Queen The Greatest Special – The Story Of Queen I (Part One)

To mark the release of the remixed, remastered and expanded Queen I boxset, Brian May and Roger Taylor reflect on the rocky road to the recording of their self-titled debut album. In this first episode, we hear how the opportunity to trial a brand-new London studio offered the breakthrough they had been waiting for.

A half-century after announcing themselves to the world with 1973’s self-titled debut album, Queen’s status as a rock ‘n’ roll institution is cast in stone. But as that classic album is reborn on 25 October 2024 as a suitably regal boxset Queen I– featuring remixed/remastered vinyl and CDs, fly-on-the-wall studio outtakes, live rarities, one-of-a-kind memorabilia and much more – The Greatest video series returns to tell the true story behind the band’s dramatic rise to fame.

Interviewed exclusively for this first episode of this acclaimed video series, Brian May and Roger Taylor turn back the clock to the early ’70s and pull no punches in their memories of the fledgling Queen’s financial straits. “It was tough in the beginning,” recalls Roger Taylor. “We were very poor. It really was hand-to-mouth. What do you call a musician without a girlfriend? Homeless.”

But fate threw a lifeline in the form of the De Lane Lea Studios: a brand-new facility located in the shadow of Wembley Arena, seeking an upcoming band to put the untested equipment and sound insulation through its paces. “The De Lane Lea Studios really changed our lives,” explains Brian, “and it was just because a friend of a friend had got hold of me and said, ‘Would you like to come in and make a noise?’ And in return, we got to make those demos.”

The world beyond the studio walls might not yet have known their name, but as Brian reflects, Queen’s musical signatures were already forming – alongside the nascent vocals of Freddie Mercury. “It was the first time I ever tried a three-part guitar solo, on Keep Yourself Alive. I’d had it in my brain for a long time and I wanted to hear this three-part soaring guitar sound like an orchestra. Freddie was very elemental in those days. But incredibly quickly, he picked up the art of recording in a studio and getting the best out of himself.”

Those thrilling first steps can be heard on CD2 of the new Queen I boxset, which offers a contemporary remaster of the original De Lane Lea demos.

Armed with these songs, the band started banging on doors of record companies. But as Roger reflects, the music industry of the early ’70s took more convincing. “I remember getting on endless trains with Freddie, hawking the demo around to all the different record companies. We’d sit in their offices and they’d play the stuff, and they’re all kind of interested, but nobody actually took the bait.”

“It was just a grind. I wouldn’t say it was soul destroying because we were quite confident. We had a sort of innate, gentle arrogance. You know, we thought we were good and quite different. But, yeah, it could have been soul destroying, but we didn’t let it get us down too much.”

Then fortune smiled again, as the noted producer and A&R man John Anthony took a chance on the band who had pricked up his ears as students, easing Queen towards the deal that would make their debut album a reality. “When we did our showcase gigs in Imperial College, we invited John both times,” remembers Brian, “and he came, give him credit. And when we were in De Lane Lea, he popped in one day with Roy Baker, to see how the recordings were coming on, and he was obviously impressed. He said, ‘Well, this is going to be really great. I’ll get you the deal with Trident Audio Productions, who were an embryonic management company. They were already a successful studio recording, based in Saint Anne’s Court in Soho.”

Says Roger Taylor: “A lot of hits came out of that studio, you know. With George Harrison come in and do All Things Must Pass, and, David was producing Transformer with Lou Reed, a great album, you know, absolutely ground-breaking. So it was the place to be.”

Having signed that management deal with Trident, Queen would be given crucial access to the studio, and in our next episode Brian and Roger explain how work on Queen’s first album could finally begin.

Queen The Greatest Special – The Story of Queen 1 (Part Two) – will follow on November 1st.