Finally finished What He Left Behind

I enjoyed parts of this book (more on that in a second), but OH MY G-D IT REALLY COULD HAVE USED A FUCKING COPYEDITOR!

Phoebe's first book about Freddie flowed pretty well, but this... This was all over the place, and spelling errors galore! I'm wondering if part of that was a sense of urgency? The Freddie Mercury box set had been recently released at that point, and maybe he wanted to give fans that extra bit of info on Freddie? I dunno.

I also feel like the first book had Phoebe and David Evans working really closely together, but What He Left Behind feels to me like they were both writing stuff and just mashed both projects together, hoping for the best. I think that's the most disappointing part for me.

However! I appreciated Phoebe's compassion for Mary after Freddie died, and his account of what went down at Garden Lodge is way more satisfying than Jim writing in Mercury And Me that she was just a heartless asshole with zero regard for anyone else. THAT SAID, Mary and Jim Beach definitely pulled some dick moves (some were "our hands are tied because legalities and red tape" and others were "yeah, I'm going to be an asshole"), but I don't think either of them set out to be dicks before Freddie's body had gone cold. I'm also trying to factor in how grief played a role, because while Mary made some decisions that are not to be given a free pass, it should be remembered that Freddie's death fucked her up, too. It's very possible that Phoebe could be being generous in trying to explain what Mary was going through, but it's just as possible that Jim's account is so negative because he and Mary probably didn't get along all that well (based on pictures where Freddie's with both Jim and Mary, I always get the impression that there was tension). This, of course, is all up in the air because none of us knows what really truly went down. Anyone can speculate anything at this point, so I think folks should keep that in mind whether they ship Jim or Mary, or even hate them both because you're convinced that the two people Freddie cared about most could only have been using and cashing in on him.

And can I just say? The reviews of What He Left Behind where people are complaining that Phoebe and David largely talk about their lives immediately post-Freddie, and how he continues to impact their lives? It's in the fucking title! So why don't you snag a copy of Phoebe's first book (it's really good!) and shut the hell up?

So there were some good parts to this book and some really good pictures, but the disorganized, unedited writing can be a bit of a turn-off. Still, my only real regret about it is that I don't have a physical copy.

Queen Monopoly

After being super generous to me for my birthday, my grandmother informed me that she also purchased me a gift off of my wishlist. I feel terrible that she spends any money on me at all, but she got me Queen Monopoly so it's hard to stay mad at her.

I've only ever played Monopoly once as a kid, and thankfully we all decided to pack it up before things had an opportunity to get ugly, but I would happily stick this one out for the right people!

What He Left Behind

I was hoping to find a physical copy of this somewhere, but no. Oh well. The Kindle app is free, and it wasn’t expensive. Still, I’m bummed I won’t get to physically add this to the book part of my collection.

Queen On Air

I finally got a copy of the On Air 6-CD set! I'm sure in 2017, people may be puzzled about my still purchasing CDs. Downloading stuff would certainly offer up instant gratification, but I love/hate/love the anticipation of waiting for an order to ship, physically holding my purchase... I prefer my Queen stuff to be tangible :-)

Anyway! I was excited to upload all six discs to my iTunes library (I love this (tedious) process, too!), and I noticed a couple disturbing things. First of all, disc 3 starts with Freddie and Kenny Everett going through A Day At The Races,, but Freddie's name was misspelled! Mistakes happen, but this just seemed like a pretty gross oversight!

Disc 6 yielded no proper track names when I uploaded it. I thought for a minute that I'd gone back in time to the days of burning CDs, and everything was organized by "track 01", "track 02", etc. so I had to go through and label everything manually (Kids, this was prior to the days where a trusty internet connection and music storage worked hand-in-hand. Those were dark times). I have no idea if this was my desktop being weird, or if that's how it looks for everyone...

I'm glad to have this collection, and Queen Productions, Ltd. has phoned it in on cover art plenty, and I grudgingly switched out parentheses and brackets on the rerelease bonus CDs to make everything consistent, but..? Was On Air assigned one track per person to digitize and put together, or something? Would that explain some of the spelling errors and some interview tracks ending in periods? Maybe they need rejuvenated and motivated staff? I don't know... It just seems more careless than usual.

But on with the actual content! There is a LOT of stuff in this set! And none of it is filler! The first 2 discs are recordings from the BBC studio sessions, and it's fun to have the announcers voice at the end name each song because it gives my generation and folks younger than me an idea of what it might've sounded like to hear Queen's early days as if they were current. And it's fun to compare the BBC versions to the proper album versions!

Disc 3, which I admittedly have not actually listened to yet because my attention span doesn't always allow me to give a thing the attention it deserves at first listen. But on there is concert footage that played over BBC Radio, which is fun. It's additionally amusing and amazing to me because there's a few tracks of Queen in Germany in 1986, which is where my friend George saw them!

