Brian May - Back To The Light (Deluxe Edition) (2021)

It's been almost 30 years since Brian May released "Back To The Light." In 2021, the album will be reissued once again, remastered on CD and vinyl

"Back To The Light" was originally released in 1992 and is the Queen lead guitarist's first solo album, but his second non-Queen album. The mini-LP "Star Fleet Project" by Brian May + Friends was released in 1983

May had already begun work on "Back To The Light" in 1987. The album was recorded at Allerton Hill Studios between 1988 and 1992 and mixed at Metropolis Studios. May played most of the instruments himself. Guest appearances on the album are by Cozy Powell and Deep Purple's Don Airey as well as Queen's John Deacon.

A total of twelve songs eventually made it onto the tracklist. Among the most notable are the singles "Driven By You" and "Too Much Love Will Kill You," both of which charted in the Top 10 in the UK, as well as "Resurrection" and the instrumental "Last Horizon," which became a live Queen track. The album itself reached number six in the UK charts, and number 25 in Germany.

For the reissue, the original album was remastered from the original tapes by Bob Ludwig. Brian May supervised the work. In a press release, he wrote about it, "I was a little nervous at first because I thought, what is this going to do to me? I found it fascinating to go back and rediscover why I wrote certain things. What they meant to me. How we recorded. Some of it is so massive in the recording that I can hardly believe we did it - it's very epic, some of it. And I like that. And at the same time, there are little corners that are very simple, very understated, very emotionally bare."

The reissue will be released in various formats: as a CD in digipak with a 12-page booklet of rare photos and album notes, as a double CD in 6-panel digipak with the album and a bonus CD of alternate versions, B-sides and live tracks and a 24-page booklet of rare photos and album notes, as an LP on 180-gram black vinyl with printed inner sleeve and as a Limited Collectors Edition boxset. This comes in a 12ʺ boxset with the double CD in wallets and enamel badge plus a 24-page 12ʺ booklet and 180 g white vinyl.

TRACKLIST

CD1
01. The Dark
02. Back To The Light
03. Love Token
04. Resurrection
05. Too Much Love Will Kill You
06. Driven By You
07. Nothin' But Blue
08. I'm Scared (Justin's Mix '92)
09. Last Horizon
10. Let Your Heart Rule Your Head
11. Just One Life
12. Rollin' Over

CD2
01. Nothin' But Blue (Guitar Version)
02. Too Much Love Will Kill You (Guitar Version)
03. Just One Life (Guitar Version)
04. Driven By You Two
05. Driven By You (Ford Ad Version)
06. Tie Your Mother Down (Live on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, 5/4/1993) (feat. Slash)
07. Too Much Love Will Kill You (Live at the Palace Theatre, Los Angeles, 6/4/1993)
08. '39 / Let Your Heart Rule Your Head (Live at the Brixton Academy 15/6/1993)
09. Last Horizon (Live at the Brixton Academy 15/6/1993)
10. We Will Rock You (Live at the Brixton Academy 15/6/1993)
11. Driven By You (Cozy and Neil Version ’93)