Listen to Previously Unreleased Versions of Queen’s ‘We Are the Champions’ and ‘We Will Rock You’
The 40th-anniversary reissue of Queen's News of the World LP won't arrive in stores for more than a month, but fans can get an early taste of the bonus material on offer courtesy of the previously unreleased "raw sessions" versions of classic tracks "We Are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You," which you can listen to now.
As previously reported, the band's set to reissue its hit 1977 album on Nov. 17, expanding the original track listing with an array of extra audio that includes an entire "Raw Sessions" disc — recordings that, according to the press release announcing the new box, were "mined deep from long-vaulted studio multi-track tapes" and present "never-before-heard alternative versions of each of the album’s 11 tracks."
Two of those alternate versions can be heard here. As again pointed out by the set's press release, the "Champions" "Raw Sessions" track should be of particular interest to die-hard fans; this take on the song offers listeners the complete performance, rather than the edited version that ended up making it onto the final track listing. They're just an intriguing early sampler of a number of songs that are either rare or making their official debut, including the nearly 20 cuts that make up a separate disc of bonus tracks.
The News of the World anniversary reissue is rounded out by a 60-page book with photos and memorabilia from the era as well as a DVD that adds a new hour-long documentary, Queen: The American Dream, which includes previously unreleased footage from the group's 1977 U.S. tour. Listen to the "Raw Sessions" version of "We Are the Champions" above, and check out "We Will Rock You" below.
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