Featuring a plethora of fascinating insights into a hugely pivotal moment in Queen’s storied history, this is The Miracle fans have been waiting for. In between the Single and Long Play (usually up to about 22 mins per side) came the Extended Play (EP) used for playing times over a few minutes but not sufficient to fill a full length LP, typically around 10 to 15 mins per side. These were often 7″ discs playing at 33&1/3 rpm or also 10″. The inclusion of Poly-lined sleeves in every album in addition to a reproduction sleeve was greatly appreciated. The set is housed in a gold coloured box with a flip-open lid. The box has the Queen name in logo form on the front and STUDIO COLLECTION just beneath, along with the Queen crest near the bottom. No individual song credits this time, so it’s hard to evaluate the songwriting contributions of drummer Roger Taylor or bassist John Deacon, but I’ll bet that Deacon had more than a hand in the funkier moments of ‘Khashoggi’s Ship’. Meanwhile, ‘The Invisible Man’ sounds distinctly Tayloresque, with its eerie, shuffling rhythm passages and up-front bass work.

While Freddie could no longer tour, Queen remained a band of staggering creative resourcefulness. As John Deacon implied, they instead channelled their live chemistry into the studio: “In the first few weeks of recording we did a lot of live material, a lot of songs, some jamming, and ideas came up.”A Kind Of Magic - Originally released in June 1986. Recorded mainly at The Townhouse Studios, London, Musicland Studios, Munich and Mountain Studios, Montreux. X1 recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Gatefold sleeve with lyric/picture inner sleeve, published by Queen Music Ltd. / EMI Music Publishing Ltd. - Orange vinyl. Joan Armatrading appears courtesy of A&M Records. Some songs on this album appear in different form in the film "Highlander". Universal Music will issue Studio Collection, a new Queen 18LP vinyl box set this September. It will contain all 15 studio albums released by the band pressed on vibrant 180g coloured vinyl in hues sympathetic to the original artwork. Heard for the first time in Queen history, the spoken outtakes from The Miracle Sessions invite fans onto the studio floor to experience the band’s unvarnished dynamic, more natural and revealing than any ‘official’ press interview. These unguarded exchanges – by turns mischievous, encouraging, witty, even affectionately waspish – capture the band as they truly were during The Miracle’s late bloom, buzzing with renewed enthusiasm at their return to the studio, and driven by a rare chemistry that still threw up sparks. Interviews with Roger, Brian and John on the set of the ‘Breakthru’ film shoot in June 1989, by Gavin Taylor.

One further ingredient in the mix was David Richards, who had worked with Queen since his billing as assistant engineer on Live Killers. After further credits on A Kind of Magic and Live Magic, Richards stepped up to co-produce The Miracle, praised by May for his “whizz kid” technical prowess. Are the Studio Collection remasters better than the original pressings? The answer is a resounding yes. Though the original pressings are some of the best-sounding vinyl I own, they do suffer from a certain harshness and exhibit a higher noise floor due to the nature of them being heavily mass-produced and therefore of lower quality. And of course this is the first time Innuendo and Made in Heaven have been pressed to vinyl in their entirety, and to me being 2 of the best Queen albums the set is worth it for them alone. Upon initial release, Innuendo and Made in Heaven were edited to fit a single LP. Here, however, each album is presented in full across 2 discs totalling 4 sides. Innuendo is pressed on pale blue and purple disks, with Made in Heaven being pressed on dark blue and semi-clear vinyl and including reproductions of the 3 original posters depicting Freddie Mercury with each of the remaining band members. The set contains Queen’s 15 studio albums, spread across 18 180-gram coloured discs. The colours are in keeping with the theme of each album, some of which bear similarities to the colours of some of the early european pressings. The reproduction artwork, for the most part, remains faithful to the original UK album releases with 1 or 2 minor revisions as noted below. The records themselves are encased in high quality poly-lined inner sleeves. They used the 2011 remasters. They explained they wanted to do it all analogue but they claimed that the tapes were pretty worn out, which is a pretty fair excuse. HOWEVER, they still could have used DSD files like the Rolling Stones Mono Box or a lot of MOFI titles. The 2011 remasters are good, but are heavily compressed. A DSD transfer would have been amazing and would have even better sounding.The Works - Originally released in February 1984. Recorded at The Record Plant, Los Angeles, California, USA and Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany, August 83 - January 84. Lyric inner sleeve, published by Queen Music Ltd. / EMI Music Publishing Ltd. - Red vinyl. "This is the first album to come to you through the EMI-CAPITOL Organisation worldwide." All the LPs come with printed inner sleeves as well as polylined protective inner sleeves. The LPs themselves are also in individual cellophane covers.

