Queen – Queen I

Album sounds fantastic, flat as a pancake, no distortion on the last songs on the sides!

I never loved the sound of the original. Something just didn't feel right to my ears and I'd feel fatigued trying to get through it.

This release sounds amazing to me. Brian did a great job. Pressed in Germany, my copy is dead quiet and the sound quality is great to my ears. 'Liar' sounds especially great.

I do not seem to be having the IGD issues others have mentioned. I'm listening at the moment using a $30 stylus on a Realistic R47 EDT/Shure M75. Will try and give it a spin on my table with the Grado Black and see if I hear anything there. (though I am afraid to find out my $30 stylus out performs my $200 stylus...)

I'm equally glad that I have a 1st US pressing and this pressing because they do sound different. This sounds fantastic! Had maybe 5 seconds of distortion on side one only. Certainly nothing I would return this over. Very happy.

Bad luck for those with distortion, I got mine from Universal store and there's no problems at all. Glad to purchase this version.

Lo and behold, twas the day the Lord I saw decree, that while much magic still occurs on this disc, you must be punished with the dreaded foul IGD. Doubters didn't believe it! Discord and different opinions wage across the waxy tribe... and the gods have deemed my fate is in the IGD camp. My Fairy King, wow I started pretending I was hearing a old beat up copy of it and then it made sense. But punishment it is. Has anyone told the industry there's a problem with this pressing plant(s)?

The guitar separation is fascinating and more meaty for sure. Bass OK; felt a bit lost sometimes and could've been up a bit. Vocals are clearer mostly, so we get better grasp of Freddie's multi-layered and multi-charactered lyrics. The auto-tuning of Freddie's voice...aah hmm yeah I get the ethic and moral and would agree it's wrong, but then that's in keeping with Queen's bombastic fuck it and sell it legacy. In terms of the classic Queen sound, it wasn't until 3rd album Sheer Heart Attack that it all coalesced and then perfected on ANATO. Will be more curious to see a remix of Queen II which was hampered by analogue limitations at the time.

Doing All Right is much better. Great King Rat frigging COOKS in a great way again.
Mad The Swine is a curio that I never paid much attention to before. Found it very freshman adventurous songwriting with a too-big 1960s influence that clearly didn't add anything to the album. They'd develop that varied better with like KIller Queen.
But the distortion on MFK was hilariously bad - the difference from the other tracks is incredible.
Liar is great as ever. The bongos however, are far too high in the mix. They jump out too much and overpower.
Night Comes Down is fine, and I didn't even notice the autotune when it happened. Great guitar moments.
Modern Times Rock and Roll is brilliant and possible best-sounding track in an album peppered with many amazing moments and sequences. Proto-punk-thrash which lead to Stone Cold Crazy.
Song & Daughter yeah good stuff thanks to the lyrics by inner teenager noted that they do say "shit" which is kinda punk. Very Sabbath guitar from Brian.
Jesus is a classic dynamic track from Freddie. Brave attempt at rousing chorus though! Kinda ridiculous lyrics, even for Queen, and then it changes into the heavy finish. IGD pretty bad here too, but maybe that's the power of the Lord ag'in.

OH LORDY THE DRUMS. I'm sorry to report it feels like the drums have all been imported from Roger's late 1980s or early 1990s drums sounds. They do not have a 1970s tone, sotospeak. There's a very metallic sheen to them, especialy the snare, which pops out jarringly against the very 1970s guitar tone (which is gorgeous to hear clearer). The 2024 tom-toms have often far too much reverb. Maybe it's to do with the original track quality, but the digital snare augmentation doesn't seem to incorporate any ghost notes, yeah? Each has the same pressure which is unnatural. If you imagine them playing that song and Roger is on a 1980s Simmons drum kit with the hexagon pads, yeah? You'll see it and not forget it. Hey at least they couldn't quantise it! (RT seemed to do this on the Magic tour and the trigger is so harsh especially when doing fills against the toms). If that were me, I'd have the engineer to make tiny adjustments on the snare hits to help it breathe like the original. Then I'd use a slightly different snare sound to reflect the different times the drums were recorded. Meticulously. Lord, hear our prayer.

Cover and art is fine, the embossed logo is proper for Queen. Inner is nice paper and it's great to read the lyrics. Those guys wrote some wild words. Themes of God and Devil, power and rebellion, forgiveness and sin, and then a songs about Jesus. Wild choices, but then that's Freddie all over am I right?

In conclusion, a fascinating, mixed quality release, and yes this pressing sucks.

I love the remix, but the IGD on this thing is utterly horrendous.

I’ve had my Ortofon Bronze professionally calibrated and aligned, so IGD is rarely an issue, but it’s unavoidable here. The last track of side A, and last couple on B, sound crackly, fuzzy and like utter garbage.

I’ll exchange for a different copy, but looking at these other reviews, I suspect the issue is baked in across the entire batch. Shocking QC on such a high profile release.

I just listened to my copy today, and I also have the IGD on "My Fairy King", "Jesus" and "Seven Seas of Rhye" (and I never have IGD with my microline stylus). Of course I bought my copy from an online seller on eBay who probably won't be easy to exchange or get a refund from. The other tracks sound terrific and this remaster is an interesting curiosity that I'm sure I will be revisiting somewhat often over the years.

The pitch-correcting of Freddie's vocals on this album is an absolute crime. The music sounds great, but I can't and won't support the altering of a voice as magnificent as Freddie's original, untouched tracks.

This one seems to be pressed in Germany while Super Deluxe box set described as been pressed in Czech Republic.Do both pressings suffer from distortions on each side's last tracks?

I went back to my local record store with my copy. I explained my experience with the distortion. I got to listen to a few other new copies. Unfortunately they were all equally distorted, especially on the last track of both sides. After this, they pulled all their copies from the shelves!

Please avoid this pressing!