The source

The magazine Astounding Science Fiction was first published in December 1929 (with a date of January 1930 on its cover) under the title Astounding Stories Of Super-Science. It featured pioneering and iconic science fiction related stories. The magazine was renamed a few times until it changed to Astounding Science Fiction in July 1939.

The October 1953 US or March 1954 UK copy caught the eye of Roger, presumably in 1977. The front cover features an arguably sad or indifferent looking robot who holds a dead body in his right hand and has a blood-smeared finger on his left, implying that he killed the human.

As was the case with most UK editions at the time, they made inferior looking copies of the artwork, mostly by repainting the image. This can be clearly seen below and luckily the album’s artwork is ultimately much closer to the US cover than the UK one.

Queen, who were making their sixth album in 1977, reached out to Frank Kelly Freas who was the creator of the cover in 1953, and asked him whether he could adapt the artwork to an album cover. Freas agreed and updated the image to the one we all know and love today, featuring a more modern-looking robot plus all four band members.

I personally think that Roger bumped into the UK edition at the time, because this edition uses the same font for its chapters which was later used for the album’s title and band’s name. The US edition did not use this font.

The album

The album was released on LP and cassette worldwide and additionally as an 8-track in the US and UK. It got its first CD release in 1984, though it was only released in the US. One of these CD editions came in a beautiful longbox which contains the inner gatefold artwork on the front with a die-cut to showcase the CD’s jewel case and actual front artwork. A worldwide CD released followed two years later.

The album’s UK artwork was used in most countries worldwide, though there are some exceptions of which a few will be shown later.

Most countries, including the UK, released the album with a gatefold sleeve and a printed inner sleeve. At least the UK edition had a die-cut inner sleeve, allowing for the record’s label to be seen. Later UK pressings got an inner with no die-cut.

The front and back artwork of the original 1977 UK LP pressing

The front and back of the original 1977 UK LP inner sleeve

As can be seen, the inner sleeve contains full lyrics for all 11 songs, a nice black and white band photo plus the usual credits. In general, South American and Asian countries had a black inner sleeve with a black and white photo and no die-cut. The remaining countries had either a die-cut or non-die-cut red inner sleeve with either a black and white or a red tinted photo.

Freas also worked on an additional image for the inside of the gatefold, showing a dome where the band had supposedly been giving a performance plus an audience who are fleeing from the robot. As striking the front image is, this inner gatefold image is arguably even better and I love the imagery, colours and depth used in the image. It is a bit sad to know that certain countries, especially South American ones, did not use gatefold sleeves for this album and were thus missing out on this spectacular image!

The inner gatefold artwork of the original 1977 UK LP pressing

Variants: United Kingdom

Besides the standard vinyl edition as per the above LP images, the UK also released this album on cassette and on 8-track. This 8-track edition is shown below.

It comes in a lovely glossy slipcase, showcasing most of the LP front and back artwork on the front. The back is plain white with a track listing. As is typical for 8-tracks, the songs have been shuffled a bit to ensure continuous play. Can you spot the differences?

The front and back artwork of the United Kingdom 8-track

The 8-track cartridge itself is white and has black and white News Of The World artwork. You will find the cartridge’s four programmes below the artwork.

A close-up of the spine plus the (sealed) 8-track cartridge

The album was obviously re-released many times throughout the years on both vinyl and cassette. As mentioned above, the first worldwide CD release was in 1986. The artwork used for this album was a bit of a hit and miss. The front was fine, but the back was quite bad. You can easily see that they used the UK LP artwork as a base and simply airbrushed the LP track listing, catalogue number and logos out of the image. They then added new text over this image and voila: the CD’s back sleeve was done!

The front and back artwork of the 1986 UK CD pressing

Seven years later it was already time for the first remaster. This was probably done because the 1986 version was transferred from a production master, resulting in sub-par audio quality (although I must say it doesn’t sound that bad).

Still, this new 1993 remaster sounded better. Though the packaging wasn’t improved. The back sleeve was still the same as the 1986 version plus they now added a hideous red area at the bottom for copyright purposes. The jewel case had a nice golden sticker on the front stating Digital Master Series.

