I got a piece of news about Dave Matthews celebrating his 20th anniversary this year with a few big festivals (one being in Atlantic City) where he handpicks the bands and the whole festival is headlined by Dave Matthews. While I can't envision a more bleek future even if we ate Soylent Green, I thought "Jesus Christ that asshole has been around 20 years!?" Yup the band started in 1991.

Then I got a press release about Queen celebrating their 40th Anniversary and that made me more excited. This yearlong event will be marked by a series of releases, re-releases, special limited-edition items and events around the world designed solely to take your money from your pocket and not give it to strippers.

Queen’s entire 15-album studio catalog is being reissued in a series of deluxe editions. Every note is being tweaked, every piece of artwork is being cleaned, freshened up and resourced, wherever necessary, with the legendary Bob Ludwig doing the remastering, working from the original source material. The albums will be released in three waves, staggered over the next year, with the first wave—comprising the first five LPs—coming this spring.

Each studio album will be released in a new two-CD edition, the first containing the updated, remastered original LP, the second disc packed with rarities—and we don’t use the term lightly. Some of these gems have never before seen the light of day, even in crappy bootleg form. To cite a particularly fascinating example, five first-album demos recorded at London’s De Lane Lea Studios in December 1971 were pulled from the only existing copy on the planet—an acetate from May’s personal archives. Not even his bandmates had a copy.

QUEEN (1973)

1. Keep Yourself Alive (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)

2. Great King Rat (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)

3. Jesus (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)

4. Liar (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)

5. The Night Comes Down (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)

6. Mad The Swine (June 1972)

 

QUEEN II (1974)

1. White Queen (Live at Hammersmith Odeon, December 1975)

2. See What A Fool I’ve Been (BBC Session, July 1973 - 2011 Remix)

3. Seven Seas Of Rhye (Instrumental)

4. See What A Fool I’ve Been (B-side Version, February 1974)

5. Nevermore (BBC Session, April 1974)

 

SHEER HEART ATTACK (1974)

1. Now I’m Here (Live at Hammersmith Odeon, December 1975)

2. Flick Of The Wrist (BBC Session, October 1974)

3. Tenement Funster (BBC Session, October 1974)

4. Bring Back That Leroy Brown (A Cappella Plus)

5. In The Lap Of The Gods… Revisited (Live at Wembley Stadium, July 1986)

 

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1975)

1. Keep Yourself Alive (Long-Lost Retake, June 1975)

2. Bohemian Rhapsody (Operatic Section A Cappella)

3. I’m In Love With My Car (Guitar & Vocal Version)

4. You’re My Best Friend (Backing Track)

5. ‘39 (Live at Earl’s Court, June 1977) TBC

6. Love Of My Life (Live Single Version, June 1979)

 

A DAY AT THE RACES (1976)

1. Tie Your Mother Down (Backing Track)

2. Somebody To Love (Live at Milton Keynes, June 1982)

3. You Take My Breath Away (Live in Hyde Park, September 1976)

4. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy (Top Of The Pops, July 1977)

5. Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) (HD mix)

Here is the song that introduced the legendary band to the entire world. The song Killer Queen is off the album Sheer Heart Attack.