The Miracle as never heard before. Sourced from a master tape from March 1989, the Long Lost Cut reinstates ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’ as it was originally intended, in the exact position on Side One allotted in 1989, nestled between ‘I Want It All’ and ‘The Invisible Man’. The updated LP sleeve presents the album with a gatefold cover for the first time in its history. The material for the sleeves is pretty sturdy and feels nice in your hands, in some cases better than the original UK releases. Jazz - Originally released in November 1978. Recorded at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland and Super bear Studios in Nice, France. Gatefold sleeve with embossed JAZZ on front and rear, picture inner sleeve and nude bicycle race poster with lyrics on reverse, published by Queen Music Ltd./ EMI Music Publishing Ltd. - Pink vinyl. The album is dedicated to John Harris. The inclusion of Innuendo and Made in Heaven as a 2LP was a great decision, and we finally have both of them complete on vinyl.

Side guide

With the development of polyvinylchloride, microgroove cutting technology and different speeds (16,33&1/3, 45) made possible a choice of formats for vinyl replay. Undimmed by time or fashion, ‘The Platinum Collection’ is a reminder that Queen were always colourful, always dynamic, always ablaze with passion and pride.

Said Roger: “D ecisions are made on artistic merit, so ‘Everybody wrote everything’ is the line, rather than ego or anything else getting in the way. We seem to work together better now than we did before. We’re fairly up-and-down characters. We have different tastes in many ways. We used to have lots of arguments in the studio, but this time we decided to share all the songwriting, which I think was very democratic and a good idea.” Presented here for the first time ever: When Love Breaks Up, You Know You Belong To Me, I Guess We’re Falling Out, Dog With a Bone, Water, and Face It Alone. Just as revealing – and sure to be prized by the Queen hardcore – are the spoken exchanges between the four members at the Townhouse, Olympic and Mountain Studios, giving listeners a unique snapshot of their friendship and working dynamic. Queen - Originally released in July 1973. Produced at Trident Studios for Neptune Production. B2 was recorded at De Lane Lea Studios. All titles published by Feldman/Trident Music. ...and nobody played synthesizer. Lyrics on inner sleeve, published by Queen Music Ltd. / EMI Music Publishing Ltd. - Purple vinyl. The twelfth album, A Kind of Magic’, features a reproduction of the original gatefold sleeve, an inner lyric sleeve with extended liner notes, and a transparent orange vinyl; a lighter shade of vinyl than the original 1986 New Zealand pressing. Finally, the 13th album ‘The Miracle’ features an inner lyric sleeve and a turquoise green vinyl pressing.

Companies, etc.

It would take 15 months and a radical restructuring of internal band dynamics before Queen regrouped in London’s Townhouse Studios on December 3 rd, 1987, to start work on their thirteenth studio album. For the first time, Queen would share songwriting credits equally, regardless of who conceived each song, a consensus of opinion that was to have fertile results. “Splitting the credits was a very important decision for us. We left our egos outside the studio door,” says Brian, “and worked together as a real band – something that wasn’t always the case. I wish we’d done it 15 years before.” The Game - Originally released in June 1980. Recorded in various sessions at Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany. Mastered at Allen Zentz Mastering. Lyric/picture inner sleeve, published by Queen Music Ltd./ EMI Music Publishing Ltd. - Silver vinyl. This album includes the first appearance of a Synthesizer (an Oberheim OBX) on a Queen Album. The sixth album, ‘News of The World’, features a robot image gatefold sleeve, with a reproduction of the original inner sleeve (minus the di-cut hole which has been replaced with an image of the robot’s face). The album is pressed on opaque green vinyl, similar to the 1978 French release.