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<\/p>\nQUEEN
Queen II 2 CD Deluxe Edition
2026 Hollywood Records<\/p>\n
\u201cI will destroy any man that dares abuse my trust\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Background:<\/p>\n
\u2018Queen II\u2019 is a landmark album, and the second release by the legendary, influential, groundbreaking band QUEEN, in 1974. It is my favorite album of theirs. And I\u2019m not the only one, as I\u2019ve seen the album cited as a favorite by numerous fans and musical artists. I feel fortunate to have first experienced it many decades ago on vinyl. And to be honest, I think this album is best experienced on vinyl, and not just for the sound. Most casual Queen fans don\u2019t know this album, because there was no real hit song from the album, other than the minor hit \u201cSeven Seas of Rhye\u201d. I think \u2018Queen II\u2019 is the most \u201cQueen sounding\u201d album the band ever made, if that make sense.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Following the \u2018Queen I\u2019 \u201c2024 Remix\u201d, \u2018Queen II\u2019 now gets its own \u201c2026 Remix\u201d. This album was damn near perfect before. Roy Thomas Baker\u2019s production and Mike Stone\u2019s engineering has stood the test of time. I think I read that this is actually the third time the album has been \u201cremixed\u201d (not just remastered). The main purpose of this release is of course, to reintroduce the album to potential fans. (This masterpiece should not go out of print at any point). \u2018Queen II\u2019 is best enjoyed on the finest stereo system you can find, but headphones will reveal different layers as well. The clarity and huge backing vocals will have you singing along.<\/p>\n
\u2018Queen II\u2019 is an exercise in black and white, light and shade. It is somewhat of a high concept album \u2013 yet at the same time \u2013 it isn\u2019t. The band wasn\u2019t afraid to try new things, especially vocally, and their trademark high harmonies are all over this album. Divided into two sides, \u2018Side White\u2019 belongs to guitarist Brian May (plus one song by drummer Roger Taylor) and is bright and filled with poignant moments, while \u2018Side Black\u2019 belongs to vocalist and pianist Freddie Mercury and is brash, heavy and bombastic, and features fantasy elements. The album features several songs that crossflow, (one of Queen\u2019s trademarks in the early days), inspired by artists like PINK FLOYD and THE BEATLES. Of course, the influence of LED ZEPPELIN, DEEP PURPLE and YES are evident as well.<\/p>\n
The Songs:<\/p>\n
Opener \u201cProcession\u201d works as a funeral march, and a perfect segue as it flows into the majesty of \u201cFather To Son\u201d, (which features John Deacon on acoustic guitar in addition to bass). \u201cWhite Queen (As It Began)\u201d (based on the Robert Graves book \u2018The White Goddess\u2019) is a mostly melancholy song. Brian\u2019s \u201cSome Day One Day\u201d seems quite simple, but is a rather complex arrangement on guitar, and features Brian\u2019s first lead vocals on a QUEEN song. Roger Taylor contributes and sings \u201cThe Loser In The End\u201d to close out \u2018Side White\u2019. You\u2019ll hear some improvements on these last two songs, in particular the guitar and vocals are cleaner and less \u201ccompressed\u201d sounding.<\/p>\n
\u2018Side Black\u2019 is where the remix starts to showoff more. You\u2019ll hear enhanced definition in the metal of \u201cOgre Battle\u201d, and a better mix on the vocals in \u201cThe March of The Black Queen\u201d. \u201cThe Fairy Feller\u2019s Master Stroke\u201d (inspired by Richard Dadd\u2019s painting of the same name) is possibly my favorite song on the album, and has some of the most elaborate vocals ever put to tape. \u201cNevermore\u201d sounds crystal clear and the bouncing vocals are sublime. The intoxicating swirl of \u201cFunny How Love Is\u201d is accented, while the closing track, \u201cSeven Seas of Rhye\u201d sounds amazing here as well. Overall, the levels sound better on this mix. The booklet is a hard cover digibook style, and there are 24 pages of rare photos and lyrics. Disc One is the album only, as it should be.<\/p>\n
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Bonus Disc:<\/p>\n
Some interesting bonus material can be found on Disc 2. The first track is the stage intro for the band\u2019s tour in 1973. Other goodies include different takes from the recording of \u2018Queen II\u2019 songs as well as demo versions. \u201cThe Loser In The End\u201d came a long way from Roger\u2019s original demo. The band\u2019s back-and-forth banter during the recording of \u201cThe Fairy Feller\u2019s Master Stroke\u201d is amusing. Unreleased track \u201cNot For Sale (Polar Bear)\u201d was originally recorded for the album sessions, but didn\u2019t make the cut. Originally a song by pre-Queen band SMILE, the song was re-recorded for \u2018Queen II\u2019. I can hear why the song was left off, and I think the album is better without it.<\/p>\n
Conclusion:<\/p>\n
\u2018Queen II 2026 Remix\u2019 is a successful remix. Was it as necessary as the first album in 2024? No, because in particular the drums didn\u2019t need to be fixed, but the overall sound is fuller and cleaner. The amount of work put into this package is appreciated by this long-time fan. And all QUEEN fans will most likely enjoy this package and sound quality. Kudos to designer Simon Halfon, his work is superb and faithful to the original album. There is also a deluxe edition available that comes with a 180-gram double vinyl with etched sides, 112-page book featuring previously unseen photographs, handwritten lyrics, diary entries, and special memorabilia, as well as memories of writing and recording the album from the band members. There are also two discs of live performances. Once again, this version is a little out of my price range, but fans can go to the official Queen website to order it.<\/p>\n
I await\u2026 \u2018Sheer Heart Attack\u2019.<\/p>\n
5.0 Out Of 5.0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"QUEENQueen II 2 CD Deluxe Edition2026 Hollywood Records \u201cI will destroy any man that dares abuse my trust\u2026\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-243250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}