When Queen debuted in 1973, their mix of hammering jams and folksy asides was closer to Zeppelin than to the stadium-killing theatricality they would later perfect. This revelatory reissue — one of five Queen albums being rereleased with BBC sessions, live cuts, B sides and more — highlights the band's raw roots, particularly on a series of 1971 demos. On those tracks Freddie Mercury already belts like the superstar he'd become, but the instrumental intensity nearly upstages him: Brian May's guitar screams through bolder and longer versions of "Jesus" and "Liar" while the rhythm section gallops in tight formation. Later LPs are more refined, but this two-disc set is a compelling portrait of vehement and nearly violent art.

Listen to Queen's "Keep Yourself Alive (De Lane Lea Demo, December 1971)" Remastered:

Related: The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time: Freddie Mercury

“All Along the Watchtower”

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."