Live at the Rainbow (Deluxe) (Remastered) Queen

• 1 Procession (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 01:13
• 2 Father To Son (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 06:07
• 3 Ogre Battle (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 05:26
• 4 Son And Daughter (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 03:49
• 5 Guitar Solo (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 02:24
• 6 Son And Daughter (Reprise) (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 02:01
• 7 White Queen (As It Began) (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 05:48
• 8 Great King Rat (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 06:49
• 9 The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 02:52
• 10 Keep Yourself Alive (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 02:22
• 11 Drum Solo (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 00:27
• 12 Keep Yourself Alive (Reprise) (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 01:22
• 13 Seven Seas Of Rhye (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 03:09
• 14 Modern Times Rock 'n’ Roll (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 02:40
• 15 Jailhouse Rock / Stupid Cupid / Be Bop A Lula (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 04:31
• 16 Liar (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 07:47
• 17 See What A Fool I've Been (Live At The Rainbow, London / March 1974) 04:56
• 18 Procession (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 01:17
• 19 Now I'm Here (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 04:57
• 20 Ogre Battle (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 05:31
• 21 Father To Son (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 05:54
• 22 White Queen (As It Began) (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 05:33
• 23 Flick Of The Wrist (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 04:07
• 24 In The Lap Of The Gods (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 03:17
• 25 Killer Queen (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 01:25
• 26 The March of the Black Queen (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 01:35
• 27 Bring Back That Leroy Brown (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 01:40
• 28 Son and Daughter (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 03:45
• 29 Guitar Solo (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 04:41
• 30 Son And Daughter (Reprise) (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 02:14
• 31 Keep Yourself Alive (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 02:22
• 32 Drum Solo (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 00:51
• 33 Keep Yourself Alive (Reprise) (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 01:25
• 34 Seven Seas Of Rhye (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 03:28
• 35 Stone Cold Crazy (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 02:40
• 36 Liar (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 08:39
• 37 In the Lap of the Gods...Revisited (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 04:09
• 38 Big Spender (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 01:32
• 39 Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 03:12
• 40 Jailhouse Rock (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 04:07
• 41 God Save the Queen (Live At The Rainbow, London / November 1974) 01:16
• Total Runtime 02:23:20

Info for Live at the Rainbow (Deluxe) (Remastered)

Landmark recording artists Queen are releasing a rare and historically significant live recording of a performance the band recorded on Sunday March 31st, 1974 at The Rainbow venue in London, England.

That concert, being heard live for the first time in the soon to be released Queen: Live at the Rainbow ’74, marked the culmination of the band’s countrywide tour, their first as headliners – hot on the heels of a tour supporting Mott the Hoople, late in 1973, on which they were widely regarded as having blown the hit band off the stage. Queen got rave reviews, almost unheard of for a support band, and it was obvious that in future they would be top of the bill. The band’s momentum had been building since the release of their eponymous album in July 1973 and, following their success on the Mott tour, at the beginning of 1974 they were tipped as Band of the Year in UK music paper Disc and Music Echo.

Just before the March Rainbow gig, Queen performed their new single Seven Seas of Rhye on must-see UK TV music show Top of the Pops. The highly coveted slot was a lucky break – they filled in for an absent David Bowie, who was unavailable – and the band made the most of it, delivering a thrilling performance that pushed the song into the Top 10.

Although the group now had a first hit single under its belt, and second album Queen II had just been released to critical acclaim, many felt that playing The Rainbow was overambitious. It was the premier London venue of the time, on a par with L.A.’s Palladium and New York’s Fillmore East. But the band had paid its dues, slugging it out in clubs and college halls for four years, and never doubting their own potential. The band’s confidence was vindicated when the venue quickly sold out the capacity of more than 3,000 seats – with some fans paying as much as £1.20 for a ticket!

