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Legendary Queen guitarist Sir Brian May gave fans an early Christmas present as he revealed he has unearthed a never before heard track from the band recorded during the sessions for their second album Queen II, released in 1974. The track, which features Freddie Mercury on lead vocals, failed to make the cut for the record but Brian, 78, played it for listeners as part of a special festive Planet Rock radio show he hosted on Monday December 22, and announced it will be released as part of the upcoming 2026 remaster of that album.
Although a “bootleg” version of the song by Brian and drummer Roger Taylor’s pre-Queen band, Smile has circulated in some quarters he assured fans “no one” had heard this cut before he aired it. “It’s a song that goes back a very long way, but to my knowledge, no one has ever heard this version,” Brian said. ““It’s a work in progress and will appear on the forthcoming rebuild of the Queen II album – coming next year – but I’m sneaking this into my Planet Rock special because I’m fascinated to know what people think about it. I hope people have a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year!”
Listeners were quick to share their overwhelmingly positive reaction to the song and flocked to Brian’s Instagram page to give him feedback as requested. “…Early Queen is my favourite era of any music ever, so you couldn’t really go wrong with this one! It has that wonderful magic created by the young voices of Freddie and yourself, and that unique acoustic guitar sound that I absolutely LOVE…” one gushed.
“It was great to hear a proper decent quality version of Polar Bear/Not For Sale rather than the bootleg version of many years ago. Love it!” another added.
A third raved: “Wow, wow, wow!! Not For Sale (Polar Bear) is phenomenal. I adored every second of it. Really can’t wait for the Queen II remaster now.”
A fourth shared: “Absolutely love Polar Bear!! So fantastic to hear new old Queen! Thanks for sharing this little gem and can’t wait until the rebuild of Queen II is released.”
A fifth commented: “It was great, thank you Bri! I love Polar Bear. The guitar solo is amazing and the style of the song reminds me a bit of The Night Comes Down – love it very much!!”
Meanwhile a sixth penned: “I just heard Polar Bear and it is a song I will never forget now… I love hearing Freddie and You and I believe Roger all singing in parts of it and your guitar solo is so beautifully done! It’s like a mixture of the early 70’s era with today’s sound. It’s wonderful! And the lyrics are very deep! Beautiful!”
In August this year Brian delighted fans when he gave them a teaser of the remastering process on the Queen II album. He took to Instagram to share a snippet of a track in a short clip captioning it: “Please turn phone on its side and go close-up to hear this in full stereo. OK? But WHAT ARE WE HEARING? Tell me before I tell you! Clue: It’s from about 52 years in the past… Bri”.
Fans instantly recognised the track as White Queen (As It Began) from the album. This is the second remastering project undertaken by the band following the release of the Queen I box set in October 2024, which saw them clean up tracks and include demos and additional material inthe package.
