In italy there’s a lot of fake/repro material by Queen… But there’s a lot of rare and official Italian Queen special release made by Emi in collaboration with “We Will Rock You” the Official Italian Queen Fan Club and some interesting box set published with some magazine.

1994 – THE SHOW MUST GO ON RED VINYL 7″

Saturday 21th May 1994, the official italian fan club with the support of EMI Italy, organized a charity event called “The Show Must Go On III”. The evening would have had several guests of honor, including Jim Jenkins author, together with Jacky Gunn, of the official biography of the band. The evening took place at the “Smeraldo” theater in Milan. During the evening was an exhibition of rare vinyl with screenings of unreleased and rare footage. For the occasion, the EMI presented a new vinyl born of a fan club idea: a limited edition of the last single of the band “The Show Must Go On / Keep Yourself Alive” on red vinyl. 2000 copies were hand-numbered, could be purchased during the evening and the proceeds would go to charity in favor of the fight against aids.

Let’s see in detail some data collectors of this publication… In reality, the copies printed by Emi weren’t 2000 but were 2050 divided as follows:

2 without number are property of EMI

36 copies were hand-numbered from one to thirty-six, and given away to the guests of the evening labeled as “VIP COPY”. 7 of these copies have been delivered to Brian May, John deacon, Roger Taylor, Mary Austin (for Freddie Mercury), Jim Jenkins, Jacky Gunn and Ian Bowman.

2000 hand-numbered copies, from 1 to 2000, were offered for sale directly on that night and the proceeds went to A.S.A.. All copies were sold with a red book and a red ribbon, symbol of the fight against AIDS.

12 resulted defective copies and were not used by the EMI

2007 – THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION

Release by EMI Italy in 2007 in collaboration with TV Sorrisi e Canzoni (Italian TV guide) and Panorama (Italian Magazine). This collection includes the Hits album by Queen and The Best Of Freddie Mercury. The four albums are enclosed in a box with an attached book with the lyrics. Released in kiosks on October as followed:

15 October : Greatest hits + Box

22 October : Greatest hits II + Lyrics Book

29 October : Greatest hits III

05 November : The Very Best of Freddie Mercury

2009 – ITALIAN FAN CLUB ANNIVERSARY CDs

Another Official Italian Queen Special Release by EMI Italy were printed in 2009. A special limited edition CD single for the 20th anniversary of the Italian We Will Rock You Fan Club. Any profits from the sale of the CD will benefit the Mercury Phoenix Trust. The CD were sold on 15th November 2009 at the Absolute Queen Event which will be held in Milan at the Mediolanum Forum (sala Gallery). The gig, whose proceeds were also go to the Mercury Phoenix Trust. Special guests Spike Edney’s Redsox featuring Neil Murray on bass.

The CD Digipack contains the following 5 WWRY tracks :

1) original version from “News Of The World”,1977

2) Live Killers fast version,1979

3) Live Magic version, recorded at Knebworth Park Aug 9th,1986,

4) Rick Rubin remix,1991

5) Live Killers slow version,1979

2015 – THE QUEEN COLLECTION – Italian Kiosk Releases

The Queen Collection, in Italian kiosks in assocication with TV Sorrisi e Canzoni (Italian TV guide). Over 21 weekly issues, The Queen Collection, including all of Queen’s studio albums and CD and DVD live concerts are to be released in special maxi digipacks with enhanced booklets that include photos, lyrics and info on the history of each album. The first issue, released in kiosks on March 3rd, is “A Kind of Magic and is priced at €9.99. It also includes a free box set to collect the series in. The release order is as follows:

1 A Kind of Magic – 03.03.15

2 Innuendo – 10.03.15

3 A Night At The Opera – 17.03.15

4 Made in Heaven – 24.03.15

5 The Game – 31.03.15

6 The Works – 07.04.15

7 News of the World – 14.04.15

8 The Miracle – 21.04.15

9 A Day at the Races – 28.04.15

10 Jazz – 05.05.15

11 Sheer Heart Attack – 12.05.15

12 Live Killers (2CD) – 19.05.15

13 Flash Gordon – 26.05.15

14 Hot Space – 02.06.15

15 Live Magic – 09.06.15

16 Queen – 16.06.15

17 Queen II – 23.06.15

18 Queen On Fire – Live at the Bowl (2CD) – 30.06.15

19 Queen Rock Montreal (2CD) – 07.07.15

20 Hungarian Rhapsody (1DVD) – 14.07.15

21 Live at Wembley Stadium (2DVD) – 21.07.15

2018 – QUEEN THE VINYL COLLECTION – Italian Kiosk Releases

On 24th February 2018, global partwork publisher DeAgostini is launching, in association with Queen Productions Ltd. and Universal Music Group, Queen The Vinyl Collection. Featuring 25 albums, it will be available to purchase online (for Italy only) and in newsagents all across Italy.