The front and back artwork of the 1993 UK CD pressing

It then took 18 years before the next worldwide re-issue and remaster was released on CD. Two editions were made available: a standard CD which just contained the regular album plus a double-CD edition of which the second CD contained five bonus tracks (one being a previously unreleased out-take!).

The artwork was this time more faithful to the original. They seemingly went back to the originals (or their Photoshop skills had drastically improved) as none of the previous back sleeve artwork shortcomings are now visible. I do think though that the artwork is a tad too dark?

The front and back artwork of the 2011 UK 2CD pressing

Most re-issues used the same standard artwork until the official Queen web store released an exclusive 40th anniversary picture disc in 2017. This was the first official picture disc for this album and it sure is a beauty!

It comes in a black die-cut sleeve which is numbered on the back. The disc is housed inside the sleeve so you will see parts of the picture disc through the die-cut parts. The sleeve itself is tucked away in a sturdy protective plastic sleeve.

This edition is limited to 1977 copies and is now a sought-after and highly collectable item.

Above: the front and back artwork of the 2017 UK picture disc LP
Below: the A and B-sides of the picture disc

The band also released a lavish 40th anniversary box set in November 2017 which features the album on vinyl and CD, two more CD’s with bonus material, a DVD featuring a documentary, a book and some memorabilia. This comes in a black box with a lid which takes a minimalist approach for the artwork as it features just a small portion of the robot.

The front of the 2017 box set edition

Variants: Argentina

As mentioned before, there are a number of variants out there. The first one is from Argentina. The biggest and most notable difference is the album title as it is called Noticias Del Mundo. The song titles have also been translated to Spanish on the back, the inner sleeve and record labels. This edition comes with a laminated gatefold sleeve.

The front and back artwork and inner sleeve of the Argentinian LP pressing

One can furthermore see that the inner sleeve is black instead of the usual red. There is also no die-cut, but instead of colouring it black, they left it white!

A variant of this record exists which omits track 7, Get Down Make Love, and has the song titles in a green box on the back of the sleeve.

Variants: Uruguay

The next one is from another Spanish speaking country – this time Uruguay!

It has again Spanish album and song titles on both the artwork and labels. But there is more to distinguish it from other releases. It does not have a gatefold sleeve so these buyers missed out on the great inner gatefold artwork. The artwork is furthermore in a transparent plastic sleeve and is printed on two separate sheets of paper. This was typical for LP’s from Uruguay.

The people from Uruguay unfortunately missed out on an inner sleeve as well. So they had no direct access to the lyrics or the band photo.

The back shows a black border at the bottom, covering legal notes.

The biggest difference is the omission of track 7, Get Down Make Love. As with an Argentinian variant, this song was not deemed suitable for the public in Uruguay and so it was removed from this release. This thus means that there are only four songs on side B and this side starts with Sleeping On The Sidewalk!

There is a nice variant of this pressing which comes in a regular non-gatefold carton sleeve plus a fully black and white back sleeve. Though I personally prefer the below edition due to its odd packaging with the sheets of paper inside a plastic sleeve.

The front and back artwork of the Uruguayan LP pressing

Variants: Turkey

Now we start to dabble into the territory with truly different artwork. This is an edition from Turkey on the Pop label!

One can immediately notice that the colours are off when compared to i.e. the UK release. But the best and most significant difference is its back as it uses the bottom of the UK’s inner gatefold artwork! I think this makes for a striking back sleeve and should have maybe been considered for more territories across the globe.

As like the LP from Uruguay, this one does not have a gatefold sleeve and thus misses parts of the full artwork. It furthermore does not come with a printed inner sleeve. So, also Turkey missed out on lyrics back in the day.

