Queen are set to reissue their sophomore album, Queen II.
The remixed album from Brian May and Roger Taylor, will arrive on March 27, which includes a collector's edition box set featuring the 2026 mix of the album, as well as audio of the band working in the recording studio, as well as previously unheard demos and outtakes, live tracks and radio sessions.
It will also include a 112 page book with previously unavailable photographs, diary entries, handwritten lyrics and special memorabilia. Recollections of the writing and recording process from the band members will also be included.
“Queen II was the single biggest leap we ever made,” Brian May said of the album. “That’s when we really started making music the way we wanted to, rather than the way we were being pushed into recording it".
“With Queen II, I couldn’t believe how much work we put into it,” Roger Taylor added. “I think we felt we were evolving our own sound. We were pioneering this sort of multitracking thing. It gave you a tremendous palette, massive choral effects with just three of us singing.”
"The idea was to reveal more of the clarity of the songs,” says mixer Shirley-Smith. “Rather than add anything, we wanted to reveal more of what was there and get that desired sound".
Queen II was originally released in 1974, and has been described by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as "a pillar of grandiose, assaultive hard rock".
You can pre order the album via this link here.
The album will be celebrated with a very special event in London on March 26, Queen II – Queen’s Masterstroke – More than Remastered!
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Last month, Brian May had been teasing the release of this remastered album on social media, having shared footage from inside the famous Abbey Road Studios.
"A Day in my Life at ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS, London, England", he wrote. "We're rebuilding and remixing our QUEEN II album in Dolby Atmos --- basically the kind of surround sound you hear in movie theatres. I've wanted to do this for the last 53 years !!! This new version will be streamed first, then released as a dedicated Blu-ray. The performances are all exactly as we played them all those years ago - in one of our most explosively creative periods - but the SOUNDS !!! --- are what we always dreamed of. Get your Dolby Atmos hi-fi system now !!".
More on this story from Nova here.
