Maps of Music

Queen (1973)

Where the lyrics of Queen take you, and where it was really made.

The debut album was finished and mixed in 1972, but the band's management had to release it themselves after eight months of failing to find a label.

Key places

Where the album was recorded (1973)

Recording site Trident Studios — The album was recorded at Trident Studios and De Lane Lea Music Centre in London. Trident recorded the band mainly during studio downtime, from April to July 1972. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Demo sessions at De Lane Lea (1973)

Recording site De Lane Lea Studios — The band first recorded at De Lane Lea Studios in January 1972, when they were hired to test the studio's new equipment. The demos from these sessions were later reworked at Trident. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Queen: debut studio album by the British rock band Queen
• Released 13 July 1973 by EMI Records in the UK, and 4 September 1973 by Elektra Records in the US
• Recorded at Trident Studios and De Lane Lea Music Centre, London
• Produced by Roy Thomas Baker, John Anthony and the band members themselves
• Blends heavy metal and progressive rock with a folk influence
• Lyrics draw on folklore ("My Fairy King") and religion ("Jesus")
• Freddie Mercury wrote five of the ten tracks; Brian May wrote four
• Roger Taylor wrote and sang "Modern Times Rock and Roll"
• Final track is a short instrumental version of "Seven Seas of Rhye"; the full version appeared on Queen II
• 2024 box set reissue as Queen I Collector's Edition, released 25 October 2024

Background

• Band played their first gig at Truro City Hall on 27 June 1970
• Had worked the club and college circuit around London for almost two years before the De Lane Lea session
• Demo of five songs drew only one offer, a low bid from Charisma Records, which the band declined
• Producers John Anthony and Roy Thomas Baker recommended Queen to Barry and Norman Sheffield, owners of Trident Studios
• Trident also agreed to oversee management, recording and publishing while the band sought a record deal
• Mercury sang on a single released under the name Larry Lurex, a parody of Gary Glitter

Recording

• Sessions ran only during studio downtime, late evenings or overnight, from April to July 1972
• Baker had the De Lane Lea demos re-recorded with better equipment
• "Keep Yourself Alive" took seven or eight failed attempts before engineer Mike Stone's first try won approval
• "Mad the Swine" was dropped after Baker and the band disagreed over drum sound and percussion

Cover

• The album sleeve carries the comment "and nobody played synthesiser", reflecting May's purist principle

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970 by Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals).
• John Deacon (bass) joined in February 1971, completing the classic line-up.
• Mercury suggested the name "Queen".
• Early works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, later expanding into arena rock and pop rock.

Members

• Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano, 1970–1991, died 1991).
• Brian May (guitar, vocals, 1970–present).
• Roger Taylor (drums, vocals, 1970–present).
• John Deacon (bass, 1971–1997, retired).
• Paul Rodgers (vocals, 2004–2009) and Adam Lambert (vocals, 2011–present) toured as "Queen +".

Career

• First UK chart hit with Queen II (1974); international success with A Night at the Opera (1975) and "Bohemian Rhapsody", which topped the UK chart for nine weeks.
• News of the World (1977) contained "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions", now sports anthems.
• Greatest Hits (1981) is the best-selling album in UK chart history.
• Live Aid performance (1985) is ranked among the greatest in rock history.
• Estimated record sales of 250–300 million, one of the world's best-selling music artists.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001; received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and the Polar Music Prize in 2025.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone wrote that the band had all the tools to claim the throne left by Led Zeppelin; the debut was called "superb" in their words
• The Winnipeg Free Press praised the band's fresh, energetic touch and compared the record favourably to Led Zeppelin's first album
• The Daily Herald commended the record, singling out songs such as "Keep Yourself Alive", "Great King Rat" and "Doing All Right"

Reappraisal

• AllMusic later gave the album three out of five stars, calling it a "patchy but promising debut from a classic rock group"
• Guitarist Magazine ranked Queen the 19th most influential guitar album of all time in 1994
• Malcolm Dome, writing for Classic Rock in 2016, ranked Queen as the band's second greatest album
• Dome praised the "unmistakably unique sound of Brian May's home-made guitar" and the "soaring voice of Freddie Mercury"

Records

• NME placed the album at number 54 in its 2011 "100 Greatest Albums You've Never Heard" list
• Rolling Stone ranked "Keep Yourself Alive" number 31 in its 2008 "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time"
• The song has been cited as heavy metal journalist Martin Popoff's favourite record of all time

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Mercury had not finished "Seven Seas of Rhye" when the first album was being recorded; the band first planned to use it as an outro
• Mercury wrote and recorded with Trident's help while waiting for studio time; the result was released as a Larry Lurex single
• "Mad the Swine" was left off the album after a dispute over drum sound and percussion
• The album sleeve notes that nobody played synthesiser, a purist principle of Brian May's
• Roger Taylor was credited as Roger Meddows-Taylor on the original release; the name was dropped after the next album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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