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Queen / Queen II box set

5CD + 2LP box set

By Paul Sinclair

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Queen II / Queen

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Queen are to release a 5CD+2LP super deluxe box set of their second album Queen II in early March, adding discs of studio session outtakes and demos, live gigs, BBC sessions and backing tracks to the 1974 original.

The main album has been newly remixed, by Justin Shirley-Smith, Joshua J McRae and Kris Fredriksson – the same team who remixed debut album Queen for its similarly-expanded edition released in 2024.

Made with regular producer Roy Thomas Baker, Queen II features just one single, although it’s a notable one, since ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’ became the band’s first hit, reaching No 10. The album reached No 5, a significant improvement on Queen’s No 24 chart placing.

Repeated on the vinyl versions of the reissue, Queen II was originally divided into a Side White and Side Black. Side White features more emotional, personal songs, with Side Black’s songs themed around fantasy. It’s generally regarded as the heaviest, all-out rock album in Queen’s catalogue.

Brian May states in an introduction in the sleevenotes: “When Queen II came out, a lot of people thought we’d forsaken rock music. They said: ‘’Why don’t you play things like ‘Liar’ and ‘Keep Yourself Alive’?’ All we could say was: ‘Give it another listen. It’s there, but it’s all layered, it’s a new approach.’ Nowadays, people say: ‘Why don’t you play like Queen II?’ It’s not perfect, it has the imperfections and excesses of youth, but I think that was our biggest single step ever.”

Roger Taylor adds: “Queen II was a vital step in the long journey to the explosion of marvellousness we eventually became.”

The box set also includes a 112-page book, featuring track-by-track comments from May and Taylor, handwritten lyrics, archival interviews with Freddie Mercury and John Deacon, pictures of gig posters, adverts and studio tape boxes, plus photos by Mick Rock, Johnny Dewe Matthews, Paul Bird and Douglas Puddifoot. The 2LP vinyl edition in the box set features the main album spread over two discs. 

As well as the box set, other formats are a 2CD – adding the outtakes and sessions from CD2 in the box – single LP, CD, picture disc and cassette, all featuring the new 2026 mix of the main album. The picture disc and cassette will only be available from Queen’s webstore.

There is also an Atmos mix, made by Shirley-Smith, McRae and Fredriksson, but this will only be available via streaming services, no blu-ray this time (for now).

Queen II 5CD+2LP box set (click to enlarge)

The 16 tracks on the box set’s CD2 (‘Sessions’) include two demos of ‘The Loser In The End’, Brian May’s initial demo of ‘As It Began’ dating back to 1969, a version of ‘I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside’, a newly remixed version of ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’’s B-side ‘See What A Fool I’ve Been’, plus the first physical release of ‘Not For Sale (Polar Bear)’, Queen’s abandoned Christmas song which was first released, on streaming, on Christmas Eve last year.

CD3 features the backing tracks of all 11 songs of the original album, while CD4’s BBC disc includes versions of ‘See What A Fool I’ve Been’, ‘Ogre Battle’, ‘Nevermore’ and ‘White Queen (As It Began)’ from three BBC sessions recorded between July 1973 and April 1974, plus a five-song show from Golders Green Hippodrome from September 1973, which includes a cover of ‘Jailhouse Rock’, as well as a May ‘Guitar Solo’ given its own tracklisting.

The eight-song live CD5 has a concert at London Rainbow in March 1974, though ‘White Queen (As It Began)’ was instead recorded at Hammersmith Odeon in December 1973.

Queen II is the first Queen box set since Queen was released (retitled as Queen I) in September 2024, implying the band will release their expanded editions in chronological order. Its only previous expanded edition was a 2CD in 2011. This added just five songs, three of which are included here. The others were the original 1974 version of ‘See What A Fool I’ve Been’, plus a then-new 2011 mix of the same song by Shirley-Smith and McRae.

Queen II is released on 27 March 2026, via EMI.

Tracklisting

Queen II Queen / box set

    • CD 1: Queen II – 2026 Mix
      1. Procession
      2. Father To Son
      3. White Queen (As It Began)
      4. Some Day One Day
      5. The Loser In The End
      6. Ogre Battle
      7. The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke
      8. Nevermore
      9. The March Of The Black Queen
      10. Funny How Love Is
      11. Seven Seas Of Rhye
    • CD 2: Sessions
      1. Procession (Stage Intro Tape – April 1973)
      2. Father To Son – Takes 4&9 – With Guide Vocal
      3. As It Began – Brian’s Studio Demo – October 1969
      4. Some Day One Day – Take 1 – With Guide Vocals
      5. The Loser In The End – Roger’s First Demo
      6. The Loser In The End – Roger’s Second Demo
      7. Ogre Battle – Takes 2&6 – With Guide Vocal
      8. The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke – Takes 4&9
      9. Nevermore – Take 6
      10. The March Of The Black Queen – First Section Takes 3&5
      11. The March Of The Black Queen – Second Section Take 1
      12. Funny How Love Is – Take 4
      13. Seven Seas Of Rhye – Takes 4, 5 & 6
      14. I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside – Take 4
      15. See What A Fool I’ve Been – B-Side Version 2026 Mix
      16. Not For Sale (Polar Bear)
    • CD 3: Queen II Backing Tracks
      1. Procession
      2. Father To Son
      3. White Queen (As It Began)
      4. Some Day One Day
      5. The Loser In The End
      6. Ogre Battle
      7. The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke
      8. Nevermore
      9. The March Of The Black Queen
      10. Funny How Love Is
      11. Seven Seas Of Rhye
    • CD 4: at the BBC
      • See What A Fool I’ve Been (BBC Session 2 – July 1973 – 2011 Mix)
      • Ogre Battle (BBC Session 3 – December 1973)
      • Nevermore (BBC Session 4 – April 1974)
      • White Queen (As It Began) (BBC Session 4 – April 1974)
      Live at Golders Green Hippodrome – 13 September 1973
      • Procession – Intro Tape
      • Father To Son
      • Son And Daughter
      • Guitar Solo
      • Son And Daughter (Reprise)
      • Ogre Battle
      • Liar
      • Jailhouse Rock
    • CD 5: Live
      Recorded at London Rainbow, March 1974, except where stated
      1. Procession (Intro Tape)
      2. Father To Son
      3. Ogre Battle
      4. White Queen (As It Began) (Recorded at Hammersmith Odeon, December 1973)
      5. The March Of The Black Queen (Recorded at London Rainbow, November 1974)
      6. The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke
      7. Seven Seas Of Rhye
      8. See What A Fool I’ve Been
    • LP 1: Queen II – 2026 Mix
      Side one (Side White)
      1. Procession
      2. Father To Son
      3. White Queen (Ast It Began)
      Side two (Side White)
      1. Some Day One Day
      2. The Loser In The End
    • LP 2: Queen II – 2026 Mix
      Side three (Side Black)
      1. Ogre Battle
      2. The Fairy-Feller’s Master Stroke
      3. Nevermore
      Side four (Side Black)
      1. The March Of The Black Queen
      2. Funny How Love Is
      3. Seven Seas Of Rhye

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