Discs 5 and 6 are interviews. I've only been able to listen to Freddie on Kenny Everett's show so far (with a ridiculous amount of pausing because, again, attention span), and the sound quality is lacking, unfortunately, but it's clear that QPL really did the best they could with what they had. Their voices are loud enough, but over the years what might have been perfectly clear conversation just now sounds almost mumbly. I would suggest headphones and minimal background noise if you have auditory processing issues like myself.

Still, I think it's worth it to have all 6 discs if you can afford it, and if you care at all about radio interviews (some of which aren't particularly long, if that helps). But those who just want the music can opt for the 2-disc set.

Queen I review

I've been sitting on this draft since 2013... Whoops!

Anyway! The Queen album has been described by the band as random picks of tracks thrown together in no particular order. Maybe it's because I'm so used to the track order, but I don't see it as a disorganized mess. I mean, I know most of the them were technically dated by the time the album got released, but I think they're a great demonstration that Queen does not stick to a particular sound or formula. The entire album doesn't sound like one continuous noise, to paraphrase Roger. Yes, there are signature sounds throughout their entire catalog, but I look at Queen as sort of making up for lost time, since so many record companies rejected them at the time.

According to Freddie on Live At The Rainbow '74, Brian wrote Keep Yourself Alive as a teenager (he specifically said, "young boy," which is amusing because they were all in their early-mid twenties at the time). It's unusual in that it doesn't have that "shitty poetry" feel that a lot of teenaged writing tends to have on a universal level. When I had just started seriously getting into Queen, my uncle would constantly say that this track is one of the most metal songs he's ever heard. That's kind of weird, as he's very much into all sorts of metal bands that definitely have a consistently heavier sound (Megadeth, and the like). But he would also later introduce me to Simon & Garfunkel and No Doubt. That throw-away line is just to ensure readers that my uncle's tastes in music are hardly strictly light or conservative. Keep Yourself Alive doesn't rank especially high as a heavy track for me, but the guitar riff is probably one of Brian's catchiest and infectious. Also, this song is super fun to sing, and I often turn to the Live Killers version when I really want to pretend I'm on stage rocking out.

I fucking love Doing Alright! The whole sound of it is perfection to me. Brian and Roger would later say that they weren't happy with the drums being on the quieter end, but I think it works especially well on this track (it did not, however, work so well on Innuendo, in my opinion. Who made that decision, and why wasn't it vetoed?!). I find myself torn on this version and the one on At The BBC, even if Roger's voice is out of place (Nice! But out of place).

I think Great King Rat is the first track where Freddie seems to be battling it out with his religious upbringing. I'm not at all an expert in Zoroastrianism, nor any sort of religious scholar, but I do know that Zoroastrianism considers homosexuality "unclean." I firmly believe that Freddie's always known that he was gay (yes, even though he has slept with women. He identified as gay, so let's respect that). And considering queer rights were nowhere near where they are today (still a TON of work to do!), it makes all the sense in the world to me that he didn't always have the "fuck you, I am who I am" attitude he'd adopted later. I think the drum sound works on this track as well, and compliment Freddie's vocals (maybe my favorite on this album). This is also one of many great reminders of Freddie's songwriting ability. I didn't love the Biblical references when I first heard it as a kid, but have since come to appreciate them, but I further sincerely appreciate that he was able to move past the messages that he got in his life that said that he was bad for being gay.

The intricate layers in My Fairy King defy words for me. All I can coherently say is that I love this song.

The intro to Liar is one of my favorites of all time! It's a real pity that the drum mix turned out so quiet, because it was clear that this whole song's loud parts are supposed to be LOUD. I love hearing the Rainbow '74 version (Sheer Heart Attack tour) and the audience demanding this, probably assuming that this was Queen's absolute peak of perfection. Oh, how the world would learn...

I love The Night Comes Down, and would really love to seriously ask Brian what it was about, because sometimes not knowing keeps me up at all hours!

Modern Times Rock 'n' Roll is such a great song, and it makes me wish I could track down this one person on the old forums who used to be really pissed about Freddie not singing lead on some of Brian and Roger's songs, and point this track to him. I'm really sorry, but Freddie's voice was not made for this song. I get why he sang it live, but I very much prefer Roger's voice on this.

Like The Night Comes Down, I'd love to pick Brian's brain about Son & Daughter, but this time because I feel like it falls devastatingly short. The riff is catchy, guitar effects are amazing, the lyrics are really fun and raw, and then it feels like it loses its momentum just as the words start to REALLY get interesting! I think John's bass playing really shines here, as well.

My friend Tony (hi, Tony!) really pushed for this review because Jesus is one of his favorite tracks. It makes sense since he's Ordained and all (:-P), but it's not one of my favorites. I don't hate it, but I can't help but wonder how this song would pan out if Queen had been in a good recording contract and had been able to record during reasonable hours at the time? Maybe this was a demo they'd added at the last second as an album filler? Maybe I'm just being a jerk about it?

