The music on Queen has been described as hard rock, progressive rock and heavy metal. Other recordings from this period, such as two Smile tracks ("Silver Salmon" and "Polar Bear"), "Rock and Roll Medley" (a live encore staple from the era), and the infamous track "Hangman" (whose existence was long denied officially, beyond live concert recordings), have surfaced in the form of a studio acetate disc. It re-surfaced in 1991, remixed by David Richards, as both the B-side to the " Headlong" CD single in the UK, and on the Hollywood Records re-release of the album. Baker and Queen disagreed over the drum sound and percussion, and it was left off the album. Īnother track that proved problematic was "Mad the Swine", which was to be the fourth track on the album between " Great King Rat" and " My Fairy King". May later commented that "Between Roy and I, we were fighting the whole time to find a place where we had the perfection but also the reality of performance and sound". Stone would stay on to engineer and eventually co-produce their next five albums. After seven or eight failed attempts, engineer Mike Stone stepped in, and his first try met with Queen's approval. They recorded it again, but no mix met their standards. "Keep Yourself Alive" was the first song to be re-recorded, and Queen did not like the result. The band had thought highly of their De Lane Lea demo tracks, but producer Roy Thomas Baker had them re-record the songs with better equipment. The limitations of this arrangement led the band to focus on completing one track at a time, but problems arose almost immediately. Roger Taylor recalled, "You could see the working girls at night through their laced curtains, so while we were mixing, we would have a little bit of diversion". The process of recording only during studio downtime-late evenings or overnight-lasted from April to November 1972. Mercury enlisted May and Taylor on the tracks, which were released on a single under the name Larry Lurex, a parody of Gary Glitter. One day, while waiting to use the studio, Freddie Mercury was asked to record vocals by producer Robin Geoffrey Cable, who was working on a version of " I Can Hear Music" and " Goin' Back". Trident also agreed to oversee the group's management, recording and publishing interests while they sought a record deal. The Sheffield brothers arranged for Queen to record at Trident however, because the studio was very popular, Queen mainly recorded during studio downtime but were given free use of everything after the paying artists had left, including the latest technologies and production team. They recommended Queen to Barry and Norman Sheffield, who owned Trident Studios. Producers John Anthony and Roy Thomas Baker visited De Lane Lea while the band were recording and were impressed by what they saw. The group sent their demo to various record labels, but only received one offer: a low bid from Charisma records, which they declined as, according to their friend Ken Testi, they feared they "would always play second fiddle to Genesis and those other bands". The band came away with a polished demo tape of five songs: " Keep Yourself Alive", " The Night Comes Down", " Great King Rat", " Jesus", and " Liar". Queen, which played their first gig in June 1970, had been playing the club and college circuit in and around London for almost two years when they were asked to test out the new recording facilities at De Lane Lea Studios. The final song on the album is a short instrumental version of " Seven Seas of Rhye", the full version of which would appear on the band's second album, Queen II. Lead singer Freddie Mercury wrote five of the ten tracks, lead guitarist Brian May wrote four songs (including "Doing All Right", which he co-wrote with Tim Staffell while in the band Smile), and drummer Roger Taylor both wrote and sang "Modern Times Rock and Roll". The lyrics are based on a variety of topics, including folklore (" My Fairy King") and religion (" Jesus"). The album was influenced by heavy metal and progressive rock. It was recorded at Trident Studios and De Lane Lea Music Centre, London, with production by Roy Thomas Baker, John Anthony and the band members themselves. The self-titled debut studio album by the British rock band Queen was released on 13 July 1973 by EMI Records in the UK and by Elektra Records in the US.
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