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British rock/pop group Queen celebrates their 40th anniversary this year (2011) from when the original four members, (Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon) had formed in early 1971. The band existed before that in 1970, but it wasn't until bassist John Deacon joined in 1971 that the band felt truly complete. Queen are celebrating this decade on an even grander scale than they had done in 1991 when they changed record labels in America, and re-released all of their albums in a remastered fashion along with song bonus tracks for each CD. This year they decided to break away from their UK record company EMI, and switch to Universal's Island Records and re-release their entire catalog again, with even more bonus tracks than the first time. Every couple of months, Island Records (and Hollywood Records here in the States) will release five remastered albums from their back catalog, and each CD will contain a bonus CD with five additional tracks from the Queen archives, which is overlooked by Greg Brooks in London. As a real stroke of genius, someone had the bright idea to release a compilation album along with each of the three waves of remasters called Deep Cuts. The CD is an anthology of favorite Queen tracks that aren't any of their Greatest Hits.

According to the sticker on the CD cover, these songs were picked by founders Roger Taylor & Brian May, along with super fan and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. The selection is nice and varied and for the most part, these are real deep cuts that only the fans would know. Of course there are always exceptions, for instance Brian's Keep Yourself Alive is on this album. With a guitar riff that sounds like a train chugging along, this was Queen's first single, and although the song never charted it did appear on the US Greatest Hits album (1981). A great alternative could have been either the flipside Son & Daughter or The Night Comes Down, either one is a Brain May song from the first album, Queen. Keep Yourself Alive does show the heavier side of Queen, but Son & Daughter could have done the same or even more, as it is ten times heavier than the somewhat poppy Keep Yourself Alive. I'm In Love With My Car is another questionable track as it appears on the 2005 version of the re-release of the US Greatest Hits album, as well as the Capitol Records version of Classic Queen. This song was written and sung by drummer Roger Taylor, and it shows a side of Queen that is loud and raucous with Taylor's raspy vocals, the myriad of guitars and the complex 6/8 drumbeat that gives this song such a wild 1970s sound. I would have suggested a Roger Taylor alternative of either Drowse from A Day at the Races or The Loser in the End from Queen II.

The rest of the tracklisting is pretty great if you ask me. The first three songs are going to shock any casual listener of Queen who is only familiar with their Greatest Hits. The album opens with Queen II's Ogre Battle; sure it's a chore to sit through the opening 30 seconds of quiet swishing sounds, forcing you to turn up your volume. But once the high-pitched vocals swoop in with the backwards guitars and drums, you know you're in for some heavy metal melee. This is surely going to be a surprise for those who only know the Queen from their classic radio stations. Also for Queen fans, it is a delight to hear Ogre Battle by itself and not a part of a larger medley. Stone Cold Crazy comes in next with its rapid guitar chords and a high-speed drumbeat, and just as equally as fast does Freddie Mercury sing the lyrics here. It's no doubt that when Metallica decided to cover an early Queen song, they chose this ancestor to their very brand of speed metal which made them superstars. My Fairy King comes in next, written by Freddie Mercury and noted by Queen members as the first song Freddie had written and performed with the piano. This sounds like a hybrid between metal and Prog rock. Roger Taylor's opening high-pitched screams rival the best of them including Rob Halford or Ian Gillan.

This does cover the years 1973-1976 where Queen had released five albums, their greatest era of output ever, and so over these three years there has been some varied influences and genres covered. Look at the song Long Away from Brian May. The guitarist always wished that this song was put out as a single back then as he always thought it had a certain potential. I agree that it is a really good big acoustic track with some real pop elements, but I don't believe it would have been a smash single anyway as Brian's voice isn't commercial enough. He also included a similar track '39, another 12-string acoustic delight except this song has more substance to it, especially compared to the fluffy lyrics of Long Away. Brian is once more featured as lead vocalist on Good Company. The life-lesson style lyrics are quite appealing as they are set to a Dixie-land style of musical backdrop with Brian on only two instruments, a ukulele and his red special guitar supplying all of the instruments of the Dixie band, clarinets, trombones, bells, sax, cornet and more. The sleeve notes written by comedian/Queen rep Rhys Thomas says that the recording of this traditional song took weeks and weeks for Brian to finish.

On this compilation of older Queen tracks, it's a given that composer Freddie Mercury will be the main focus as he had written the bulk of the most memorable songs. As Brian shows above how Queen slowly moved away from its heavy metal roots on the albums, inserting different genres unrelated to rock music. Freddie too had fun dabbling in different genres. His The Millionaire Waltz showcases not only Freddie's piano playing, but his creativity, his ability to sound authentic, and just how magical his vocals can be. In the middle section Freddie shamelessly recreates his heavy metal section from last year's Bohemian Rhapsody and sticks it in the middle here. Brian's thoughtful guitar orchestrations class up the already classy track, and John Deacon's bass playing is simply sublime.

The album ends with two incredible songs. Firstly, The March of The Black Queen is Queen II's six and a half minute magnum opus. If you loved that Bohemian Rhapsody was a home to a hodgepodge of different musical genres, then you'll absolutely love Freddie's earlier attempt at something so complex. Freddie and the band paint a very busy musical picture filled with a tantrum of backing vocals throughout the song provided by Queen via overdubs galore. The Queen fans are going to love the fact that they can hear The March of the Black Queen without any segues for the first time. For me, I'm still getting used to the adjustment. The closing track, In the Lap of the Gods...Revisited is often just referred to as an anthemic forerunner to a song like We Are the Champions, but this is just one facet of it. The verses contain a hint of cabaret, which then mix in with the chorus, which feels like the rock anthem that everyone compares it to. Freddie sings this song incredibly during the verses especially, and I'm so glad it was included here as it created new appreciations that haven't surfaced until this release.

This album is also a taster of how the remastered sound quality is this time around, and as far as I could tell, this is a big imrovement from the original EMI releases from the 1980s, and there is also a noticeable difference between the 1991 Hollywood releases and this improvement. I would say the improvement is slightly more notioceable than The Beatles remasters. It's brighter yet with a deeper low end bringing out the drum sound and Deacon's bass for all to hear clearer. And of course as a Queen fan, I would have liked a few changes, which would have made this CD truly live up to its title. Include Sweet Lady or Seaside Rendezvous; Bring Back That Leroy Brown and Misfire, White Queen and Jesus. Having only 14 songs is also a crime, yet at the same time I couldn't be happier with a release like this. Everyone should get to know the real Queen so that they can finally enjoy a status that they truly deserve her in the USA. Then again, this is an import so...




Queen
Deep Cuts (1973-1976)
Length: 51:17 minutes
Released: 03/14/2011
Rating: 4½ stars
the Songs:

1. Ogre Battle
2. Stone Cold Crazy
3. My Fairy King
4. I'm In Love With My Car
5. Keep Yourself Alive
6. Long Away
7. The Millionaire Waltz
8. ‘39
9. Tenement Funster
10. Flick of The Wrist
11. Lily of the Valley
12. Good Company
13. The March of the Black Queen
14. In the Lap of the Gods...revisited

Recommended: Yes