“We were ludicrously compliant”: Brian May looks back on why Queen were “terrified” recording their first album
Today, Queen are globally recognised as one of the best-selling rock acts of all time. However, things were very different back in the early 1970s. When the now-rock legends were recording their 1973 debut, there was no guarantee it would be a hit – so the entire period of recording at Soho’s Trident Studios was a “terrifying”, high-stakes process.
Without the ability to see into the future, the young band had no clue of the success that lie ahead. As a result, it meant that every second of their self-titled debut mattered – it had to be all killer, no filler. “We were ludicrously compliant on the first album because we were terrified that it was going to be out only chance to record,” guitarist Brian May tells Uncut.
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With the pressure well and truly on, Queen would put everything into their two year stint recording in Trident Studios between 1971 and 1972. And it was a respectable studio for a young band to be using – David Bowie, Lou Reed and Paul McCartney were also all using the studio across the same period. However, they had a far less glamorous experience, having to settle on cheaper, late-night slots.
“We’d start our sessions near midnight,” drummer Roger Taylor recalls. “By six in the morning we’d have to reset everything in the studio ready for whoever had booked in the next day.”
As a result, it meant that 1973’s Queen left the band slightly unsatisfied. Inspired by the Beatles’ knack for “using the studio as an instrument”, Queen also wanted to have full reign over the studio layout – but having to reset things every evening meant they were unable to do so. “We wanted drums that throbbed and reverberated and soaked into the rest of the studio, which meant reorganising the entire space around the drum kit,” Taylor explains.
“That’s the big difference between Queen and Queen II,” he continues. “The second album is the sound of us starting to get the sound we wanted.”
It’s a sentiment shared by May. “Queen II was the first time we could behave as if the studio belonged to us,” he says. “We’d been rehearsing ourselves to death, and by this point we are very ready. All this stuff is already prepared, we just have to fulfil the promise that was in our heads.”
Despite coming just one year after their debut, 1974’s Queen II was far more grandiose and ambitious. The cover art alone has stood the test of time, with the artwork serving as the most iconic snap of the band to this day. “We weren’t turning up and plugging in and playing, as we did on the first album,” May notes.
This involved whacky moves like bassist John Deacon crafting a DIY amp from a radio speaker from a recycled circuit board, a device that captured a sound not unlike a synth. “We were finally able to orchestrate these huge arrangements that were in my head. We were able to build orchestras in the sky.”
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