QUEEN: 'The Singles Collection Volume 1' Complete Details Revealed

EMI has set a November 17 release date for "Queen: The Singles Collection Volume 1", a project 35 years in the making and spanning no less than sixteen albums; from the debut LP, "Queen", in 1973, to the last project with Freddie Mercury, "Made In Heaven", in 1995, and beyond. This box, the first of four, kicks off with the first single, "Keep Yourself Alive", and runs through to "Don't Stop Me Now" from 1979. Box 2 will continue the story into the mid 1980s, and so on. Ultimately, the four boxes will offer every one of QUEEN's singles to have made the top 40 (except "Keep Yourself Alive" which is included because it was the first-ever single).

On July 6, 1973, EMI released the first QUEEN single, "Keep Yourself Alive". In the UK it is the first and only track to be taken from the band's debut album, "Queen". The record attracts some interest in England but gets little airplay, and so fails to appear in the singles chart. EMI's promotion team are given feedback from the radio programmers that the song doesn't fit into their playlists, because, apparently, "It takes too long to happen" — presumably referring to its 30-second guitar intro (now widely regarded as one of its most intriguing features!). In order to ensure the same excuse is not offered next time around, in crafting the band's second single, "Seven Seas Of Rhye" (from "Queen II"),the band decide to make everything happen in the opening seconds… "Everything, including the kitchen sink," as guitarist Brian May would later quip. Evidently, it works; this time the single picks up immediate airplay and charts in the first week of release: in February 1974 QUEEN achieve their first UK and worldwide hit.

From this moment on, QUEEN hit singles become a virtual certainty, with the release of each successive album, each one musically a departure from the last, and, significantly, featuring compositions from all four band members. QUEEN is to date the only group whose members have all written No. 1 hits around the world.

Packaged in a flip top box the 13 CD singles feature a selection of faithfully reproduced cover artwork from around the world.

CD1:

1. A. Keep Yourself Alive
2. B. Son And Daughter

CD2:

1. A. Seven Seas Of Rhye
2. B. See What A Fool I've Been

CD3:

1. A. Killer Queen
2. A. Flick Of The Wrist

CD4:

1. A. Now Im Here
2. B. Lily Of The Valley

CD5:

1. A. Bohemian Rhapsody
2. B. I'm In Love With My Car

CD6:

1. A. You're My Best Friend
2. B. 39

CD7:

1. A. Somebody To Love
2. B. White Man

CD8:

1. A. Tie Your Mother Down
2. B. You And I

CD9: Queen's First EP

1. A. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy
2. Death On Two Legs (Dedicated To…)
3. B. Tenement Funster
4. White Queen (As It Began)

CD10:

1. A. We Are The Champions
2. B. We Will Rock You

CD11:

1. A. Spread Your Wings
2. B. Sheer Heart Attack

CD12:

1. A. Bicycle Race
2. A. Fat Bottomed Girls

CD13:

1. A. Don't Stop Me Now
2. B. In Only Seven Days

(Thanks: BrianMay.com)