My favorite thing about the mini sample of Seven Seas Of Rhye is that people at the time probably thought it was an accurate taste of things to come on Queen II, but then IT TURNS OUT QUEEN II IS A BILLION TIMES BETTER THAN ANYONE COULD HAVE ANTICIPATED (but I'm super biased, as that's my favorite album)!

Not an ideal filler post

Ugh.

Life in general has been really frustrating lately, and my plans for a relaxing late night have been foiled.

You guys.

My Queen wall fucking flooded.

My apartment building is prone to typical and not-so typical issues, but I guess this one was a major plumbing leak on the wall opposite where this side's kitchen sinks are. I didn't notice right away because that wall had been covered in posters. A couple hours after a neighbor asked me if I was having a similar issue and I thought I wasn't because I hadn't heard the distinct sound of water dripping, I noticed a few pictures I'd printed out onto standard printer paper had their colors running. Then I noticed bubbles beneath the paint.

THANKFULLY my posters didn't get destroyed. The back of my 2003 calendar has a stain, but the pages are all otherwise fine and none of the ink has run. The stuff that I printed out can always be printed out again at a later time.

To err on the side of caution, I've removed all my posters and relocated my shelf and box sets. Nothing on the shelf has been damaged or affected, which is excellent because some of those things are irreplaceable (like the rose that Freddie touched, my vintage ADATR sticker, etc.). My posters and calendar are sitting on top of my shelf and it's really stressing me out to have had to rearrange most of my furniture in a way I'm not happy with, and worry over my collection because my landlords are crap and won't take appropriate care of their properties.

In other news, I'm still in the process of reorganizing this blog and stuff.

January 2015 issue of Classic Rock

Not a whole lot has been going on for me Queen-wise, but it's been one big thing after another in other aspects. But that's not important here! It had taken some doing, but I managed to get the January issue of Classic Rock in mid-March! I normally wait until a local-ish Barnes & Noble has what I want in stock, but I decided to order online this time just to see which is actually worth it.

I placed an order at Magazine Cafe, and I had expected it to be a fairly quick process since it's based in New York and I'm somewhere close to Boston. I wound up emailing them on the first of the month because I'd still not received any sort of confirmation or delivery estimate since placing the order on 18 February. They got back to me very quickly that they needed to get more in stock, but I still found it annoying that they couldn't explain that right away so I wouldn't keep worrying. But I did eventually get it! And I was really impressed with the article. Probably because Brian and Roger shared similar views with me on their solo careers post-Freddie and that things with Adam Lambert continue to go really well.

Adam is quoted as saying, "I'm not replacing Freddie. I'm trying to keep the memory alive, and remind people how amazing he was, without imitating him."

I cringed a little bit while reading that part because it's there in black and white that nobody's trying to replace Freddie, just as Paul Rodgers used to say he wasn't replacing Freddie, but people out there will continue to insist that that's what's happening.

Brian and Roger also touched on trying to be solo acts after Freddie died - both of them insisting that Queen, as a band, could never be. And, again, in black and white, they both made it clear that they wanted to keep Queen going (with John Deacon's blessing) it became impossible to deny that they needed to continue. From what very few videos I've seen of some of their solo concerts, it seemed to me that their fans got the most excited when they'd perform songs from Queen. And when I first started venturing on the Queenzone forums, I'd see people posting that they'd wish the rest of the band would just keep going as Queen, and maybe take turns on lead vocals, etc. "They should resurrect Queen for Freddie's sake!" and then, "Why are they doing things under the Queen name again? That's an insult to Freddie!"

It never ceases to amaze me in the worst way.

Even with the few bumps in the road over the last 20+ years - 5ive, Robbie Williams, and Paul Rodgers just because that phase is now considered by Brian and Roger to be Queen's embarrassing prom picture, I have to give them credit for at least trying to incorporate some of the latest music trends while still being true to their signature sound throughout the years (even if some of them were not great). They're not the weird older guys who cite their high school years the best of their lives, hanging out on campus trying to impress teenagers.

That said, I'm hopeful that they'll write new material with Adam. The Cosmos Rocks with Paul Rodgers was pretty one-sided, but I think Adam might be able to contribute some more dynamic bits so any album(s?) they might do together wouldn't be so blues-heavy.

Some creative title

Well! A lot's been happening! I got to see Gunpowder Gelatine twice in under six months, which is awesome! I'm still waiting for a hat that I ordered from the QOL store at the end of July (apparently issues with the manufacturers?), which is decidedly not awesome I finally decided to ask for a refund because that's way too long to wait for something. But my collection is being slowly built and re-built! For reasons I won't get into, I'm trying to come to terms with the very real possibility that I'll never get my stuff back from IL. In some ways, it's been... maybe a bit cathartic? For instance, I got a cassette copy of the US Greatest Hits off of ebay! I don't have a tape player anymore, but I'm still excited about it because I feel a lot less guilty for having to throw out my old copy when I was a kid. And that one didn't even have a case to it, which definitely did not help keep the tape itself protected. I also suspect that this reclaimed copy doesn't have a bit of Under Pressure recorded over because someone's brother was being a fucking asshole and wanted to prove that music tapes could be recorded over and didn't want to use literally any of the other dozens of tapes their parents never listened to anymore.

