• Track Listing

Funny how, deep into the digital age, more and more people are discovering that owning a nice slab of vinyl, complete with full-sized artwork and sound that can only be achieved by dropping a needle onto a record, is a good, good thing. The dense Freddie Mercury vocal layers, rich productions and Brian May walls of guitars sound their biggest and warmest on vinyl—and wait ’til you read about the vinyl in this set. Even when CDs began to rule, Queen kept releasing albums on vinyl, too; but their last two—Innuendo and Made in Heaven—were formatted for CD. This set brings those to double vinyl for the first time, and every album here is a different color (that was done especially for this box). This 180-gram vinyl set drew from newly discovered, vastly improved sound sources for Under Pressure and five Innuendo tracks; also, new super-high-quality 24/96 digital masters were created by mastering engineer Bob Ludwig, and the vinyl was cut at half speed at Abbey Road, which doubles the accuracy in the cutting of the groove. There’s no doubt: these albums have never sounded better, and the personal archives of Roger Taylor and Brian May contributed to the lavish packaging. You’ll find introductions to each album, quotes from the band, handwritten lyrics, rare photos, memorabilia and more in the 108-page 12" x 12" hardback book. All 15 albums include original artwork and come in a flip-top box with a slipcase-protected cover. And why is Queen II on double vinyl? Because "side black" and "side white" are presented on black vinyl and white vinyl, with custom etching on each flipside. That album (Seven Seas of Rhye; Nevermore; Ogre Battle, and more) follows Keep Yourself Alive; Liar, and the rest of their eponymous 1973 debut, and gives way to Killer Queen; Stone Cold Crazy, and the rest of their triumphant third LP, Sheer Heart Attack. Their 1975 masterpiece A Night at the Opera (You’re My Best Friend; Sweet Lady, and the immortal Bohemian Rhapsody) and its smash 1976 sequel A Day at the Races (Tie Your Mother Down; Somebody to Love) lead us to News of the World (featuring the stunning one-two punch We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions) and Jazz (’78, featuring the classics Bicycle Race and Fat Bottomed Girls). Their big pop breakthrough: Another Bites the Dust; Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and the rest of 1980’s The Game. Their Flash Gordon soundtrack and 1982’s Hot Space (featuring the favorite song of millions, Under Pressure with David Bowie) then give way to 1984’s The Works (featuring the smash Radio Ga Ga) and 1986’s A Kind of Magic (a #1 LP in the UK, where the title track; Friends Will Be Friends, and Who Wants to Live Forever all charted). The Miracle (their 1989 return to the Queen sound of old with Breakthru; Rain Must Fall; I Want It All, and more) and Innuendo (Freddie’s 1991 farewell featuring These Are the Days of Our Lives; The Show Must Go On, and more) then lead us to the last chapter, 1995’s Made in Heaven, featuring Heaven for Everyone; Let Me Live, and more of Freddie’s final recordings. You can get any of the albums individually (below); taken all together, they present the complete story of a colossal force in rock—presented in magnificent fashion! Hollywood.