The front and back artwork of the Turkish LP pressing

There are however some noticeable errors on the artwork and labels:

• The back sleeve swapped the A and B-sides
• The back sleeve and B-side label do not mention the song It’s Late
• Track 4 on the A-side label has a typo: Ali. Dead, Ali. Dead
• Even though Fight From The Inside ends side A, it is listed as the first track on the B-side label

Either quality control was low in Turkey at the time, or the Pop label was creating pirate releases. A quick glance on Discogs however tells me that they seemingly made official releases for Turkey back in the day, which makes this an interesting official variant!

Variants: Germany

Here we have a nice example of a cassette. This particular copy is from Germany (note that Switzerland used the same artwork) and might be my most favourite cassette of the album that I currently own. This copy gives you the opportunity to view the full robot which I really like. The yellow title makes for a nice alternate variant and the blue case and cassette really compliment the total package (though the French green case would have even been better!). The only downside, as with many cassette releases, is that you don’t get any lyrics, nor the awesome inner gatefold artwork.

Above: the front and back artwork of the 1977 German cassette
Below: a close-up of the spine

Variants: Japan

Japan’s releases always tend to be a bit special. Most copies come with a paper obi which is a piece of paper that is wrapped around the sleeve to promote the album, but also to show the sale price. Obis present an easy way for Japan to deal with fluctuating prices due to occasional tax changes. Japanese copies furthermore tend to contain extra inserts and their pressings are usually very good.

For News Of The World, you get a package with a thick and sturdy cardboard gatefold sleeve and, in the case of a first pressing, a beautiful red obi. The record comes in a transparent plastic inner sleeve so you don’t get a printed inner sleeve. This is however rectified by a lovely black four page insert which contains lyrics on the front and back and four individual band member photos plus an interview discussing the album.

Above: the front artwork with obi of the Japanese LP pressing. Note that this is a promotional/sample copy
Below: the front, inner and back of the 4-page sheet

Above: the front, inner and back of the 4-page sheet
Below: the back artwork of the Japanese LP pressing

Variants: France

Moving on to France. Japan was not the only country who’s release had an obi. To celebrate the album’s success in France, it was repacked in 1978 with an additional green obi which wraps around the front cover.

The front of the obi, as shown below, mentions that the album received a gold disc/award. The back of the obi, not displayed as my copy is sealed, promotes a French concert in Paris on the 24th of April 1978.

The front and back artwork with obi of a sealed French 1978 LP pressing

France was seemingly a bit more special in 1978 when compared to other countries, as it got a second vinyl variant in the form of a coloured vinyl edition. Obviously, the disc’s colour is green and is in fact slightly translucent. A large yellow sticker, stating Special Disque en Colour / Special Colour Disc, was applied to the front sleeve to highlight the fact that the disc is not black.

The front and green vinyl disc of the coloured French 1978 LP pressing

To top it off, special versions were made to promote this coloured edition in French stores. The manufacturer simply cut out a large round hole in the front sleeve (even through the sticker) and out of the top and bottom part of the inner gatefold sleeve. This allows for the disc to be seen through the sleeve.

Two test or alternate variations exist of this promotional display. One where only the bottom part/right side of the inner gatefold sleeve had the large round die-cut, meaning you only see the disc when you open the sleeve. The other just had half (180°) of the die-cut on the front and inside of the gatefold so you effectively just see i.e. the right side of the disc through the sleeve.

Above: the front and bottom of the inner gatefold sleeve of the coloured French 1978 LP display edition
Below: the opened gatefold without the disc

France obviously also had a cassette release. There were at least two editions of which the first one was released in 1977 and a second in 1978 (which came with a beautiful black die-cut slipcase). The first pressing comes in a green cassette case to compliment the artwork.

The artwork has some issues though! As with the 1986 and 1993 CD’s, they airbrushed the track listing away with some green paint just below Roger. There is also a nasty photocopied fold where otherwise the spine would have been of the LP gatefold sleeve. Surely they could have done a better job, like the one for Germany?

Above: the front and back artwork of the 1977 French cassette
Below: a close-up of the spine

Variants: South Korea

The previous entries were arguably only a slight variant of the UK release in terms of track listing, extras or vinyl colour. This next entry is similar to the Turkish edition, although what that Turkish edition used as its back sleeve, is used for both the front and back for this South Korean edition!

