Queen II LP album, first UK pressing, excellent

£ 22

$ 29

£ 22 Sold For

Jan 16, 2017 Sold Date

Jan 6, 2017 Start Date

10 Number Of Bids

Great Britain Country Of Seller

eBay Auctioned at

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Description

Queen II LP album, 1974, EMA 767, stereo, first UK pressing. Garrod and Lofthouse gatefold sleeve. Matrix codes, side white: YAX 4736 4735-4U. Side black: YAX 4735 4736-4U.

Cover in excellent condition, see photos. Spine in excellent condition, fully legible.

Record in plain white inner sleeve. Record and both labels in excellent condition, just the faintest of spindle marks on side 2. Record plays almost perfectly flat and with some surface noise, pops and crackles. There is an inaudible light scuff across tracks 2, 3 and 4 on side black. This does not affect playback on my turntable.

The record will be packed and posted very well protected. I have been buying and treasuring LP records for about 40 years now so I do my best to make sure every LP arrives in the condition it left me.

I will be listing other Queen albums shortly. Any questions please ask. Note I will not post to the Russian Federation.

Queen’s second studio album was released on March 8th 1974, coinciding with an extensive UK tour that began at the start of the month. After much debate and with all kinds of unlikely alternative titles such as Over The Top being considered, ultimately the band settled on Queen II.

Recorded at London’s Trident Studios in August 1973, the band were at last permitted to use the studio during normal hours and, unlike the first album, take proper time to experiment with the myriad ideas they had for new techniques, textures and sounds. Finally Queen could record an album how they wanted, when they wanted, and without the limitations imposed upon them throughout the debut work.

Numerous problems beset the album's release. Not least, its completion coincided with the 1973 oil crisis and consequently government-enforced measures for energy conservation delayed its manufacture by several months. Futhermore, when the first pressing arrived in record shops, the band noticed a spelling error on the sleeve and had to complain persistently before it was finally corrected.

Queen II was produced by Robin Geoffrey Cable, Roy Thomas Baker and Queen, and engineered by the ever resourceful Mike Stone. The album cover concept was based on a photograph of Marlene Dietrich that Freddie had seen, and Mick Rock was brought in to achieve a similar effect. The image has since become one of the most recognisable and frequently used of the band, and is as striking in 2011 as it was in the mid 1970s. Later, in 1975, the photograph was revisited for the Bohemian Rhapsody promotional video. Director Bruce Gowers’ recreation of the Dietrich image brought the Queen II album cover to life in arresting fashion, and so was born an entire genre of music promotion.