Queen’s Debut Album (1973) — USA & Japan Editions

In 1972, Jack Holzman, founder of Elektra Records, wrote an internal memo to his staff: I have seen the future of pop music, and it is a band called Queen! He was desperate to sign Queen. “I knew in my bones they were it, that Queen would thrive at Elektra and we were the perfect label for them. There was the added thrill of the chase, going up against Columbia. I had been told that deal was completed, but discovered through my own sources that Queen had yet to see the first draft of the Columbia contract. And there was no deal memo”. Holzman kept up the pressure on the band’s management, visiting them in London, and he slowly began to convince Queen and their manager Jack Nelson, of his commitment. “We offered the same lure that worked so well with The Doors and Harry Chapin: we wouldn’t release any other album the same month as Queen’s debut appeared. Elektra could do that, but Columbia, because of their enormous size and obligations, could not. Although we were now part of the Warner Music Group, we were still flexible. We eventually signed Queen for over 60 percent of the world. EMI had Europe. We sold far more Queen records than EMI.

One of the earliest promotional Queen related item from USA in 1973 is the following Elektra Records preview book. These kind of items are now very rare; they were given to music reps, especially resellers. It features all the releases planned for September 1973. That was the month Elektra chose to let Queen’s debut LP go to be released in the USA market.

And of course in the USA we have a Test Pressing edition of the LP with the following matrix numbers etched in the run-off groove

Side A: EKS 75064 A-1  ESR-TD 7-20-73

SIDE B: EKS 75064 B-1  ESR-TD 7-20-73

Queen’s first album was released in Japan in late January 1974. Some copies, probably for the journalists, came with a unique press kit with a purple cover and a promotional Queen sticker.

Stay connected with this post… I’ll update soon with all the vinyl information about the Queen debut LP in the US….. and soon after in Japan….

 Promotional information and images to be used in the newspaper ads are included in this book (size 12,5″ x 12,5″).

This sheet can be found also in the promo LP version of the debut US LP. Here it’s in card paper.

Order form and shiny paper promo sheet with Queen previews with quotes from UK newspapers…

But the most interesting thing from this book is that it features advance LP covers for these September 1973 releases. The Queen cover is still not completed. Both the crest on the back and the “Queen” written on the front are missing!!!