... Yeah.

But anyway! It sits on my shelf now, lovingly protected from harm. Maybe I'll start trying to collect all the cassette copies of albums...

I also got some VHS tapes! I've reclaimed Classic Queen, Champions Of The World, and Magic Years vol. 2 so far. I guess I could technically say the same for We Will Rock You, but this copy is the 1992 re-release. It feels nice to have all three "proper" tapes of the Magic Years series -which is not to say that I'm not appreciative of my taped copies of vols. 1 and 3 that my friend Jen made for me! And for the first time, I have a VHS copy of Live In Budapest, which is really exciting. It's been my dream for many years to own all their VHS releases.

And then in early September, I bought a red military belt and an inexpensive microphone stand so I could dress like Freddie on his birthday. Hopefully I'll eventually find the Adidas with the red stripes (has anyone else noticed that Adidas' shoes are fucking ugly as sin these days?)

You'll notice that my Magic Tour box set is on top of my shelf and blocking one of my posters. My cat kept trying to scratch off the stickers and I'm waiting to re-purpose my current TV stand as a cat-proof display.

I had time to kill yesterday before going to my friend's house for lunch, so I stopped in Newbury Comics in Harvard Square to poke around. As soon as I walked in, I heard Jailhouse Rock and it was very clearly Queen. I talked to who I'm presuming was the floor manager and said that that was a badass pick, and we chatted about Queen for a couple minutes. Then I went to look through their music stuff just to see what was there, and found that Freddie had his own CD section!

This kind of thing never happens in the US, so it's kind of huge for me. Anyway, I looked through Queen's CD section, and found the two-disc set of Live At The Rainbow '74. It took everything I had not to buy it because I'm going to order the Super Deluxe box set. Because if I can make that work, why not?

But Newbury Comics having the CD set marked down from $19.99 did not help matters. I had to remind myself that the Deluxe box set comes with other goodies that I want. And the small bit I heard over the stereo sounded amazing!

I'm also looking so intensely forward to Queen Forever that it's probably a bit concerning to others!

Queen Christmas in July

I got two packages in the mail today! The first one was the Flash Gordon T-shirt I ordered from eBay.

I snatched it up specifically because the lightning bolt on the back is like the original. There's a ringer tee that has a different lightning bolt, but it's always made me cringe.

... Yeah, no.

My Only complaint about mine is that it's not a proper ringer tee like in the Flash Gordon movie, but I'm otherwise very pleased!

The next package was from John (hi, John!) who I met through Facebook. After I accepted his friend request, he told me he was selling off his collection and invited me to take a look. I found a lot of really neat stuff, but what caught my attention were an unauthorized comic book and an A Day At The Races sticker. Not only did John pay the $5 shipping (since we're both in the US), he also threw in a 7" vinyl single I Want It All! I messaged him asking if he had accidentally thrown that in, and would he like me to return it or pay for it, but he threw it in for free! I won't be getting over that anytime soon!

I'll also need to eventually get a record player, but that will have to wait.

I saw the comic book cover online ages ago and really liked it (still do), so I was intrigued by what the comic itself might look like.

You guys...

Click for a larger size if you dare.

You guys, holy shit. It's in an infinite "so terrible that it's awesome" loop!

I just...

Cannot...

Anyway! There's more for me to look forward to this month! In 12 days (TWELVE. DAYS.), my counterpart is coming to Boston from New York City so we can see Queen + Adam Lambert, and my friends Allison and Amanda will be there as well! We're planning on getting together beforehand since our seats are far apart (I got Audrey and I tickets in a section in front of the catwalk!!!). I'm wondering what will happen when we gather in one spot. Like our collective love of Queen will cause a ripple effect, drastically altering the tides and slightly reposition the planet :-P But seriously, I'm also really nervous that the Boston show hasn't sold out, and so if there's to be another US tour in the future (there's speculation that this may be the last Queen tour ever, but we'll see) they may not want to come back.

Wembley Roadie Cube box set

I've just gotten this thing and it's pretty awesome. I don't think I'll be touching the CDs or DVDs (two-disc sets each) since I already have those. But! The other stuff is pretty neat.

I took this picture mostly to have an excuse to show off my tattoo.

Sadly, there's only a Freddie inflatable. It would have been fun to have all the band members!

A map of the Magic Tour drawn by Brian's dad, Harold.

