Background Information

Ibex was a pre-Queen band consisting of Freddie Bulsara (Mercury) on vocals, Mike Bersin on guitar, John Taylor on bass, and Mick Smith on drums. There are no known studio recordings, but there was a single live show recorded by roadie Geoff Higgins at the Sink Club in Liverpool. The performance was recorded on a Grundig TK14 reel-to-reel tape machine and later sold to Queen collector John S. Stuart. The tape was borrowed by Queen Productions so that Rain could be included on the Freddie Mercury Solo Collection box set. The tape was leaked to the bootleg market most likely by someone at either EMI or Queen Productions. This concert is notable because Brian May and Roger Taylor joined Ibex for the encore; marking the first known apperance of Freddie, Roger, and Brian live together. Unfortunately, the tape ran out after 30 minutes, so it misses this encore. Ibex later became Wreckage; more information about Wreckage can be found here. Special thanks to QueenConcerts.com for additional info.

Live At The Sink: Liverpool, UK - September 9, 1969

I'm So Glad 0:50
Written by Skip James
Appears on: Unreleased
A live cover of the Skip James song from the 1930s. It is best known from cover versions by both Cream and Deep Purple.

Communication Breakdown 1:21
Written by Bonham/James/Page
Appears on: Unreleased
A live cover of the classic 1969 Led Zeppelin track.

Rain 3:51
Written by Lennon/McCartney
Appears on: The Solo Collection
A live cover the 1966 Beatles B-side to Paperback Writer. Released on 2000's Solo Collection, this remains the only officially available Ibex performance.

We're Going Wrong 3:38
Written by Jack Bruce
Appears on: Unreleased
A live cover of the 1967 Cream track.

Rock Me Baby 3:16
Written by Riley/King/Josea
Appears on: Unreleased
A live cover of one of the most recorded blues songs of all time. Artists such as Otis Redding, The Animals, Jimi Hendrix, and Muddy Waters have recorded the track. This track is also known by Jeff Beck's version of the song, Rock My Plimsoul.

Stone Free 1:05
Written by Jimi Hendrix
Appears on: Unreleased
A live cover of the popular Jimi Hendrix track.

Jailhouse Rock 3:25
Written by Leiber/Stoller
Appears on: Unreleased
A live cover of the 1957 Elvis Presley Hit. Queen later performed this song regularly as an encore.

Crossroads 3:52
Written by Robert Johnson
Appears on: Unreleased
A live cover of Cream's version of Robert Johnson's Cross Road Blues.

Vagabond Outcast 2:32
Written by Freddie Bulsara (a.k.a. Freddie Mercury)
Appears on: Unreleased
This live recording of Vagabond Outcast is the earliest known recording of an original Freddie Mercury song. No bits or ideas of this song seem to have survived for Queen tracks to come.

I'm Going Home 6:46
Written by Alvin Lee
Appears on: Unreleased
A live cover of the Ten Years After track from 1968.