New edition available this summer
When Queen took a break for the first part of 1983, Brian May put his time to good use. Waking up one morning in Los Angeles, he decided to phone a few friends and invite them to collaborate on some tracks in California’s famous Record Plant studios. The resulting collaboration was a great success, and May would later mould the recordings into a unique mini-album, Brian May + Friends: Star Fleet Project.
This third release in the “Brian May Gold Series” offers an extensively revisited and expanded box set edition of these now legendary sessions. The set is a complete document of the two days, April 21 and 22, 1983 that May spent in the Record Plant, Los Angeles accompanied by top rock music luminaries Edward Van Halen on guitar, Alan Gratzer on drums, Phil Chen on bass and Fred Mandel on keyboards. The box set includes a spectacular 23-track CD filled with previously unreleased material.
Containing 2 CDs, one vinyl LP, and a vinyl single, as well as other collector’s items, Brian May + Friends: Star Fleet Sessions will be launched as a Deluxe Edition box set, worldwide on July 14th. The set will also be available on single CD and LP. A separate exclusive 7-inch double A-side single, also available on CD comes the same day, July 14th, featuring newly mixed single versions of “Star Fleet” and “Let Me Out.” A special red vinyl version will be available exclusively through the official Queen Online store.
The July 14th box set release is ushered in with a special stand-alone digital single, “Star Fleet (Edited Single Version)” which becomes available to coincide with June 1st, box set announcement. The single digital track is available immediately for digital download and streaming.
As May writes in his introductory sleeve notes in the box set: “We are going to give you everything. Every take of every song. The things that went wrong, the laughing, the finding new things to do. But it won’t be just a remaster – we’ve rescued everything from the original multi-tracks, every detail magnificently remixed, and more! You’ll hear every take from the historic 1983 sessions plus fragments of conversations, out-takes and musical experimentation.”
The original three-track mini album, released October 31, 1983, featured a full-length take of “Star Fleet,” May’s hard rock re-imagining of the signature tune from the Japanese-made kids science fiction series of the same name. The program was compulsive regular viewing for May and his four-year-old son Jimmy on Saturday morning TV, inspiring May’s attachment to its title song, written by English musician Paul Bliss. The album also featured “Let Me Out,” including extensive opportunities for May and Van Halen to solo, and “Blues Breaker,” a 13-minute piece of completely spontaneous improvisation from all members of this ‘supergroup’ of musicians.
The troupe also worked on an earlier May song, the bluesy “Let Me Out”, while the set closes with the titanic “Blues Breaker,” almost 13 minutes of scorching guitar interplay between May and Van Halen — not so much dueling as sharing ideas and passions. As May explains, “It was inspired by John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, the album with Eric Clapton reading The Beano on the front cover. Edward said, ‘This is great for me, I haven’t played like this in years. This is where I come from! I didn’t come up doing tapping and all the fireworks. I grew up doing blues, wanting to be like Eric Clapton and do something melodic.”
If that sense of liberation rings out, so does a spirit of shared adventure. “There was a lot of ebullience, a lot of exploration, discovery and astonishment,” says Brian. “And some truly magical moments when everything gelled together – a fusion of energies!”
Across two CDs, a 12-inch vinyl LP, and a 7-inch vinyl single, the Star Fleet Sessions box set houses the proof. Presented in 180-gram transparent red vinyl, the original LP issue has been treated to a full new mix, executed by Queen sound engineers Justin Shirley-Smith and Kris Fredriksson under May’s direction at his Surrey studio from the original multitrack tapes and, says May, “cut at half-speed for maximum fidelity”. The single features two tracks. The A-side is an edited version of “Star Fleet,” with new intro guitar harmonies from May. The B-side mirrors the original B-side “Son of Star Fleet” which May explains “was a way of including the rest of the original long version of the recording on a 70inch record; effectively the whole recording is split between the two sides.”
CD one features the single version of the title track alongside full-length album versions of “Let Me Out” and “Blues Breaker.” Also included is an interview with Cynthia Fox conducted on Los Angeles radio station KMET in October 1983, on the day of the single release, and a Rockline interview with Bob Coburn. A live version of “Let Me Out” from the Palace Theatre in LA follows, segueing into “We Will Rock You” and a reworking of the same song’s adored fast rendition. The line-up of May, powerhouse drummer Cozy Powell, bassist Neil Murray, guitarist Jamie Moses, keyboardist Spike Edney and backing singers Cathy Porter & Shelley Preston find The Brian May Band on fire. Finally, disc one closes with the full LP version of “Star Fleet,” “just as the day it happened,” says Brian, “as if we were in the room.”
CD two features 23 tracks that go deeper into that room. The disc boasts a newly-created mix from the entire original analogue session tapes, featuring songs in the process of evolution (some with guide vocals) plus discussion, banter, laughs and, says Brian, “some ‘mistakes’, if there are such things.” Amps blow, mics break, strings snap – the results take you as close as it is possible to get to the Record Plant in April 1983.
The “Star Fleet” takes feature eight Van Halen guitar solos, “never quite treading the same path twice,” says May. “Ed was a wonderful soul. Listening to him and me, I feel completely outclassed by him in the studio. But in a very pleasant way – what a joy for me to be around a guy who could do all that. Such a privilege. So, you’ll hear us in the studio trading licks. We’ve cleaned up the mix and now EVH’s sound is larger than life. You’ll hear the development of his solo, which I always thought was one of the greatest things he did… a real immortal classic of Ed Van Halen pieces.”
A badge and a booklet featuring extensive liner notes complete the box set. A poster will be exclusive to box set orders placed via QueenOnline.com, where 180-gram black vinyl, cassette and picture-disc vinyl albums will also be available.
Complete with a digital recreation of the original 1983 source material’s artwork, Star Fleet Sessions doesn’t just gleam anew. Across 136 minutes of audio, the box set takes you behind the curtain, highlighting the electricity that made the project such a special chapter in Brian’s life and career.
CD 1: Star Fleet Project + Beyond
- Star Fleet (Edited Single Version / 2023 Mix)
- Let Me Out (2023 Mix)
- Blues Breaker (2023 Mix)
- Cynthia Fox Release Day Interview 1983
- Bob Coburn Rockline Interview 1984
- Let Me Out (Live at The Palace Theater, LA / 1993)
- We Will Rock You (Live at The Palace Theater, LA / 1993)
- We Will Rock You – Fast (Live at The Palace Theater, LA / 1993)
- Star Fleet (Complete Version / 2023 Mix)
CD 2: Star Fleet The Complete Sessions
- Star Fleet (Take 1)
- Star Fleet (Take 2)
- Star Fleet (Take 3)
- Star Fleet (Take 4)
- Star Fleet (Take 5)
- Solo Jam
- Star Fleet (Take 7)
- Star Fleet (Take 8)
- Star Fleet (Take 10)
- Star Fleet (Take 11)
- Star Fleet (Alternative Overdub EVH Solo)
- Jam
- Let Me Out (Rehearsal 1)
- Let Me Out (Rehearsal 2)
- Boogie Woogie Jam
- Let Me Out (Take 1)
- Jazz Police
- Let Me Out (Take 3)
- Let Me Out (Take 4)
- Jam (Let’s Do The Show Right Here)
- Let Me Out (Take 6)
- Funky Jam
- Let Me Out (Take 7 False Start)
