Brian May delighted fans as he took to Instagram to share a snippet of a track in a short clip. Teasing them he captioned 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 Queen’s 1974 album Queen II. Brian has previously revealed the band intends to release a Queen II box set, following the recent release of the Queen I box set in October 2024, which saw them clean up tracks and include demos and additional material. The post would seem to imply Brian is hard at work on compiling the set at present.

His followers were delighted with the snippet and took to the comments to share their thoughts. “Ah, just like old times… Up ‘til the wee hours layering tracks. Does my heart good to see this, Sir Bri,” one wrote.

“I mean it sounds so much better with this sound mixer. Wonderful dear Brian. I thank you so much for sharing it with everyone. It certainly sounds great,” another added.

A third chimed in: “I think I’ve listened to this a dozen times already. So great to here how the organ on the left and the strings on the right move against each other. Amazing. Imagine doing this in 1974! You must have nerves of steel after that!”

“White Queen!!! As long as you don’t use autotune / AI I’ll be happy to spend all my money on whatever you release..!” a fourth reassured him.

“Oh my!!!!!! White Queen ! Sounding absolutely delightful. PS: I seriously thought it was a plane cockpit watching the first 2 seconds without the sound,” a fifth penned, commenting on the visual in the clip.

Meanwhile a sixth cheered: “It is Queeeeen twooooo!!!!! White queen!!! HURRAY!! aah this is gonna be so cool! And look at all that machinery, looks complex, and interesting. But eeee yes, AWESOME news!”

As the title suggests Queen II was the bands second album and contains one of their most iconic cover images which was recreated for the opening of the Bohemian Rhapsody video a year later.

While that iconic track doesn’t feature on the album, it appeared on their third LP A Night At the Opera, it does contain Seven Seas of Rhye which became their first top ten single.

The album went to number 5 in the UK charts and gave them their first whiff of US success when it charted at number 49.