LARRY LUREX (Queen Freddie Mercury) Anthem AN 204

	£		82
	$		109

Larry Lurex 7" single on Anthem Records  Cat. no. AN-204

Released in 1973

Please see the small history of the record below

U.S. release

Side A 'I CAN HEAR MUSIC'

Side B 'GOING BACK' (sic)

Pop out centre and comes in a plain white paper sleeve

Graded using Record Collector Magazine criteria as being in GOOD condition

Side A has two pen marks on label (see image)

Both sides show a deterioration in sound quality, but is not so noticeable on the Phil Spector 'Wall of Sound' inspired A side

Overall, a nice copy of this rare, collectable, record

Please feel free to use 'Ask Seller a Question' link with any queries, as I am only too happy to help

U.K. payments via Paypal, Cheque or Postal Orders. Non-U.K. payments via Paypal ONLY. Please do not bid from non-U.K. locales if you do not have a Paypal account. Thanks

Item sent upon clearance of funds in cardboard mailer with stiffeners, so it reaches you in exactly the same condition that it leaves me :)

'LARRY LUREX

During the summer of 1972, Queen were to be found lurking in the corridors and

reception area of Trident Studios, London, waiting for any available studio time

so they could work on their debut album. They were more than a little put out

by this indignity, but were left with no choice; their studio deal with Trident

had not yet been signed, and the likes of David Bowie and Elton John kept the

studios - then considered the best in London - extremely busy.

At the time, Trident staff engineer/producer Robin Cable was working on an old

Beach Boys song called "I Can Hear Music", a song co-written with Phil Spector.

Spector had recently been in the studios recording with his wife Ronnie and,

suitably inspired, Robin decided to have a go at re-creating the 'Spector

sound' himself. He'd heard Freddie Mercury singing with Queen and, aware that

the band had plenty of free time in between recording sessions, he asked the

singer if he'd sing the vocals for the track in question.

At Freddie's insistence, fellow Queen members Roger Taylor and Brian May were

drafted in to add percussion and guitars, though bassist John Deacon was not

present at the recording. Freddie Mercury also sang lead vocals on "Goin'

Back", an old Goffin & King song covered by Dusty Springfield and the Byrds.

PSEUDONYM

Robin Cable loved the songs so much that he persuaded Trident to release them,

via their arrangement with EMI Records, to whom Queen were already signed.

However, it took almost a year for the disc to appear, and when it did,

Queen's own album wasn't too far away, and so a pseudonym had to be used. As

the songs were so far removed from the Queen sound, it was decided to spoof

Gary Glitter by crediting the record to Larry Lurex, and the single was released

at the height of Glittermania, on 29th June 1973 (EMI 2030).

U.K. copies on "I Can Hear Music" are now immensely collectable, with copies

changing hands for considerable sums. Meanwhile, keep an eye out for the German

picture sleeve edition on EMI's Electrola subsidiary label (1C 006-94 677).

The single also found a simultaneous outlet in the States on Anthem Records

(AN 204), and while many believed this to have been an unofficial release, it

was in fact sanctioned by those involved, a point that has been confirmed

recently by ex-Trident boss Norman Shefield. This issue is highly prized and sought after. South African pressings also exist.

During the mid-80s, the single got a second albeit wholly unofficial wind as a

'white label promo'. The disc credited to Joe Perfect and fans were fooled

into believing this was the original choice of name before Larry Lurex was

amusingly thought up. In fact, far from being a very rare demo disc, the truth

was that bootleggers had, as with the case of the Smile 45, recorded the

original single onto reel-to-reel tape and re-pressed a new batch of 7's, again

in dreadful sound quality. Copies of this, and its bootlegged tape, were again

part of the cache recently discovered in Liverpool and picked up by the press.

But as we recently reported in our news page, these are most certainly bootlegs.

Following many requests over the years, Norman Shefield, who still owns the

original master-tapes, is planning to re-release both tracks, in conjunction

with Queen, in the near future. This will give collectors the opportunity to

own a rare slice of Queen history without going to great expense - and with

today's remastering techniques, it should sound pretty good too!'