Finally read the 2014 issue of Classic Rock

There are two reasons I procrastinated on reading this article:

1. I was worried I wouldn't learn anything new, and therefore get really bored with it
2. I was worried the author (Jon Hotten) wouldn't do Queen II justice and give it the praise it deserves

The article wasn't terrible, but it wasn't the best thing I'd ever read, either. I was hoping for in-depth breakdowns of the album as best as Brian and Roger could remember, but the author strayed a bit more than I would have liked (why he mentioned Queen getting a lot of shit in Australia back then is a mystery to me). But that's strictly my opinion. Also, there were grammatical and factual errors, but that might have been a copy-editing issue. For instance, there's a note about Brian playing the national anthem on the roof of Buckingham Palace, and then a little later, "Even the queen knows who Queen is!" Like, no shit, right? I would hope that Queen would have been brought to Her Majesty's attention well before June 2002. Also, Axl Rose was never taken on as Queen's vocalist...

What I liked a lot about the article were the extensive quotes from Brian and Roger. The author didn't include microscopic tidbits to make it sound like he was too into his writing and just adding those bits because his boss probably told him to, John's retirement was just briefly mentioned, and Freddie's death didn't suddenly become the focus of the whole article. And, of course, room was made to talk about how influential and important Queen II actually is to fans and other famous musicians, because it seems to ALWAYS get over-shadowed by A Night At The Opera - resulting in me resenting that album a bit.

The magazine also promised never before seen photos! But they've been circulating online for years because Mick Rock took them, so that would likely only hold true for the utmost casual, not-terribly-commited fan.

Classic Rock April 2014 issue

Maybe in mid-March I came across something on my Facebook feed about Classic Rock magazine featuring an article on the making of Queen II. It immediately became my mission to get my own copy because Queen II is my favorite album ever. I decided that I'd go look for it on Monday, since I would be venturing out for an appointment anyway. Out Of Town News was the obvious first place to look since it sells magazines from all over, and that's where I got my copies of Mojo and Guitar Player in December 2010 and February 2012 respectively.

No luck there. So when I got to The Landmark Center in Boston, I decided to stop on the second floor to look through their news stand. It turned out to be a misnomer. They sold candy and gum, but not magazines or newspapers... I'm still actually really baffled by that. My mission was then amended to Personal Challenge status, and - still having time before my appointment - I ducked into the bathroom to Google where else I might possibly find Classic Rock. Google told me to consult Barnes & Noble, and there was a location at the Prudential Center.

I called them to make sure it was available, and I was told to check in again on Friday when they'd be getting new magazines in stock. Then I was told to call again in a few more days, etc. until someone finally told me that they wouldn't actually get it until April. Assuming I first spoke to someone who's worked there long enough, it would have been nice to know that sooner. But! In any case, my apologies to that Barnes & Noble location for constantly calling, and a sincere thank-you to them for not showing any signs of frustration over me!

Anyway, I finally managed to get a copy today! I'm kind of bummed that Slash is on the cover, as I had my eye on the cool-looking one. Maybe that version is UK-specific? Because the USA can't have nice things?

I plan on reading the article later - provided my attention span will actually let me!

The Miracle review

After some poking and prodding by a couple friends of mine, I'm finally getting around to reviewing their album requests. I'm picking The Miracle first because I listened to it more recently, and my thoughts on it are a little more organized.

I really like this album, but I also feel ambivalent about it. On one hand, it has some really great tracks, but it also doesn't hold up as well as other Queen albums, in my mind. This could very well be due to Brian and Roger's solo projects going on at the time, and Freddie having put so much energy into Barcelona the year before (Phoebe's book says that Barcelona took a really significant toll on Freddie's declining health). This is all purely speculation, of course, but it sounds better than my other speculation, "we just said 'fuck it' and rushed through the entire album."

For several years, I'd skip over Party and Khashoggi's Ship when listening. They didn't add anything particularly special for me for years, and I considered them fillers keeping me from getting to the better stuff. But I'm starting to listen to them more, and I'm able to appreciate Brian's guitar work on them. They're still not my favorites, but as far as 'throw-away' tracks go, they're two of the better ones.

The Miracle is a really spectacular track. Not just because of the awesome video - that's just icing on the cake for me. But I love the layers and detail of it. And the message in it is optimistic without being hokey. Around News Of The World, as many of us can tell, the band eased up on the subtle intricacies, and this is sort of going back to that. Although it's a little sad that it's a drum machine and not Roger. I wonder if Freddie had done a demo, and he and Roger agreed that it didn't warrant a do-over on an actual kit?

While this,Innuendo, and Made In Heaven, in a few cases, had all tracks credited to Queen, rather than an individual member, Brian and Roger aren't shy about who wrote what later track. Also, in many cases it's easy to determine the writer based on their writing style (ex: Usually, if the chorus is sung first by only the lead vocalist, and then backing vocals come up when the chorus repeats [Teo Torriate, I Want It All, Save Me, The Show Must Go On etc.], it's a Brian track). I only know for sure that Freddie wrote The Miracle, though, because Brian said so in Days Of Our Lives.

