QUEEN

Queen's debut album was recorded in London between 1971 and 1972 at Trident Studios and De Lane Lea studios. All but one of the tracks were produced by Queen, Roy Baker and Trident's resident producer John Anthony, with The Night Comes Down instead produced by the band and Louie Austin at De Lane Studios. The engineers for the sessions were Roy Baker, Mike Stone, Ted Sharpe and David Hentschel.

The cover artwork was devised by Brian, Freddie and photographer friend Douglas Puddifoot and is based upon a shot taken on stage by Puddifoot during an early Queen concert. The band members thought the image of Freddie performing beneath a lone spot-light was an appropriate cover for the first album.

This album saw the beginning of the famous 'Nobody played synths' note, which was to become such a familiar aspect of all Queen LPs right up to 1980's The Game. The band were fed up with people mistaking their elaborate multi-tracking and innovative guitar effects for synthesizers, when in fact much of the sound was created by Brian on his guitar using the band's own equipment and pioneering recording techniques - including the John designed 'Deacy amp' which is still used to this day.

The famous Queen Crest logo seen on the back of the first album was designed by Freddie around this time, and became a familiar sight on most of the band's product.

Queen was released on July 13th 1973 in the UK and attained Gold sales status. In America it was issued in September, with a revised pink cover replacing the usual purple one, and also reached Gold sales.

Singles from this album: Keep Yourself Alive / Liar.