“This is not just a remaster, this is a brand new 2024 rebuild of the entire Queen debut album,” quoted guitarist Brian May when announcing the release of the band’s revisit of their eponymous debut album late last year, retitled Queen I for this stunning new update.

May further elaborated: “Every instrument has been revisited to produce the ‘live’ ambient sound we would have liked to use originally.”

Now Queen take the release to the next stage, announcing a brand new, limited edition immersive Dolby Atmos release of the album, set to be available on Audiophile Blu-ray on June 13th, 2025.

With Brian May and Roger Taylor acting as executive producers and overseen by Queen’s long-standing audio-production team of Justin Shirley-Smith, Joshua J Macrae and Kris Fredriksson, this enhanced spatial surround sound format release breathes stunning new life into the band’s epic and unique multi-layered sound.

1. Keep Yourself Alive
2. Doing All Right
3. Great King Rat
4. Mad The Swine
5. My Fairy King
6. Liar
7. The Night Comes Down
8. Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll
9. Son And Daughter
10. Jesus
11. Seven Seas Of Rhye...

Queen (now renamed Queen I) happens to be one of my favorite Queen albums. It encapsulates prog excess and whimsy in under forty minutes and is very nearly a masterpiece. When Queen announced the re-release of this album, I was ecstatic, but cautious based on thoughts about the singles released for the album.

The first was The Night Comes Down, which may well be the lesser of all the tracks, but I have always loved Modern Times Rock ‘n’ Roll, and so that set the stage perfectly for this most wondrous 2024 Mix in Dolby Atmos Blu-ray.

Overall, Queen did a great job with the instruments. The drums are clearer, guitars hit harder, and whenever the keys are necessary, they are there. If they messed up one part of the instrumentals, it might’ve been the bass, but that’s because I didn’t pay attention to it outside of Liar. The drums do seem to be a small point of contention at points from what I’ve read, but I personally like them. Snare’s are a smidgen loud, but it’s always too loud for a lot of people, so they did good.

The vocals, on the other hand, are consistently amazing. They cleared the sound of Roger’s and Brian’s voices and they truly sound amazing, but if I am being pernickety, there still sounds like there is something a little off with Freddie’s. I mean, it just sounds a tad overengineered at points, but that is hardly anything to quibble about.

As for a few of the standout tracks, well, Keep Yourself Alive (which should have been the first single) is an amazing blend of what was and what is. The drums and vocals shine on this, and the adjustments are subtle but appreciated.

Great King Rat are where the drums really shine which make this cut a definitive beast. The drum intro and outro are clearer, and it’s made clear that Roger has always been playing at a pounding 100%. It might be a side effect at my awe of the drums, but the guitar wasn’t as front and center as I wanted, but nevertheless the track is massive.

Jesus is now clarity personified. The vocals and drums do it, but perhaps the lead guitar on the solo is buried beneath the rhythm guitar and other chaos happening in the much clearer section.

Lastly, we should acknowledge the always fantastic to listen to Seven Seas of Rhye... because, well, the piano tote is amazing here and it just pulsates through the speaker the way it always has done (just a lot clearer and deeper now).

In conclusion, I love this remix. The clarity to me is night and day different. I think the stereo separation on a lot of Brian’s parts is a huge part of this. Listen to the acoustic guitar in the middle part of Doing All Right in the original compared to it in the remix. It jumps out in the remix, where a lot of it was just lost in the mud in the original. I really like this version, as I do for everything else here.

Simply put, it’s like listening to the album for the first time after your first ear cleaning in 50 years!

QUEEN I - 2024 Mix Features:
Limited Edition Blu-Ray Audio Disc
1973 Self-Titled Debut Album Retitled Queen I
Remastered
Reinstated Track Mad the Swine
2024 Dolby Atmos Mix
2024 Stereo Mix (96kHz/24bit)
2024 Stereo Backing Tracks (96kHz/24bit)
Includes 12-page booklet

Official Purchase Link

Official Website