This is one of my favourite News Of The World LP editions. If only they used a gatefold… The record comes in a plastic and transparent EMI inner sleeve. This album furthermore has a double-sided insert. One side contains a write-up about Queen in Korean whereas the other side contains the lyrics.

As with some South American editions, the song Get Down Make Love was also removed from this edition.

The front and back artwork of the South Korean LP pressing

Variants: United States

The US was arguably the king of 8-track cartridges, so obviously News Of The World was released on this format. There are at least six variants known of which the one below is one of them.

It unfortunately does not come in a full cover slipcase like the UK one. Instead, it comes in a generic Elektra slipcase with a die-cut so the cartridge can be seen. This approach allowed the label to use a full-colour label on the cartridge itself whereas the UK one is in black and white.

The four programmes (or programs as per the US spelling) are in the same sequences as the UK edition.

Above: The front and back artwork of the United States 8-track
Below: the 8-track cartridge

The next US entry is for the cassette edition. This is arguably the most uninspired or boring cassette release from my collection: the front just has a smaller version of the front LP artwork plus the track listing against a black background whereas the inner sleeve is completely blank. The Canadian cassette looks identical.

Above: the front and back artwork of the 1977 US cassette
Below: a close-up of the spine

Fast travel into the future, Hollywood Records acquired the rights to Queen’s discography in 1990 for the US and Canadian market and started to re-release their albums as of June 1991 with updated CD and cassette booklets and bonus tracks. In the case of News Of The World, a 1991 Rick Rubin remix was added of We Will Rock You (I personally love this mix!) as a bonus track.

The CD was originally released in a so-called longbox. This packaging was only used in the US where the actual CD with jewel case was housed in a large (31,5 x 14,5cm or 12 1/2″ x 5 1/2″) cardboard box. This gave record shops the ability to showcase and promote CD’s along with 12″ records. This type of packaging was abandoned a few years later.

Above: the front and back artwork of the 1991 US CD longbox
Below: the front and back artwork of the 1991 US CD

The release comes with, in my opinion, a great booklet which can be unfolded. When opened once, you see the good ol’ inner gatefold artwork plus the track listing. When you open up the booklet even further, you are greeted by all the lyrics, some singles artwork and a band photo.

The cassette edition (both for the US and Canada) comes with a nice variant as it highlights the robot’s top part plus Freddie, whereas the rest is revealed when the booklet is unfolded.

Above: the front artwork of the 1991 Canadian cassette
Below: the back artwork and a close-up of the spine

Below: the front side of the unfolded artwork

As can be seen, the original inner gatefold image is mirrored for an unknown reason. This was not done for the CD release, adding to the mystery why this was done. It however makes for an interesting variant!

Because of the bonus track, they had to move Get Down Make Love from side B to side A after Fight From The Inside.

Other notable variants

There are plenty more variants out there. Some are more interesting as others, as also shown above, but the following ones are definitely worth mentioning:

• There are over 125 different, and in most cases unique, cassette variants in terms of how the band name and album title are listed on the artwork. Note that at least 60 of those are unofficial
• The Mexican 1977 LP has its song titles translated, meaning that the track listing on the back is in a (very) different lay-out
• The Colombian 1977 LP has a unique back sleeve as it uses the full inner gatefold artwork against a black background
• An audiophile gold CD was released in 1993 on the MFSL label with special MFSL-type artwork
• The London 2017 MCM Comic convention released a special X-Men themed edition, limited and numbered to 220 copies, though copies up to #245 and unnumbered ones are in circulation. This overstock was issued to Marvel employees
• DeAgostini re-released the album worldwide a few times. One of the more notable ones is the Japanese edition which is an LP in a book format packaging with additional band photos and information (in Japanese)

Unofficial: Taiwan

As is the case with many things made by humans, also music is misused through bootlegs and pirating (but then again, why should we be bound by rules and order). News Of The World is no exception and there have been many pirate releases made throughout the years. I tend to stay away from such releases, yet still a few slipped into my collection so here they are!