I love both the album and single version of I Want It All, which rarely ever happens (another example being Hammer To Fall). It's very structurally well done and is really fucking hard to play on Rock Band!

Instrumentally, I think my most favorite part is the acoustic guitar. Don't ask me why, because I have no idea.

Depending on my mood, my opinion of The Invisible Man shifts from "This is awesome!" to "Meh." Being three years old in Middle America at the time of The Miracle's release, I didn't have the opportunity to appreciate it at the time, and I think that makes a difference. However, the bass line will always be badass.

The frustrating thing about Breakthru is that the intro (originally intended to be its own thing until someone decided that it would sound great in this super catchy thing Roger was writing) is deceptively difficult to sing along to! Apart from that, there is nothing I dislike about the track. Hell, I don't even mind that science got in the way of making The Miracle Express look like it was busting through a brick wall!

I'm probably going to get shit for this from my counterpart, but I have the same overall mood shift with Rain Must Fall as with The Invisible Man. I'm trying to think of what in particular makes me fall out of like with it sometimes, but I don't know if I can articulate it to myself, much less to anyone reading. Maybe it's the lyrics?

Brian stated on the commentary for Greatest Video Hits 2 that Scandal would wind up being relevant to every member of the band at different points for different reasons. It's really funny how that can happen, isn't it? These days, tabloids and "news" sources have more tools, methods, and outlets to skew and intentionally defame famous people, so if this song were written today, Brian would probably be dismissed as "whiny" before the public goes back to putting celebrities on trial for getting divorced, or going to rehab or whatever. Because these sorts of things are difficult enough for "regular" people, they have to be broadcast nation/worldwide if you're in the public eye! Ask me how I really feel!

*Ahem!* But anyway! It's disappointing that this track didn't at least musically make a significant dent. And as much as I love Freddie's look in the video, the concept and direction are both pretty sloppy. I don't think it could have been helped, but it is nonetheless distracting.

I always giggle a bit over My Baby Does Me. I mean, it couldn't have been more "late 80's/early 90's porn-y" if it tried! I keep picturing big hair and a camera panning to a tacky fireplace that then fades to stock footage of sexual metaphors. Because it would probably really only be appropriate for some softcore thing you can only catch at 02:00 in the morning on a premium cable channel.

(Am I going to Hell for that? Probably!)

Was It All Worth It is bittersweet for me. It's triumphant, but sounds kind of 'final'. Like a precursor to The Show Must Go On. I'm not sure if this was intentional, or if that's something that was kicking around for a bit anyway (Brian had gotten the idea for I Want It All in 1986). I don't want to know anyone who doesn't like this song. I know that's imposing my opinion on people, but the thought of someone saying it's terrible is criminal to me.

On the 1991 CD releases, Hang On In There and Chinese Torture aren't listed as B-sides. I thought they'd been included on the album itself from the beginning, but my 2011 CDs say otherwise. I do love them both, though. The ending of Hang On In There seems like it could go on forever, kind of like Spread Your Wings, and I'd be pretty okay with that. And Chinese Torture doesn't sound too similar to Brighton Rock (which I think had come from the Smile track, Blag). So both of them are pretty big wins in my book!

Greatest Pix and an added bonus

I'm having such good luck on the Queen front lately, it's a bit ridiculous!

I got a used (pretty sure that's the only kind there is anymore) copy of Greatest Pix yesterday, and flipping through it, I found an old magazine clipping with an ad for Hot Space! Thanks previous owner!

--

Including this in my shrine has involved strategic moving of most of my ticket stubs.

Where's the love, Amazon?

I got a devastating email from Amazon the other other day that they could not post my review of my latest poster purchase. Probably because I included the word "ass", but I'm going to instead chalk it up to them not being fun*.

"It's a big-ass poster of Queen. What more needs to be said? ... Well, Amazon says I need eight more words. Is that enough? Oh, good!"

I may be a bit biased here, but I'd definitely find that review helpful, had I not already purchased that poster. Oh well.

*J/K Amazon. As far as heartless corporations go, I love you a lot :-)

7" Freddie Mercury figure by NECA

So NECA, for those who may not know, are the geniuses behind this:

And in 2006, they released another figure of Freddie circa 1986, in both 18" and 7". On Christmas 2006, I got the 18" one from my ex, and then it got knocked over. The microphone broke and I was crushed. Then later, due to drama I have no desire to get into here, I got kicked out of my house, and was forced to leave the figure, my fitted Queen hat, and my old Queen T-shirt behind (sigh). So I added both sizes of the Freddie figure to my Amazon wishlist and counted the days until the price went below $100. In 2006, it was about $50, then the price skyrocketed to about $190.

