Book Review #18: Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock

Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock (2009)

Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock is definitely a labor of love for those that put the book together. There are tons of pics that I had never seen before till this bad boy came out. The book is exactly what the title claims itself to be, but it's so much more than that.

Most coffee table books are all pictures and nothing else, which you end up "reading" inside of 30 minutes and then your done with it. But The Ultimate Illustrated History is both a picture book as well as a retelling of the history of Queen, with input from Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. And there are a handful of testimonials from the likes of Rob Halford and Slash just to name a few that expound on the greatness of Queen and what the band means to them.

Along with the recounting of their history, there are discography reviews of all their studio albums. Yes, even the one with Paul Rodgers is included. The only thing that's really missing from the book are the insights into the music videos they made. It would have been nice to hear some stories about behind the scenes stuff here. Only a couple of videos are mentioned and not much is said about those in great detail. Oh well.

I highly recommend this book to any Queen fan and non-fan. There's a lot to take from the book and it will take you awhile to read through it. FYI, the book is heavy. This can be used as a doorstop or a destructive weapon. Your choice.

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1

Book Review #17: Is This The Real Life? The Untold Story Of Queen

Is This The Real Life? The Untold Story Of Queen (2011)

Is This The Real Life fails to live up to my expectations. Once again I fell victim to reading a Biography from someone not in the band and paid for it with sheer boredom. The thing about books like this, especially coming on the heels of a wide assortment of other like-minded Bio's about a group like Queen, is that once the well has been tapped, the latest author then has the task of coming up with "new" stuff to justify reading his book about a band that has be written about countless times.

This book falls in line with Bon Scott's Bio that I recently read. If you checked out that review, then you have a pretty good idea of what Real Life is like when it comes to reading a bloated book. Too much time is devoted to stuff that Queen fans or just readers in general really don't need to know or even want to know.

It's unfortunate that authors feel the need to pad pages and make a book bigger than it really is. There is nothing new or revealing here. This was a waste of my time.

I do not recommend this to anyone. Don't believe the hype surrounding this book. All the 4-5 Star reviews you may find out there in internet-land are from people that will give better reviews simply for being a fan of the band. I'm the biggest fan here, but even I know a terrible read when I come across one. 

I need to get rid of this bad taste in my mouth and read Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History Of The Crown Kings Of Rock.

Rating: 2 1/2 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1

Book Review #4: Freddie & Me

Freddie & Me (2008)

I had read a few reviews about Freddie & Me prior to checking it out for myself. I love comic books and I love Queen. So how can you lose when combining the two? Ya can't. Straight up, this was a very cute, touching and fun autobiography about Mike Dawson and his life as it related to his favorite band of all time: Queen. Even though all the reviews I had read were overwhelmingly positive, I was still a bit iffy on how this would play out before reading it. 

I will admit that the first 1/4th of the book was a bit slow and left me unsure where it was going. But somewhere along the way I got sucked in by the story that was unfolding. Fun book and I can recommend this to anyone else that's looking for a good, fun read.

It's not a perfect book, mind you. Some of the dialog, especially during the family scenes or general chi-chat scenes are a little too literal and on-the-nose for my taste. Other than that, you can't go wrong here. And another thing, about the artwork, it's not going to blow you out of the water if that's what you're looking for. It is what it is. But you can see the artist style start to really improve the further you get into the book and the amount of love he put into drawing it. 

I've come away from this book a fan. 

Rating: 4 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1