The first one is an LP from Taiwan. I mainly bought it as it was a nice variant from the usual releases. Just like the one from Uruguay, the sleeve consists of two sheets of paper which are housed in a sealed plastic sleeve. The record is then slipped into the plastic sleeve between the two sheets of paper.

The colours for the front cover are a bit off. Whoever made the release, added some hype text onto the front plus a catalogue number (MH-7251). The back is completely white and features all the lyrics. I think that this is a nice compromise when there is no inner sleeve, though you obviously miss out on the full robot image. You also miss out on the inner gatefold artwork as this is not a gatefold release. However, there was no official release for this album until 1987 (on cassette), so this release was a nice compromise.

The front and back artwork of a Taiwanese LP pressing

Unofficial: Germany

The first official picture disc release was from 2017, though the first picture disc was an unofficial one from 1997! The disc mentions EMI Pathe Marconi, implying it is a French release, but this is not true. It was a German one.

It was seemingly made to celebrate the album’s 20th anniversary and they did a decent job. Unlike the official one, this one highlights the front and back artwork plus it bears the track listing. The disc comes in a protective transparent sleeve.

White picture discs and supposed mispressings were made too, though it is debatable whether these are true test and mispressings or just a purposely-made collectable variant.

The A and B-sides of the unofficial German picture disc

Unofficial: Malaysia

Malaysia typically shared a release with countries Hong Kong and Singapore. This region had an official News Of The World release in 1977 on both LP and cassette. Yet there was still a need for a pirate edition. There are at least three unofficial cassette releases known for this region of which one of those is shown below.

It has fairly straight forward artwork as they simply show the front cover against a blue background. The most interesting aspect about this release is that they moved Get Down Make Love to the end of side A and moved All Dead All Dead to the end of side B. It is anyone’s guess as to why this was done, but at least it makes for a nice variant.

Above: the front and back artwork of a Malaysian pirate cassette
Below: a close-up of the spine

Unofficial: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia was similar to Taiwan as the album was never released officially over there (although Taiwan did get an official release 10 years later). At least five unofficial cassette editions are known for Saudi Arabia of which one is shown below.

This particular copy contains the full album as per the regular UK edition. It is once again interesting to see that the manufacturer split the album into four programs, just like with the previous entry for Malaysia. It is arguably even more interesting to see that they simply copied the gatefold sleeve of the UK edition, including the spine and the catalogue number from the back, and used that as the front sleeve. They were clearly not trying to hide the fact that this was a copy. Still, I admire their attempt!

Above: the front and back artwork of a Saudi Arabia pirate cassette
Below: a close-up of the spine

The singles

The album was promoted through a number of singles for the record buying public. Obviously the label used the robot as the main theme for the singles. There are unfortunately (and luckily for the wallet) not that many variants and ultimately only three songs were released as A-side singles.

We Are The Champions

This song was the lead single for the album and was paired with We Will Rock You. The UK artwork was used in most territories across the world apart from the US and Japan where they used a variant of the UK sleeve against a black background.

The UK artwork is arguably very simple yet also effective. It just features the robot’s head on the front and has a plain green back sleeve with just the track listing.

The front and back artwork of the 1977 UK 7″ pressing

France seemingly had a restriction in place when it comes to the amount of weeks spent a record can spend at the top of the chart. It is said that Queen topped their singles chart for 10 weeks with WWRY after which it was replaced with WATC. A quick search on the internet however tells me that Queen never topped the French singles chart in 1977, so this story may be incorrect (even though Queen Productions mentioned this in a 1994 Greatest Hits CD booklet). It would however explain why France had two issues: one with and one without WWRY written on the front cover. WWRY was however always on the B-side so it definitely could not have been replaced by WATC after 10 weeks.

The front and back artwork of the 1977 French 7″ pressing with the We Will Rock You subtitle

The German single release used the same front artwork as the one from the UK, though the back is arguably the best variant as it shows a close-up from the album’s front artwork. A nice little detail is that they ensured that the image on the back would continue when you flip the sleeve vertically. This however results in the back image being upside down. I do prefer this one over the two shown above.