Issue by issue, Queen The Vinyl Collection, made up of single, double and triple albums, builds into a career-spanning library of Queen’s historic album discography. With artwork overseen and designed by Queen’s art director Richard Gray, each album is presented in high-quality sleeves reprising and, in some cases, refreshing the original artwork. The specially pressed LPs appear on 180g black vinyl, with all titles half-speed mastered and cut at world-renowned Abbey Road Studios in London to achieve audiophile quality sound.

The collection spans the band’s career from their self-titled debut album, released in 1973, through 1995’s Made In Heaven, which comprises of Freddie’s final studio recordings and additional material from the band’s earlier studio sessions. In addition to Queen’s 15 studio albums, Queen The Vinyl Collection features all three classic Greatest Hits titles (including the currently unavailable Greatest Hits III), and On Air, a collection of the band’s BBC Radio recordings. The collection is completed with six live concert albums, among them the long out-of-print Live Killers and a brand new presentation of Live At Wembley Stadium, on triple LP for the first time.

Each album is accompanied by an illustrated 8-page magazine containing the stories behind the group’s renowned recordings. With notes by Queen archivist and writer Greg Brooks (in consultation with Queen publicist Phil Symes and longtime expert fan Jim Jenkins), each issue reveals fascinating details about the creation of the album, including the poignant recording sessions for the last two albums with Freddie, and the key tracks therein, and features quotes and insights from all four members of the band, as well as rare photos, record sleeves and poster art.

Queen The Vinyl Collection is a 25 part series available in Italy. Issue one will be priced at €9.99 for a limited time only, with subsequent single album copies retailing at €17.99; double albums at €24.99; and triple albums at €29.99. Issues are available bi-monthly in newsagents across Italy, with subscribers receiving two issues in one delivery every four weeks. Subscriptions can be purchased online at at this location.
It also includes two box set to collect the series in. The release order is as follows:

1 A Kind of Magic 24/02/2018
2 A Night at the Opera 10/03/2018
3 Queen 24/03/2018
4 Innuendo (2lp) 07/04/2018
5 Queen II 21/04/2018
6 Made in Heaven (2lp) 05/05/2018
7 The Miracle 19/05/2018
8 Greatest Hits (2lp) 02/06/2018
9 Sheer Heart Attack 16/06/2018
10 Live Killers (2lp) 30/06/2018
11 Greatest Hits II (2lp) 14/07/2018
12 A Day at the Races 28/07/2018
13 Live at the Rainbow ’74 (2lp) 11/08/2018
14 The Works 25/08/2018
15 Queen on Fire: Live at the Bowl (3lp) 08/09/2018
16 News of the World 22/09/2018
17 Greatest Hits III (2lp) 06/10/2018
18 The Game 20/10/2018
19 Live at Wembley Stadium (3lp) 03/11/2018
20 Hot Space 17/11/2018
21 Queen Rock Montreal (3lp) 01/12/2018
22 Flash Gordon (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 15/12/2018
23 A Night at the Odeon: Hammersmith 1975 (2lp) 29/12/2018
24 Jazz 12/01/2019
25 On Air (3lp) 26/01/2019

2019 – THE QUEEN STORY – Italian Kiosk Releases

The complete Queen discography. All the original albums plus a new box and a special magazine containing the stories of the album lyrics and fabulous pictures! The release order is as follows:

1 A Night at the Opera + box 03-09-2019
2 A kind of magic 10-09-2019
3 Innuendo 17-09-2019
4 The Works 24-09-2019
5 The Game 01-10-2019
6 News of the world 08-10-2019
7 Made in Heaven 15-10-2019
8 Jazz 22-10-2019
9 The Miracle 29-10-2019
10 Live Killers 05-11-2019
11 A day at the races 12-11-2019
12 Live at Wembley Stadium 19-11-2019
13 Flash Gordon 26-11-2019
14 Sheer Heart attack 03-12-2019
15 Live Magic 10-12-2019
16 Hot Space 17-12-2019
17 A night at the Odeon 24-12-2019
18 Queen on air 31-12-2019
19 Queen 07-01-2020
20 Queen II 14-01-2020
21 Live at The Rainbow 21-01-2020
22 Hungarian Rhapsody 28-01-2020
23 Queen Rock Montreal 04-02-2020
24 Queen On Fire – live at the Bowl 11-02-2020