Queen’s performance was spectacular from the second that Freddie Mercury strutted onto the stage in his soon to become trademark white “eagle suit”, a tight -fitting number specially made for him by top fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, which featured flowing winged sleeves. He pranced and posed, capturing the audience in seconds with his extraordinary voice and stage presence, while Brian May provided the counterpoint with his remarkable and ground-breaking guitar playing. The powerful “engine room” (as they liked to call it) of drummer Roger Taylor and bass player John Deacon completed a sound unlike anything British audiences had previously heard. Enraptured fans clapped and cheered, and gave the band a standing ovation.

That electrifying show was recorded by Roy Thomas Baker, co-producer of Queen’s first four studio albums, and slated to be the band’s third album (and debut live album) – a career defining release like James Brown’s Live At The Apollo or The Who’s Live At Leeds. Intended to be a recording that captured the magic of a live band firing on all cylinders, Queen: Live at the Rainbow ’74 would undoubtedly have been a big success. But Queen’s ferocious creative momentum produced a stack of new songs begging to be recorded and instead of releasing the live album the band went into the studio to record what was to become 1974’s breakthrough album, Sheer Heart Attack. As a result the already completed Rainbow live album was shelved and consigned to the archives.

Later in 1974 Queen had their first chart-topping single, Killer Queen, which encapsulated their brand of driving rock and clever lyrics. It appeared on Sheer Heart Attack, which was released in the autumn, was a massive hit and remains to this day many fans’ favourite Queen album. To celebrate this success and crown a remarkable year, Queen returned to The Rainbow in November 1974 for two sell-out gigs that were even more spectacular than the one in March. These concerts included the typically flamboyant performance of Now I’m Here with which they had been wowing audiences on the tour. It featured Freddie apparently appearing in a spotlight on opposite sides of the stage almost simultaneously. The concerts received massive acclaim from fans and critics alike, and won over many who had until then doubted the band’s potential.In this year, Queen also undertook their first concerts in Australia, USA, Sweden, Finland, Holland, Belgium and Spain.

These recordings capture Queen at that time in all their glory: the dramatic stage presence, the highly original self-penned repertoire of songs, high-energy performances coupled with stunning melodic and harmonic content, and the uncompromising perfectionist approach to every aspect of their performance which is still maintained to this day. Queen dazzled their audiences in 1974 with an unforgettable show delivered with a skill and confidence which belied their youth. The tape machines were rolling, capturing the highly electric performances.

Freddie Mercury, lead vocals, piano, tambourine
Brian May, guitar, backing vocals, ukulele
Roger Taylor, drums, percussion, backing vocals, co-lead vocals (track 9)
John Deacon, bass, backing vocals (tracks 8, 12, 14, 19, 20)

Digitally remastered

Queen
Queen formed in 1971 and in 1973 signed their first recording contract for EMI. That year they released their first album, QUEEN. The same year saw their first major UK tour, and in 1974 they released QUEEN II as well as making their first UK headlining tour. They made their first US tour, and in November released SHEER HEART ATTACK which was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

1975 saw their new release, A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, and – significantly – the single Bohemian Rhapsody. At 5’ 55” it should have been too long for successful radio play but it became one of the greatest singles of all time, staying at No. 1 in the UK chart for nine weeks. The video, directed by Bruce Gowers, is credited with being the first genuine promotional video. The song has regularly featured in all major pop polls and was recently named again as the best single of all time. The success of A NIGHT AT THE OPERA was equally stunning, giving the band their first platinum album.

In 1976 they toured the US and Japan and by spring all four albums resided in the UK Top Twenty. Later that year they released A DAY AT THE RACES, and gave a free concert in Hyde Park to an estimated crowd of 200,000 fans. The album was a huge success, advance orders alone amounting to over 500,000. The following year saw two major US tours, the band’s sixth album, NEWS OF THE WORLD and the legendary double A side single, WE WILL ROCK YOU and WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS.

1978’s JAZZ, included another huge hit single in Bicycle Race and Queen toured the US and Canada. They spent much of 1979 touring in Europe and Japan, as well as releasing their first live album, LIVE KILLERS. They were also approached to write the score for a forthcoming feature film, FLASH GORDON. Before that they released THE GAME in 1980 which went five times platinum in Canada alone! Another One Bites The Dust became the band’s biggest selling American single. Later that year the soundtrack for FLASH GORDON was released and by the end of the year Queen had sold over 45,000,000 albums worldwide.