The front and back artwork of the 1977 German 7″ pressing

The artwork for the Japanese release is completely different when compared to the rest of the world. As with nearly all Japanese 7″ singles, the disc itself is housed in a company sleeve whereas the artwork is printed on a separate square piece of paper which is placed in front of the company sleeve.

The artwork is a lovely variation when compared to the UK edition as it features a black & white rendition of the robot against a black background. A very effective design change in my opinion. The back artwork features a band photo which was later used on the back of the Spread Your Wings single.

The front and back artwork of the 1977 Japanese 7″ pressing

The US edition had a similarly striking design which used the same robot image against a black background. The back is however less inspiring. And just as with the Japanese release, they used the font from A Day At The Races for the band name, instead of the one from NOTW.

The front and back artwork of the 1977 Japanese 7″ pressing

The front and back artwork of the 1977 US 7″ pressing

In 1988, Queen released 12 3″ CD-singles. More details about these releases can be found here. One of those singles was for WATC, backed with WWRY and the single version of Fat Bottomed Girls. For NOTW completists this is a nice addition to the collection. The front features the usual UK artwork (though slightly cropped) with a blue border on the left. The back is plain white, featuring the track listing plus the usual credits and other small prints.

The front and back artwork of the 1988 UK 3″ CD-single

Spread Your Wings

The second single pulled from News Of The World was Spread Your Wings. Released in February 1978 in a selected number of countries in Europe and South America. European copies came in a lovely picture sleeve which I prefer in comparison to the one for WATC. However, the frantic looking people on the front artwork are in stark contrast against the actual music which is a beautiful delicate pop song. Its B-side Sheer Heart Attack however matches with the artwork…

The front and back artwork of the 1978 UK 7″ pressing

The back sleeve is this time a bit more enjoyable when compared to the previous entry as it features a lovely band photo. All European copies came with the same front artwork as the one used in the UK. There are some minor differences when it comes to the back (ie Belgium had a blue border and the band photo was in black and white for Portugal).

As with WATC (or actually WWRY), the single in France had the title mentioned on the front.

The front and back artwork of the 1978 French 7″ pressing

It’s Late

Since Spread Your Wings was not released in the US, Canada, Japan and New Zealand, Elektra decided to release It’s Late in those territories in May 1978.

Only the US and Japanese releases came with a picture sleeve of which the US single had a News Of The World theme – and it’s a great one! The record company used a part from the inner gatefold artwork where the hand is reaching out to the crowd. The back uses the same band photo that was used for Spread Your Wings.

And is it just me, or is It’s Late written as Ii’s Late?

The front and back artwork of the 1978 US 7″ pressing

The Japanese single unfortunately does not feature any robot related artwork, though it’s nevertheless a stunning sleeve with a great live photo and for that reason I still want to share it here. The back of the sheet also contains two further nice live shots. I wonder whether this may have confused buyers, making them think that this was a live single?

The front and back artwork of the 1978 Japanese 7″ pressing

Promotional items

The record label put a lot of effort into promoting the album. There are a significant number of different promotional items. Most were either made for the UK or US market and cover items such as posters, actual robots, pins, puzzles, clocks and mirrors. Unfortunately a lot of these items are rare and expensive these days, but the ones that I have in my collection, are shown here.

US mirror

The US was presented with this lovely mirror. There are two variants available. Both look the same, but have a different size. The more common one is 30 x 30cm or 12″ x 12″ in size whereas the uncommon one is smaller at 20 x 20cm or 8″ x 8″.

The larger one can be seen below. It comes with a silver reflective frame and a cardboard backing. The backing allows for the mirror to be hung against the wall or placed on a flat surface by using a foldable stand.

A 12″x12″ promotional mirror from the US

As one can see, the background from the usual image has been replaced by a mirror. The robot and band members are not reflective, making this a less practical (though still stunning) mirror.

