Brian May revisits 'Another World' with Gold Series reissue

Box set, CD, vinyl, cassette and digital formats set for Apr 22nd

Brian May is continuing his Gold Series reissue campaign with Another World. The follow up to his solo debut, Back to the Light — which was reissued in 2021 — sees an expanded deluxe edition on a variety of formats on April 22nd.

Long unavailable in any format, this timely reissue has been personally overseen by May himself along with original co-producer Justin Shirley-Smith, Queen and BM Pro Tools expert Kris Fredriksson and longtime Queen art designer Richard Gray.

Meticulously restored with mastering by Bob Ludwig, working from the true original mixes for maximum quality, the album will be reissued in multiple formats, including single CD, 180-g heavyweight black vinyl, 2 CD Deluxe, 2 CD + LP Collector’s Edition featuring a sky-blue vinyl LP in a 12″ lift lid box, complete with 32-page booklet and enamel badge. Queen Online Store exclusives will include picture disc and cassette options.

The set also contains Another Disc, a 15 track rarities set that includes four covers May recorded under the alter ego T E Conway for Retro Rock Special, an EP previously only available to purchasers of Another World in 1998. The songs range joyously from The Rocky Horror Show‘s rollicking “Hot Patootie” to Buddy Holly and the Crickets’ stunning “Maybe Baby,” The Shadows’ electric “F.B.I.” (recorded with Status Quo’s Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt) and Conway Twitty’s immortal “It’s Only Make Believe.” Also featured on the disc is a transcendent Spanish sung version of “Another World,” “Otro Lugar,” alongside a blistering instrumental attack on “Cyborg” and a hard rocking guitar version of “On My Way Up.” Fantastic live cuts highlight The Brian May Band’s live form at the time: dedicated by Brian to “absent friends,” “Hammer to Fall” starts tenderly before roaring into rock ‘n’ roll life, while “On My Way Up” brims with pep. Three alternative takes on “Business” reveal May’s work on “stings” for the TV series. And the disc closes with “My Boy,” a heartfelt piano ballad recorded by May in 1980 and until now, almost unknown to the public.

On all fronts, Another World documents May’s personal journey, with “A Different Place, way across Time and Space” in mind, and pure emotional honesty at its core. As he explained of the record’s concept, “I hoped that by the time I got to the end of the project, I would have brought about a change in myself. I thought, ‘When the album is finished, I will have made this journey, and I will have got to this other place, and I can tell everyone how I did it’; but to be honest, I didn’t really manage it. The truth of the album is that it’s a journey which is still taking place.”

In his new 2022 liner notes, May notes how far we have all travelled since the album’s release in 1998, but also that the exploration feels very appropriate at this time. “It seems perhaps that in 2022 we ARE in Another World,” he writes, “but if it’s not quite the world we asked for, perhaps we can still reach that perfect world… in our dreams. JOIN ME !!!”

The reissue is also celebrated with a unique book of fan-art — or, in this case, Bri-art, as it has become, now a phenomenon in the Instagram community. The pictures in the book are curated from the work of both amateur and professional artists. This astonishing collection of artwork offers a visual accompaniment to tracks from the album and other related imagery. It showcases the diverse talents of this community of artists, all of whom have been so deeply inspired by Brian and his music, career, and accomplishments. Within these pages reside over 300 unique pieces of artwork in various media and styles, each illustrating a one-of-kind perspective of Dr. May in Another World, created by those who love him best.