Finally, Amazon told me that there was a new figure priced at $85 with shipping and handling. I had just gotten a $20 giftcard, and sold my old smart phone, so I only had to pay a little over $30. It just arrived today :-)

The package is slightly bent, but not damaged. I am really tempted to break it out and play with it, but my friend Magan (hi!) talked some sense into me. So even though his fist is turned the wrong way, I'm going to ignore it. Even though I don't think I can. Still, I will try.

The Cosmos Rocks, a proper review

I've covered some of my thoughts on The Cosmos Rocks earlier, but in keeping with what's hopefully a better format, I'm re-doing my review.

My opinion on this album has shifted a lot. I think my initial excitement had to do with how excellent Return Of The Champions was for me. Seriously, Brian, Roger, and Paul Rodgers work really well together. I don't give a shit what any Bastard Queen Fan says... not just about this subject, but about anything in general.

So based on that track alone, I had really high hopes and expectations for The Cosmos Rocks. The fact that Brian and Roger are notorious perfectionists is enough for me to have high expectations, really. I wanted a good album. It didn't have to be A Night At The Opera-good, but it had to be decent, y'know? And by 2008, Brian, Roger, and Paul should have been able to cut an amazing album in their sleep.

I will say it again and again and again: The intro to Cosmos Rockin', which I imagine was supposed to be a nod to One Vision's intro, with the slow voice and all, was fucking stupid. Specifically, what that voice said was stupid. I cannot, for the life of me, listen to that intro without cringing. The rest of the song holds up okay, though. It's got a good, catchy riff, and the lyrics aren't too terrible. But then, like any and every Queen album, most of the lyrical content is never meant to be anything deeper than what we hear - obvious exception being Bohemian Rhapsody (I don't care what the actual meaning is, but there's definitely something major underneath the surface). But even something like Sleeping On The Sidewalk can resonate so profoundly for someone for any given reason. But the lyrics for Cosmos Rockin' are definitely disposable, as Freddie would say. There's not much thought to them, which would be fine if this was the case on just this song. But sadly...

Not to sound cliche`, but Time To Shine was a nice breath of fresh air. Maybe because it sounds like it could have been on Innuendo. But it's structurally and lyrically good. There's no part of it that I dislike, which is always a plus. Not much more to say, really.

Still Burnin' is mostly great. The chorus kind of reminds me of Tear It Up, in that it's just random words thrown together, but it works somehow. My only criticism is the stomp-stomp-clap from We Will Rock You thrown in at the 2:40 mark because it doesn't sound like a nod, but more like insecurity. It was like Brian didn't trust the track to hold up on its own, and dug up a hit that would be a complimentary overlap in the hopes that fans would dig it. I think if I had any say in it, I'd throw in a really kickass guitar solo, and put underneath that part of the solo and/or the chorus from We Will Rock You just above the background. To me, that would make more sense. But maybe there's a reason I'm not a great songwriter.

I like the first half of Small. The lyrics are excellent, and the simple acoustic is terrific. I think, honestly, it could have ended at the 2:43 mark. The guitar solo that comes in there seems a bit lazy, and there doesn't seem to be a reason to keep the song going after that.

Warboys is flawless. Fucking. Flawless.

I like We Believe because with Freddie, Queen wasn't all that political with their music. And unlike most celebrities, Roger and Brian aren't disingenuous. When they say something like, "We have to make the world better and quit being assholes to each other for no reason," they step up and do what they're able. And write songs after the fact to further promote their principles. It's the antithesis of the slactivism you see on Facebook!

I have a hard time getting into the lyrics in Call Me. Around the time he was collaborating with Queen, Paul's net worth was around $14 million, and he's singing about his house "crumbling down." I don't know if he's frugal or what, but I have a similar problem with the members of Green Day continuing to write songs about being poor, desperate teenagers stuck in the boonies well after American Idiot brought them tons of money (Billie Joe Armstrong is supposedly worth $55 million). This is totally my issue. I get that Call Me is supposed to be a throwback to the music of these guys' younger years, but I still can't enjoy it for what it is, which is a shame.

Voodoo is not really my taste, but it's an alright track. Not much to say beyond that.

When I first heard Some Things That Glitter, it made me happy that Brian finished his demo from 1986. And it was worth the wait! But I think I prefer Kerry Ellis' version.

My first taste of The Cosmos Rocks was this clip of C-lebrity on Al Murray's Happy Hour. The riff is catchy, the lyrics are snarky toward celebrities who are famous for being famous (and presumably toward artists who spell shit weird), and I adore it. Tip: If you think you're hot shit because you're an autotune-dependent amalgam of Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Lady Ga Ga, Ke$ha, etc., this song is talking about you. And that's not a good thing. Before record producers were scouting - ahem - talent on Youtube, musicians put in a little thing called "effort", which was concentrated into their sound, and if they were good enough, their musical talent was enough to make them attractive and fashionable. There are people to this day who give zero fucks about how ugly Mick Jagger is. The fact that he's the guy that sings It's Only Rock 'N' Roll and struts on stage like a fucking chicken gives him ALL the sex appeal. And it's traced back to the music, so there's a nice cycle happening. But we don't have that anymore. Now we've got Justin fucking Bieber. It should be noted that it's not just that I dislike his music, his celebrity status has made him into a spoiled brat and allowed him to reach levels of "shitty person" no common person can hope to achieve or have publicly recognized.