I have seen a promo ad in 2024, probably from an old 70s UK fan club magazine, which gave you the option to purchase one of the two variants by sending in an order form. This makes me wonder whether this was maybe any overstock or a completely different item?

UK mirror

A beautiful set of mirrors was made for the UK market. The most eye catching one is a large mirror with a clock at the top, measuring 86 x 34 x 7cm or 34 1/2″ x 13 1/2″ x 2 3/4″. The frame can be opened to access the clockwork. The top part, featuring the clock, and bottom part, featuring the robot, were also made as separate mirrors.

The variant of the bottom part without the clock can be seen below. This item measures 57,5 x 32,5 x 2cm or 22 1/2″ x 12 3/4″ x 3/4″. Its thick wooden frame is the same as the one used for the full design with the clock, but also for the variant with just the clock.

A promotional mirror, without the clock, from the UK

This is arguably a beautiful piece of memorabilia and a great display piece in any collection. It is a very sturdy item, thanks to its wooden frame. It has two screws on the back which hold a thick wire and is used to hang it against the wall. The screws also ensure that the mirror is slightly tilted forward at the top.

US puzzle

The US had another promotional item in the form of a puzzle. Some websites state that it was released in 1978. I have not found any evidence for this, nor does this item bear a year of release, so for now I expect that it was released around the album’s release date in 1977.

The puzzle comes in a transparent plastic bag with a white stapled card title strip, displaying the band’s name and album title using the related font.

The bag measures 32,4 x 23,5cm or 12 3/4″ x 9 1/4″ whereas the completed puzzle measures 45,8 x 30,8cm or 18″ x 12″.

It is a fun, yet rare, little item which gives you the opportunity to (nearly) view the robot in full in one image – something that has always appealed to me as I initially learned about this album through CD. Meaning the front and back images were not seamlessly joined together unlike with LP artwork.

US 12″ promo

To promote the album and first single off the album, US DJ’s were treated by Queen’s first ever 12″ single featuring We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions. Both songs are featured on both sides, though once in stereo and once in mono. The disc comes in a plain white inner and outer sleeve. It is said that some copies came in or with a promotional box (see the next entry), but I expect that such copies were maybe merged by one or more DJ’s at the time.

The A and B-sides of the US 12″ promotional single

US promo box set

Imagine you are in your office and someone throws this fantastic promotional box set on your desk! This is what likely happened at US radio stations back in 1977.

It is a 12″ x 12″ box set featuring a lot of promotional goodies. The box itself is more or less a large envelope which folds around its contents and can be closed on the back with a carton lid. Because of this, the box is arguably quite fragile and gets damaged easily.

Above: the front artwork of the promotional US box set
Below: the box set opened plus all its contents

It contains a lot of items and the label have done an excellent job by using the album’s title as a theme for this box: it is all about news. So what’s inside?

• A US stock copy of the album with a deletion or promotional drill hole in the cover
• A 1977 UK fan club biography
• Five double-sided Queen News informational sheets
• Two album artwork stickers on one sheet
• A four-page Elektra Records Special Press Edition newspaper covering a biography, upcoming US tour dates and their US discography
• Seven 8″ x 10″ black and white glossy photos

My copy comes with an additional four-page newspaper (Extra Extra Extra Extra). Pages 2 and 3 contain the same info as the Elektra Records Special Press Edition. The back shows all Queen album covers and the front the two album drawings. It is unknown to me why it is included in my copy.

Unfortunately, the UK did not get such a lavish set. Instead, they got a sturdy green box which has the band’s name and album title spelled out on the lid. Its contents are less spectacular when compared to the US edition:

• UK stock copy of the album with a factory sample sticker
• Five 8″ x 10″ black and white glossy photos
• A 1977 UK fan club biography
• Badge
• UK promotional copy of the 7″ single We Are The Champions

This UK set is much rarer than the US one as it is supposedly limited to only 50 copies whereas there are significantly more copies out there of the US set. Still, both are equally desirable and deserve their place in any serious News Of The World collection.

