The album was rereleased as a remixed, remastered and expanded box set entitled Queen I Collector's Edition on 25 October 2024.

The band came away with a polished demo tape of five songs: "Keep Yourself Alive", "The Night Comes Down", "Great King Rat", "Jesus", and "Liar".

[4] Producers John Anthony and Roy Thomas Baker visited De Lane Lea while the band were recording and were impressed by what they saw.

[4] One day, while waiting to use the studio, Freddie Mercury was asked to record vocals by producer Robin Geoffrey Cable, who was working on a version of "I Can Hear Music" and "Goin' Back".

The band had thought highly of their De Lane Lea demo tracks, but producer Roy Thomas Baker had them re-record the songs with better equipment.

May later commented that "Between Roy [Thomas Baker] and I, we were fighting the whole time to find a place where we had the perfection but also the reality of performance and sound".

It re-surfaced in 1991, remixed by David Richards, as both the B-side to the "Headlong" CD single in the UK, and on the Hollywood Records re-release of the album.

[2][3] The album showcased the influence of contemporary rock bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Jethro Tull, while the lyrics were reflective of "mystical sword 'n' sorcerers themes" with "medieval landscapes.

"[9][3] Michael Gallucci of Ultimate Classic Rock noted how "mostly Queen is a product of its time, bringing together prog, metal and even a little bit of folk music" and felt that the album "did little to separate the group from others exploring similar territory in the early '70s.

"[4] Brian May wrote "Keep Yourself Alive" after the band had been formed but before John Deacon joined, as confirmed by former bass player Barry Mitchell (on an unofficial question and answer session held on an online forum).

According to May in a radio special about their 1977 album, News of the World, he had penned the lyrics thinking of them as ironic and tongue-in-cheek, but their sense was completely changed when Mercury sang them.

This song, written by Freddie Mercury, is an example of Queen's earliest sound, with lengthy, heavy compositions, long guitar solos, and sudden tempo changes.

"Liar" was a staple of early concerts, but its inclusion was intermittent in later years, before returning in a shortened form for The Works Tour.

They began working with Roy Thomas Baker who, along with owners/management Norman and Barry Sheffield, insisted on re-recording the five De Lane Lea demos.

Unlike other songs from Queen's early period which crept back into circulation in the live set of their 1984–86 tours, such as "Liar", "Keep Yourself Alive", "Seven Seas of Rhye" and "In the Lap of the Gods...Revisited", "Son and Daughter" stayed off the setlists after Queen's hit singles began to dominate their live show.

The track features a two-chord rhythm section during the verses with a long instrumental break toward the end of the song.

Though the album was completed and fully mixed by November 1972, Trident Studios spent months trying to get a record company to release it.

Elektra later reissued the edited version of "Keep Yourself Alive" in July 1975, this time with a double B-side of "Lily of the Valley" and "God Save the Queen".

Hollywood Records released a CD single featuring five versions of "Keep Yourself Alive" to promote the forthcoming Crown Jewels box set (1998).

Rolling Stone wrote, "There's no doubt that this funky, energetic English quartet has all the tools they'll need to lay claim to the Zep's abdicated heavy-metal throne, and beyond that to become a truly influential force in the rock world.

"[22] The Winnipeg Free Press opined that Queen borrowed from other artists, but also compared the album favourably to Led Zeppelin, writing, "the band manages to inject such a fresh, energetic touch to most of it that I don't mind a bit... With its first album, Queen has produced a driving, high energy set which in time may be looked upon with the same reverence Led Zep 1 now receives.

"[23] Illinois' Daily Herald also commended the record, writing "Good listening is guaranteed in songs like 'Keep Yourself Alive,' 'Great King Rat' and 'Doing All Right'.

"[24] In later years, AllMusic awarded the album three out of five stars, calling it a "patchy but promising debut from a classic rock group".

[17] In an article published by Chicago Tribune written by Greg Kot, the album is given a generally positive rating overall as he compliments the band's heavy sound combined with baroque arrangements.

He described it as a "glorious hard rock marathon unlike anything else around at the time", and commented on the "unmistakably unique sound of Brian May's home-made guitar", the "panoramic production of Roy Thomas Baker" and the "soaring voice of Freddie Mercury", adding "the record was just too powerful, too multi-dimensional and too stunning to sit happily and contentedly in the grooves.

[34] A special re-edited and restored edition of the "Keep Yourself Alive" promo video was released in conjunction with the boxset on 25 October.

Previously unreleased material includes live versions of the song "Jesus", the first time a live version of the song has been heard, and a cover of the Bo Diddley written blues standard "I'm a Man", both from Queen's second ever concert in London at Imperial College on 23 August 1970, also bassist Barry Mitchell's first performance with the band.

Queen says a studio version does not exist, but the song was performed live sporadically from 1970 to the Japanese A Night at the Opera tour in 1976.