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Tracklisting & More Information
History Of The Blue Vinyl Bohemian Rhapsody
On Wednesday 26th July 1978, a special dinner was held at the Selfridge Hotel in London to commemorate the fact that The International Division of EMI Records Ltd had been awarded the prestigious 'Queen's Award To Industry For Export Achievement'.
As Queen were a significant contributor to EMI's export sales and as a play-on-words with the 'Queen's Award', it was decided to manufacture a special limited edition of the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' single to mark the occasion. The single was pressed in a translucent royal blue vinyl, with a special purple and gold sleeve. The intention was that the vinyl was to be purple to match the sleeve but due to an error at the pressing plant they came out blue!
A limited run of up to 300 were pressed, but only 200 records and sleeves were numbered by hand, mostly on the a-side label and the back of the sleeve.
This special single was distributed to the EMI bosses, captains of industry and journalists who were present at the dinner. In fact, a large variety of commemorative freebies were distributed to the assembled throng, including:
A wine glass, engraved with the 'Queen's Award' logo.
A pale blue silk scarf, embroidered with the 'Queen's Award' logo & 'Queen's Award For Industry' tag. Some of the scarves were in a passport style folder.
A pen, presumably also with the same logo.
As well as these, all attendees would have had an invitation, a ticket and a menu. According to sources, it was largely pot-luck who at the dinner received which of the freebies and it was mainly first-come-first-served.
A special 'EMI Records International Division' outer-envelope was also manufactured. Roughly A4 in size and shaped to resemble a carrier bag, there is some uncertainty what this was for, which makes it seem likely it was simply another freebie given away at the dinner. Whatever it was, there seem to have been very few of them made!
All the freebies seem to be much rarer than the blue vinyl records themselves. However, this is probably because they have become separated over the years. None of them mention Queen in any way, so someone selling their blue vinyl in the 1980s may not have thought the buyer would have been interested in a seemingly unrelated item. It is only in recent years that the full set of items has become desirable.
Over the years, the blue vinyl has become the top-of-the-league item in any list of Queen collectables. The full monty (comprising numbered vinyl, sleeve, outer envelope, glass, scarf, pen, invitation, ticket and menu) would be worth a King's ransom. Even an unnumbered vinyl with no sleeve would be a worthwhile addition to anyone's collection.
Value over the years
Over the last ten years, the value of a blue vinyl has gone up and up and up. While some of this was undoubtedly due to hype, the current high values are holding firm and even, for a copy with all the trimmings, still going up.
This amazing collection comprises the following :-
Blue Vinyl Bohemian Rhapsody 7" hand numbered 100/200 on the label and back of the sleeve.
A wine goblet etched with the EMI logo and the Queen's Award 1978 logo.
The jewel in the crown of any collection, without doubt.
7" RECORD
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