.... But I digress.

The chorus of Through The Night sounds disjointed from the rest of the song. Or maybe "pasted in" would be a more accurate description? Even at 4:54, the track seems like an unfinished idea, and Paul sounds, to me, like he doesn't give a shit about singing this.

I like Say It's Not True for a variety of reasons, the first being similar to why I like We Believe. Second, because it not only addresses the devastation that HIV/AIDS brings to some of the more vulnerable parts of countries in Africa, it calls attention that the medicines readily available are too expensive in those countries. And the third reason is it reminds me of the collaborative efforts on Let Me Live.

... I don't know what the fuck is going on in Surf's Up... School's Out! Like, no idea. And, going on a similar train of thought as with Call Me, these guys are all in their 60s and they're singing about school being done for the year. I mean, what the fuck? Roger probably still has school-aged children, but surely his house is big enough that he's not feeling crowded by their presence in the summer months? And that obnoxious "YEEEAAAAAHH!" just makes me want to weep.

I've been trying to write this all afternoon, and I had to take a break for a couple hours to collect my thoughts. I think the main problem with this entire album is that nobody's pushing anybody to do better. The main reason every Queen album is awesome (some less so than others, but still) is that each member of the band demanded the rest of their band mates bring their absolute best to the table. I don't follow Paul Rodgers' career, but I can imagine he didn't get to this point by not taking his music seriously. That's not to say that Brian and Roger can't stand on their own, but when they work together, they have a responsibility to themselves and their devoted fans to deliver something damn good. Like, if The Cosmos Rocks was something just for the three of them, fine. But it was promoted as being a big deal, and therefore Brian and Roger, using the Queen name, had an obligation to put out something damn good. And while this wasn't the worst thing to ever happen to music, this is a pretty big let-down.

Wall art

It's no big secret that one of the walls in my apartment is dedicated to all my Queen stuff. I live alone, so I could very well have every inch of every wall covered in Queen stuff if I so desired, but I've chosen to keep the awesome concentrated in one specific area. Due to my finances and my discriminating taste, I'm very selective and careful about what gets put up.

I came across something pretty magnificent on my Tumblr feed, and I couldn't resist printing it out.

This is obviously not complete, but I don't care! I think I prefer it this way. This was done by AG (wewasglam). I told them I'd printed the picture to hang on my wall, and that I'd give them credit. So here's proof of that:

I also just got a really kickass poster from their Queen I photo shoot :-)

Random flailing and screaming

My friend Toni is awesome. He's my writing coach, friend, and fellow Queen fan. We bonded during one of my first writing workshops when I moved to Boston. I'd had a bad haircut and was wearing my fitted Queen hat (no longer in my possession. Sigh), and many of our conversations have revolved around Queen and Freddie ever since!

He went to see Queen at their Portland, Maine show on August 27, 1980. At the end of the concert, Freddie tossed some roses. Toni snatched one up and kept it in storage ever since. He recently got it back and decided to give it to me tonight. The color has since faded and it no longer smells like beer. But that's not the point. The point is...

I OWN SOMETHING FREDDIE MERCURY TOUCHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

According to A Concert Documentary by Greg Brooks (second edition), Queen's setlist was as follows:

Jailhouse Rock / We Will Rock You (fast) / Let Me Entertain You / Play The Game / Medley: Mustapha; Death On Two Legs; Killer Queen; I'm In Love With My Car; Get Down, Make Love; You're My Best Friend / Save Me / Another One Bites The Dust / Now I'm Here / Dragon Attack / Now I'm Here (reprise) / Fat Bottomed Girls / Love Of My Life / Keep Yourself Alive / Brighton Rock / Crazy Little Thing Called Love / Bohemian Rhapsody / Tie Your Mother Down / Encore: Sheer Heart Attack / Second encore: We Will Rock You (slow) / We Are The Champions / God Save The Queen

The Great Pretender

I just got a package from my counterpart! She sent me the book/DVD combo of The Great Pretender! Well, the book has a bonus interview CD. I'm SO excited!!!

Audrey's note reads, "with love always! audrey mercury XOXOX"

My favorite part that just barely surpasses the AWESOME of these gifts is that I actually had to switch my books with my random stuff to fit the Great Pretender book. I can't wait to watch the DVD :-)

THANK YOU again, Audrey! You'll be getting a present soon!!!