“He was playing this kit that had cushions in it and tape all over it. It didn’t sound like Rodge”: Queen hated Roger Taylor’s drum sound on their debut album so much that they “augmented” every beat for its reissue

Queen rehearse in 1973. This black-and-white image captures Freddie Mercury on the far left, John Deacon on his Fender Precision bass, and Roger taylor on the right behind his Ludwig drumkit.

Queen unveiled their reissued and expanded debut album before a live audience in central London last night, with Roger Taylor and Brian May explaining how the project was nothing less than a mission to rebuild the album from the ground up – to the extent that every single one of Taylor’s drum hits on the original recording was digitally augmented for the release.

While none of the performances of the 1973 original have been changed, the band transferred its 16-track analogue tape recording to digital, turning it over to audio engineering specialists to enhance the sound.