In
December 2003 I received the Mick Rock Killer Queen book.
This was an item I had been waiting for ever since it was
announced to be in the making.
I ordered it a couple of months before delivery and the price of
the book was HUGE. In my view just too much, but I wanted to
have this book from the first day it was announced and I only
wanted the DeLuxe version.
Well, the book is amazing. It's stored in a luxurious case and
the DeLuxe version has an additional loose print of Freddie,
that is not included in the book, and has Mick Rock's autograph.
On one of the pages of the book he, Brian and Roger also put
their signature. Just for the record, I have copy 177 out of 350
DeLuxe copies. (including the "regular" copies this
publication is limited to 2500)
The outside of the book is in full leather made of black and
white goatskins. Over 200 pages are master-printed on to 11
different paper stocks, including acetate, trace and 200gsm matt
art stock. The images and text are printed in monochrome and
full colour with image varnishing. When the book is closed the
outside of the pages is gold.
The story is great, the pictures are breathtaking. The story
contains quotations by Mick Rock, Queen, Mary Austin and some
articles from music magazines. This story brings the pictures
alive and teleport you right back to 1973, 1974 and 1975. The
period in which the pictures were taken, from the very first
day Mick Rock met Queen. His first photoshoot was at Imperial
College on the 18th November 1973. While reading this book I
listened to Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack and A Night At The
Opera. Afterwards I watched the Live At The Rainbow video... How
I wish I would have been there in real life.
The book contains photoshoots for album sleeves, such as the
famous QUEEN II and Sheer Heart Attack.
Further pictures taken at live concerts (e.g. Live At The
Rainbow), working in the studio (e.g. Roger singing Modern Times
Rock 'n Roll, recording Sheer Heart Attack, Freddie - Brian and
Eddy Howell working on The Man From Manhattan), and also very
precious are the pictures of Freddie posing solo or with Mary
Austin. Also included are pages filled with the early concert
tickets and a couple of pages containing schemes of Queen
touring the USA, mentioning venues where they performed and
hotels they were staying.
To me this book is in the same category (of most precious Queen
items) as the pictures of me posing with Roger and Brian, the Queen Cabinet (20-cd collection), the Freddie
Mercury Statue replica and the Freddie Mercury Solo Collection.
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