UK 12″ sampler

Here we have a great oddity and rarity. Before the album was released, someone came up with the idea to create a 3-track 12″ sampler. It is unknown who received a copy or for what purpose (though likely to give certain people a taste of what was to come), but it is a fact that these discs were made in very small quantities. Each record is hand-numbered in the run-out grooves and it is said that 50 copies were pressed.

There is no information on the label as it’s completely white. The disc only came in a plain EMI inner sleeve and/or plain outer sleeve (like my copy). You can identify the disc through its matrix number which is SP SLP 241.A1U. A lot of copies had the song titles written on the inner and/or outer sleeves by someone plus some kind of identifier on the label (like the band’s name, song titles, the owner’s name or, as in my case, a marker to identify the A-side).

Above: the plain record sleeve plus disc of the 12″ UK sampler
Below: a close-up of the label and matrix number, this one is numbered “27”

The disc itself only has audio on the A-side. The B-side contains a test tone which lasts 11 minutes and 27 seconds (yes, the longest 11 minutes in my life).

The audio is the most interesting aspect of this item. It contains the songs We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions and Spread Your Wings. The first two songs are based on the final released masters, though WWRY has an abrupt cut at the end, meaning you miss about 0,2 seconds of music (hardly noticeable in case you are not paying attention). WATC‘s ending has an additional 12 seconds featuring a hardly audible fade of, possibly, a piano note. SYW is arguably the most interesting song on this disc, as it has a 9 seconds longer fade-out, revealing additional music. It furthermore contains 6 seconds of unreleased guitar during the last chorus and another 7 seconds of unreleased ad-lib by Freddie during the outro (“Oooooooh yeah, spread your wings and fly, far away“). These parts were probably muted in the final mix. The song is also arguably mixed slightly different – the acoustic parts are more to the front to my ears.

So the +/- 22 seconds of unreleased music (not counting the odd fade-out of WATC) and the very small pressing run make this a highly desirable item indeed.

Other notable items

There are a lot more promotional items from 1977 & 1978. These include, but are not limited to:

• An actual robot which was used for display in UK and/or European stores. Less than 50 are known to have been made. It measures 137 x 84 x 48cm or 54″ x 33″ x 19″ and comes with a rack to hold the album
• Two separate large promotional posters from the US which show the front and inner gatefold drawings
• Two separate large promotional Styrofoam displays (like posters) with grommets from the US which again show the front and inner drawings
• A large green UK shop display with stand featuring a part of the robot at the top. The previous Queen albums are displayed on the stand
• A beautiful metal pin on a green backing card in a plastic case, issued in the US
• A large oval-shaped belt buckle, again issued in the US. Possibly tour merchandise
• A double-sided shop mobile from the US which depicts the robot’s upper body, all four band members (with Roger being slightly cut out) plus the band name and album title displayed in a red banner at the top. I’ve seen up to three of these displays connected to each other from top to bottom
• The band obviously toured with the album in numerous countries. Two different tour books were produced which feature the album’s artwork. One for a US tour which looks very similar to the UK WATC single artwork. The other is for a UK Spring 1978 tour with the robot’s head against a black background. There are also a number of lovely vintage tour shirts and jackets from the UK and US which could be bought as merchandise

Many more items related to NOTW and the robot were released years after. Some of these are:

• A 1/36 “God of the Robots” model kit, sculpted by Mat Falls and released by Sideshow in 1997. It comes in a carton box. The model is unpainted and can be positioned at will, even standing, before gluing it together
• Knucklebonz released a vinyl statue in 2022 of the robot with Freddie in his hands and a part of the dome at the bottom. It is limited and numbered to 1977 copies
• Funko Pop released a lovely robot rendition in 2021 which comes in a great presentation box with a clear window, showcasing the toy in front of the full album’s artwork

This wraps up this feature for Queen’s News Of The World and its artwork. Even though I created this write-up myself, it gives me a thrill seeing all these variants with the robot – all in one place.

I intend to update this feature in case I obtain a new interesting related item in the future so feel free to check for updates every now and then!