Having reissued and expanded Brian May's Back to the Light and Another World, UMe will turn fans' attention to the Queen guitarist's first-ever solo project, a 1983 collaboration with a collection of stellar musicians - including a team-up with another one of the most iconic guitarists of the age.

Star Fleet Project, issued 40 years ago, was a three-track album clocking in at just under half an hour, but here it's being expanded two two discs featuring the original contents of the album remixed, rare interviews, and a deep dive into the sessions that birthed the record. It'll all be released across seven different formats, from a 2CD/LP/7" box to CD, vinyl and cassette offerings.

And the in-depth focus is for good reason: Star Fleet Project features May alongside keyboardist Fred Mandel (who'd just completed several tours with Queen), bassist Phil Chen (a session bassist who'd logged time with Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart), then-REO Speedwagon drummer Alan Gratzer, and none other than Eddie Van Halen trading guitar licks with Queen's axe man.

Conceived as a fun diversion while Queen took a brief break, Star Fleet Project was anchored by the title track, the theme song to a Japanese children's show (known as X-Bomber in Japan but released as Star Fleet in England) that May enjoyed watching with his sun. The guitarist soon conceived an arrangement of composer Paul Bliss' theme tune and invited his three A-list acquaintances while all their groups were unusually dormant. (Queen, Van Halen and REO Speedwagon would all have considerable success in the next year, from Live Aid to 1984 to the release of "Can't Fight This Feeling," respectively.)

Over the course of the two-day session at The Record Plant in Los Angeles, the quintet tore through May's arrangement of "Star Fleet" and another bluesy original of his, "Let Me Out," while also jamming in studio. (One of those jams became the mini-album's closing track "Blues Breaker," written as a tribute to another six-string legend, Eric Clapton.) Each track features stunning interplay between May and Van Halen, who'd never performed together; Ed would later say Star Fleet Project "reeks of fun," while May would incorporate the title track into some of Queen's last live performances. While it was a modest seller at the time - a modest Top 40 in the U.K. that dented the bottom half of the Billboard 200 - fans still hold Star Fleet Project in high esteem. And this set does mark the first occurrence of unreleased work by Van Halen since his passing in 2020.

The set features the original tracks on Star Fleet Project, newly mixed by Queen engineers Justin Shirley-Smith and Kris Fredriksson; two vintage interviews; and a solo set by May featuring drummer Cozy Powell, bassist Neil Murray, guitarist Jamie Moses, keyboardist Spike Edney and backing vocalists Cathy Porter and Shelley Preston tackling "Let Me Out" and Queen's immortal "We Will Rock You." The box set's second disc features the complete contents, newly mixed from the original multi-tracks, of the sessions that birthed Star Fleet Project. A half-speed mastered LP - on red vinyl in the box, and available separately on black vinyl, picture disc and even cassette - features the new mix of the original mini-album, while a 7" in the box replicates the original "Star Fleet" with its B-side continuation, "Son of Star Fleet." (A standalone 7" and CD single swaps that flip side for a single edit of "Let Me Out.")

Star Fleet takes flight once more on July 14. Pre-order links are available below, with select merch bundles available in Queen's official store.

Brian May + Friends, Star Fleet Sessions (UMe, 2023)

2CD/Red LP/Black 7": Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Picture Disc: Queen Official Store
Cassette: Queen Official Store
Red 7": Queen Official Store
CD single: Queen Official Store

Disc 1: Star Fleet Project + Beyond (available as standalone CD)

1. Star Fleet (Edited Single Version - 2023 Mix)
2. Let Me Out (2023 Mix)
3. Blues Breaker (2023 Mix)
4. Cynthia Fox Release Day Interview 1983
5. Bob Coburn Rockline Interview 1984
6. Let Me Out (Live at The Palace Theater, Los Angeles, CA - 4/6/1993)
7. We Will Rock You (Live at The Palace Theater, Los Angeles, CA - 4/6/1993)
8. We Will Rock You - Fast Version (Live at The Palace Theater, Los Angeles, CA - 4/6/1993)
9. Star Fleet (Complete Version - 2023 Mix)

Disc 2: Star Fleet - The Complete Sessions

1. Star Fleet (Take 1)
2. Star Fleet (Take 2)
3. Star Fleet (Take 3)
4. Star Fleet (Take 4)
5. Star Fleet (Take 5)
6. Solo Jam
7. Star Fleet (Take 7)
8. Star Fleet (Take 8)
9. Star Fleet (Take 10)
10. Star Fleet (Take 11)
11. Star Fleet (Alternative Overdub EVH Solo)
12. Jam
13. Let Me Out (Rehearsal 1)
14. Let Me Out (Rehearsal 2)
15. Boogie Woogie Jam
16. Let Me Out (Take 1)
17. Jazz Police
18. Let Me Out (Take 3)
19. Let Me Out (Take 4)
20. Jam (Let's Do the Show Right Here)
21. Let Me Out (Take 6)
22. Funky Jam
23. Let Me Out (Take 7 False Start)

LP (original mix released as EMI 1C 038 1078061 (U.K.)/Capitol MLP-15014 (U.S.), 1983; available as standalone LP, picture disc and cassette)

1. Star Fleet (2023 Mix)
2. Let Me Out (2023 Mix)
3. Blues Breaker (2023 Mix)

7" (exclusive to box set - original mixes released as EMI single 5436 (U.K.) / Capitol single B-5278 (U.S.), 1983)

1. Star Fleet (Edited Single Version - 2023 Mix)
2. Son of Star Fleet (2023 Mix)

General release 7"/CD single

1. Star Fleet (Edited Single Version - 2023 Mix)
2. Let Me Out (Single Edit - 2023 Mix)