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Following a similar remixed and expanded box set for their debut album in 2024, Queen will give the deluxe treatment to their second album, 1974’s aptly titled Queen II.
Available March 27, the reissue arrives in multiple formats, all of which are centered around a new mix of the album by engineers and longtime archival overseers Justin Shirley-Smith, Joshua J. McRae and Kris Frederiksen. The biggest version is a 5CD/2LP box set that adds two discs of mostly unreleased studio material (including session takes, B-sides and backing tracks) along with two discs of live cuts sourced from previous archival releases. The remix will also be available physically on vinyl (standard black and picture disc), cassette and cut-down CD sets. The big box will also include a 2LP pressing of the album (one black disc and one white, mirroring the original album’s side distinctions), a 112-page book of liner notes, new and archival interviews, rare photos and other ephemera, and four art prints of each band member taken from the photo on the original LP sleeve. A Dolby Atmos mix will also be available on streaming partners on the same date.
Queen II, again made by the band and returning producer Roy Thomas Baker (with a new co-producer, Robin Geoffrey Cable, in the mix for several tracks), expanded on the progressive metal style of its predecessor, adding sharper focus to guitarist Brian May’s dense, distinctive tone; the rhythm section of bassist John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor and the vocal harmonies of lead singer Freddie Mercury (with May and Taylor often backing him). The album’s first half, the “white side,” was almost entirely written by May and featured tracks like the dynamic “Father to Son” and “White Queen (As It Began),” while the darker “black side” offered more fantastical lyrics from Mercury, including “Ogre Battle” and closer “Seven Seas of Rhye.” Originally excerpted as an instrumental at the end of the band’s debut, the completed, piano propelled “Seven Seas” sailed into the hearts of British record buyers, becoming Queen’s first of nearly two dozen Top 10 hits at home. The album sleeve also featured a notable, distinctive image of the group by photographer Mick Rock, the visual aesthetic of which was utilized by the group several years later for an early music video to their megahit “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
The set’s bonus session material (which will also be available as part of a smaller 2CD set) takes fans through the creation of the album, offering unreleased outtakes and demos of every song on the album along with the unheard “Not for Sale (Polar Bear)” (one of six songs recorded by May and Taylor’s pre-Queen band Smile) and a new mix of the “Seven Seas” B-side “See What a Fool I’ve Been.” The live discs replicate material taken from other Queen anthologies or archival releases, including Live At The Rainbow ’74 and the BBC recordings box On Air (albeit sticking only to songs from those sets that first appeared on Queen II). Most of the material from the album would be phased out on later tours, and, happily, there is nothing not carried over from the band’s 2011 reissue campaign, which paired each remastered album with an EP’s worth of bonus tracks).
Queen II’s bevy of buying options are coming online, with Amazon links below (as an affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases) as well as band-exclusive links to picture disc and cassette variants. Check them out and peruse the full track listing, too.
Queen II (Collectors Edition) (Virgin (U.K.)/Hollywood (U.S.), 2026)
5CD/2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Picture Disc: Official Store
Cassette: Official Store
CD 1/LP 1-2: Original album – 2026 mix (originally released as EMI EMA 767 (U.K.)/Elektra EKS-75082 (U.S.), 1974)
Procession
Father to Son
White Queen (As It Began)
Some Day One Day
The Loser in the End
Ogre Battle
The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke
Nevermore
The March of the Black Queen
Funny How Love Is
Seven Seas of Rhye
CD 2: Sessions (previously unreleased except where noted)
Procession (Stage Intro Tape – April 1973)
Father to Son (Takes 4 & 9 – With Guide Vocal)
As It Began (Brian’s Studio Demo – October 1969)
Some Day One Day (Take 1 – with Guide Vocals)
The Loser in the End (Roger’s First Demo)
The Loser in the End (Roger’s Second Demo)
Ogre Battle (Takes 2 & 6 – with Guide Vocal)
The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke (Takes 4 & 9)
Nevermore (Take 6)
The March of the Black Queen (First Section Takes 3 & 5)
The March of the Black Queen (Second Section Take 1)
Funny How Love Is (Take 4)
Seven Seas of Rhye (Takes 4, 5 & 6)
I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside (Take 4)
See What a Fool I’ve Been (2026 Mix) (original mix released on “Seven Seas of Rhye” single – EMI 2121 (U.K.)/Elektra EK-45891 (U.S.), 1974)
Not for Sale (Polar Bear)
CD 3: Backing Tracks (same track list as CD 1)
CD 4: Queen At The BBC
See What a Fool I’ve Been (BBC Session – 7/25/1973 – 2011 Mix)
Ogre Battle (BBC Session – 12/3/1973)
Nevermore (BBC Session – 4/3/1974)
White Queen (As It Began) (BBC Session – 4/3/1974)
Procession – Intro Tape (Live At Golders Green Hippodrome, London, England – 9/13/1973)
Father to Son (Live At Golders Green Hippodrome, London, England – 9/13/1973)
Son and Daughter (Live At Golders Green Hippodrome, London, England – 9/13/1973)
Guitar Solo (Live At Golders Green Hippodrome, London, England – 9/13/1973)
Son and Daughter – Reprise (Live At Golders Green Hippodrome, London, England – 9/13/1973)
Ogre Battle (Live At Golders Green Hippodrome, London, England – 9/13/1973)
Liar (Live At Golders Green Hippodrome, London, England – 9/13/1973)
Jailhouse Rock (Live At Golders Green Hippodrome, London, England – 9/13/1973)
Tracks 1 and 3 released on Queen II (Deluxe Edition) – Island 276 425 0 (U.K.)/Hollywood D0013642-02 (U.S.), 2011
Track 2 released on Queen At The Beeb – Band of Joy BOJLP 001 (U.K.), 1989
Tracks 4-12 released on On Air – Virgin EMI 0602557082319, 2016
CD 5: Live
Procession – Intro Tape (Live At The Rainbow Theatre, London, England – 3/31/1974)
Father to Son (Live At The Rainbow Theatre, London, England – 3/31/1974)
Ogre Battle (Live At The Rainbow Theatre, London, England – 3/31/1974)
White Queen (As It Began) (Live At Hammersmith Odeon, London, England – 12/24/1975)
The March of the Black Queen (Live At The Rainbow Theatre, London, England – 3/31/1974)
The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke (Live At The Rainbow Theatre, London, England – 3/31/1974)
Seven Seas of Rhye (Live At The Rainbow Theatre, London, England – 3/31/1974)
See What a Fool I’ve Been (Live At The Rainbow Theatre, London, England – 3/31/1974)
Tracks 1-3 and 5-8 released on Live At The Rainbow ’74 – Virgin EMI 0602537910687 (U.K.)/Hollywood D0020449-02 (U.S.), 2014
Track 4 released on Queen II (Deluxe Edition) – Island 276 425 0 (U.K.)/Hollywood D0013642-02 (U.S.), 2011