Queen are following up last year’s deluxe reissue of their self-titled debut album, which was renamed Queen I, with a retooling of Queen II, set for release next year.
Guitarist Brian May has been tinkering with it in the studio and writes on Instagram, “Just having fun here, switching things in and out so we hear things we never really noticed before. This new stereo mix is quite adventurous — and, rendering the impossible complexity of these tracks, the new clarity is astounding… Thanks to the meticulous and inspired work of our Queen sound team — this ancient work, from when we were still just learning how to reach for the stars, will open up a new world to many who care about these arcane dreams as much as we do.”
In the post he shows them working on the song “Funny How Love Is,” which he says they “consciously channeled the magical ‘Phil Spector Wall of Sound’ — with banks of acoustic guitars, castanets, and big roomy drums — even to the point of speeding up Freddie‘s vocal slightly to make him sound younger — or maybe it was so he would sound like Ronnie Spector! … Can’t wait to share the new mixes with you when we are done … and … when we get to the Dolby Atmos surround mixes I will be in heaven because we’ll finally be able to do justice to all the multiple layers in these tracks.”
Queen II, released in March of 1974, is, according to May, “surely the best Queen album ever. In addition to “Funny How Love Is,” there are 10 other songs including “Seven Seas of Rhye.”
