This is my pre-Queen page. This page contains the recordings that Smile made in 1969 and the Larry Lurex (Freddie, Brian, Roger) single made in 1973, just before the release of Queen I. Here is a Record Collector article about pre-Queen releases with the complete story of these recordings. Special thanks to Ferdinando Frega for the info on this page.
Smile - Earth / Step On Me
USA 7" Mercury 72977 Released May 1969
Released only as a promotional issue.There are many pirate
copies around. The most famous are the Iron Wire copies, but they are easily
spotted because they have a completely different label. There are also
pirated red and clear
color vinyls. A UK EMI acetate of this 7" was recently discovered at the
offices of the songs publisher Shapiro Bernstein. They probably planned
a UK release, then scrapped it.
Smile - Getting Smile
Japan LP Mercury 18PP-1 Released September 1982
Six track mini LP released in Japan only. It includes
all the Smile studio work. In 1995 this album was pirated in about six
different colors.
April Lady / Blag / Polar Bear / Doin' Alright / Earth
/ Step On Me
Larry Lurex - I Can Hear Music / Goin' back
UK 7" EMI 2030 Released June 1973
These songs were recorded during the summer of 1973 by
Freddie, Roger and Brian while they were waiting for any available studio
time to work on their debut album. A Trident producer, Robin Cable, was
working on this Beach Boys song and thought Freddie's voice was perfect
for the song. Goin' Back was an old Goffin & King song.
Larry Lurex - I Can Hear Music / Goin' Back
Germany EMI Electrola 1C 006-94677.
This is the only Larry Lurex single that came in a picture
sleeve. There are pirate copies of this single with plain label colored
vinyl inside.
Larry Lurex - I Can Hear Music / Goin' Back
USA 7" Anthem Records AN 204
Larry Lurex - I Can Hear Music / Goin' Back
UK 7" EMI LL1
Pirated re-release from 1992 with different catalog number
(LL1) than the original.