In 1981 they toured the Far East and were the first band to make a stadium tour of South America. They played to 131,000 people in Sao Paolo, the largest paying audience for any band anywhere in the world. GREATEST HITS, GREATEST FLIX and GREATEST PIX were released simultaneously later in the year and Greatest Hits has rarely been out of the UK album charts since. Greatest Flix was the first collection of promo-videos released commercially by any band. Next year saw the release of the band’s twelfth album, HOT SPACE whilst they were in the middle of a European tour.

1984 saw THE WORKS and the single Radio Ga Ga became a worldwide hit, reaching No. 1 in 19 countries. Another huge hit was I Want To Break Free, featuring one of their most famous videos, all dressed in drag. In 1985 they were the headlining act at Rock in Rio, the biggest festival to be held anywhere in the world. They again made history that year with the show-stealing performance at Live Aid from Wembley Stadium, which proved to be a turning point for the band, One Vision being the first post Live Aid release.

1986 saw their 14th album, A KIND OF MAGIC, which was the soundtrack to the Russel Mulcahy film, Highlander. The title track became another worldwide smash and the album entered the UK charts at No. 1; later in the year the 2nd live album, LIVE MAGIC, went into the charts at No. 3. Between 1988 and 1991 Queen released three more albums, THE MIRACLE in 1989 and in 1991 INNUENDO and GREATEST HITS TWO. All three entered the UK charts at No. 1, as did the single Innuendo.

On 23rd November 1991 Freddie Mercury announced to the world that he had AIDS and the next day he died peacefully at his home, surrounded by family and friends. He remains the most high profile loss from the disease in the entertainment world and the news shocked fans throughout the world. As a tribute Bohemian Rhapsody /These Are The Days Of Our Lives was released as a double A-sided single to raise funds for the Terence Higgins Trust. It entered the UK chart at No. 1, where it stayed for five weeks, raising over £1,000,000 for the charity and Queen became the first band to have the same single top the uK charts twice. In December of that year Queen had 10 albums in the UK Top 100. In 1992 Freddie was awarded posthumously the BRIT’s “Outstanding Contribution to British Music” and Days Of Our Lives won Best Single. On 20th April many of the world’s top stars joined Brian, Roger and John on stage at Wembley for an emotional tribute to Freddie.

In 1995 the tracks that Queen had begun in 1991 were completed by Brian, Roger and John and the long-awaited MADE IN HEAVEN was released worldwide. It was the end of an era. Since then the phenomenon of Queen has remained, however, with continuing sales for their recorded output on CD and video. A ballet of their music by famous French choreographer Maurice Bejart was premiered at the National Theatre in Paris in 1997 and in May 2002 the hit musical We Will Rock You opened to sell-out audiences in London’s West End and continues to play to packed houses and standing ovations every night. Queen’s first DVD Greatest Video Hits Vol.1 was released at the end of October 2002, and yet another piece of Queen product entered the UK charts at number 1. October 2002 also saw Queen receive their own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Los Angeles, joining The Beatles as only one of a handful of non-US bands to receive the much coveted honour. Last year, 2004 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Walk of Fame, and in the UK were voted by the public into the first UK Music Hall of Fame.

Queen’s musical has since opened in Australia, Spain, Las Vegas,USA, Russia, Germany and is scheduled to open in Japan this May.

Brian and Roger continue to be ambassadors for Nelson Mandela’s 46664 HIV/AIDS awareness campaign and this month, March, played a second benefit concert for 46664 in Fancourt, South Africa.

Brian and Roger took Queen back onto the touring circuit for the first time since 1986 in 2005 and 2008, joined by former Free/Bad Company singer, songwriter and musicial Paul Rodgers playing concerts across the UK and throughout Europe. (Source: www.queenonline.com)

This album contains no booklet.