," "Liar," and "My Fairy King."
Guitarist Brian May describes this version as a "brand new 2024 rebuild" of the original album, with every instrument revisited to achieve the intended "live" ambient sound. Following the 2024 remixed and remastered reissue, this Dolby Atmos edition takes the album to the next level with an immersive spatial surround sound format.
May highlighted the inclusion of "a few nice adventurous Easter eggs" in this new mix for dedicated fans. He emphasised that this Blu-ray version is an update from the currently available streaming version, stating, "Nobody has ever heard our first album quite like this!"
Drummer Roger Taylor echoed this sentiment, concluding, "At last, we get our first album to sound as we imagined it should sound…phew!"
The Dolby Atmos mix was created from the 2024 stereo mix stems by Queen’s audio-production team, led by Justin Shirley-Smith, Joshua J Macrae, and Kris Fredriksson, with executive producers Brian May and Roger Taylor. This process allowed for individual processing and panning of each musical element, adding new depth to the album.
Shirley-Smith explained that Queen's music "was designed for immersive formats" due to its dramatic and powerful nature. Despite being recorded over 50 years ago, he noted that the original album was incredibly ambitious musically, rhythmically, and lyrically.
The mixing process was completed at Abbey Road Studios with Lewis Jones, who brought his experience in immersive projects to the team. Shirley-Smith noted that Atmos's expanded sound field highlights the backing track without overshadowing the intricate multi-layered elements Queen is known for.
Shirley-Smith pointed out the album's stylistic diversity, citing "My Fairy King" as a precursor to "Bohemian Rhapsody" in its adventurousness, and stating that the new mix brings out previously unheard elements.
The 2024 reissue of Queen I as a 6CD+1PL box set, which restored the track "Mad The Swine," saw the band's highest UK album chart placing since their live album with Adam Lambert reached No. 1 in 2020.
Check out the complete track list below:
- 1. Keep Yourself Alive
- 2. Doing All Right
- 3. Great King Rat
- 4. Mad The Swine
- 5. My Fairy King
- 6. Liar
- 7. The Night Comes Down
- 8. Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll
- 9. Son And Daughter
- 10. Jesus
- 11. Seven Seas Of Rhye...
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