❉ A celebration of the unique legacy of Freddie Mercury and Queen, raising funds for The Mercury Phoenix Trust.
OUT NOW! ‘In the Lap of the Gods: Queen & Freddie Mercury: Music and Memories’, edited by David Geldard and Jay Gent for Cult Ink.
A celebration of the unique legacy of Freddie Mercury and Queen, in the words of friends and colleagues of the band such as Freddie’s close friend Peter Straker, official Queen biographer Jim Jenkins; Peter Freestone, Freddie Mercury’s personal assistant; Clayton Moss, guitarist and songwriter with The Cross; Eddie Howell, the ‘Man From Manhattan’; and Ray Burdis, who produced The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for TV broadcast – as well the fans themselves, of course.
Book-ended by much-storied performer Peter Straker’s warm memories of his friendship with Freddie Mercury (including their work together on Straker’s solo albums and Mercury’s ‘Barcelona’ project), and a deeply personal essay from editor David Geldard that is the beating heart of this book, an ultimately celebratory story of music and memories, touching on love and loss, ‘In The Lap Of The Gods’ is about what Queen means to their admirers, whether they worked with them professionally, were loyal fans who crossed paths with the band on numerous occasions (including appearing in promo videos) and witnessed them dominating the many stages they conquered from early days playing Hornsey Town Hall to in their full pomp and regalia at legendary venues such as Hyde Park, The Rainbow, Hammersmith Odeon, and Wembley Stadium, or – like most of us – experienced their own individual connection with Queen through their music, sharing what it means to them and the ways it’s provided to the soundtrack to the ‘days of our lives’.
As well as the aforementioned Mr. Straker, editor David Geldard has conducted insightful interviews for this anthology with Peter “Phoebe” Freestone, Freddie Mercury’s faithful personal assistant for many years; Doug Bogie, John Deacon’s immediate predecessor as Queen bassist; musician Eddie Howell, whose 1976 single ‘Man From Manhattan’ predated ‘Under Pressure’ as a rare collaboration with another recording artist; Clayton Moss of Roger Taylor’s side-project The Cross, which begat the original version of ‘Heaven For Everyone’; musician Jeff Scott Soto who accompanied remaining members of Queen on stage for the Official Fan Club extravaganza that accompanied the unveiling of Queen’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; and actor and filmmaker Ray Burdis who shares his candid recollections of the unenviable task of bringing The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert to television screens worldwide. Each interview provides some rare glimpses into Freddie and the band’s personality traits.
David has also solicited a unique contribution from Tim Staffell, formerly of Queen precursor Smile, in the form of a track-by-track commentary for the Smile album, and received the support throughout this project of his friend Jim Jenkins, a long-time member of Queen’s ‘Royal Family’ (a group of loyal fans who followed every tour) whose detailed knowledge of the band’s history was rewarded by Queen’s inner circle when he was commissioned to pen the band’s first – and to date, only – official biography, ‘Queen: As It Began: The Authorised Biography’ with Jacky Gunn (now Smith), head of the Queen Fan Club. Jenkins appears twice in this book, firstly in ‘Live Killers’, where he shares his memories of his five most memorable Queen gigs, and then towards the end of the book in a detailed conversation of great value about his journey with Queen, including character profiles and strongest memories of all four members individually, and reflecting on their legacy in the present day.
Fans from all walks of life, have stepped forward to share their reflections on what Queen means to them, and you’ll find something to treasure in these recollections. Whether it’s Alan G. Parker geeking-out over his lifelong obsession with Queen’s gear-shift album ‘News Of The World’ and its iconic robot mascot, from sickly child to multiple Emmy-nominated director of music documentary films; three passionate Queen fans from Glasgow recounting how they fell under the spell of Queen via ‘80s artefacts the Queen ‘Greatest Hits’ album and the ‘We Will Rock You’ Montreal 1982 VHS and the road that led to them starting the fan podcast ‘In the Lap of the Pods’ during lockdown; how Martin Green, a founder of the ‘90s London club scene that birthed Britpop, “fell in love with Queen all over again”; Fan Club member Paul Webb looking back on seeing the band “so close up it was like they were in my own living room” for the day-long filming of the ‘Friends Will Be Friends’ video; or tales of how Queen’s music and Freddie Mercury’s defiant persona cast a transformative spell on fans from Malaysia, Spain and Greece before and after the internet.
For a group as gargantuan in stature as Queen, even as they enjoyed mass appeal, the band were nothing if not eclectic and this too is reflected in this book, and you’ll find sprinkled throughout the book a clutch of journeys into left-field that focus on more idiosyncratic aspects of Queen’s legacy.
Richard Hearn’s ‘Queen – A Covers Band’ explores how Queen’s iconic album covers illustrates the band’s musical evolution, representative of where they were at the time, from the pomp and heraldry of their epic, operatic ‘70s albums to the sombre, valedictory ‘Made In Heaven’, by way of the much-maligned ‘Hot Space’ (“Each in their own geometrical box, echoing their alleged separateness during this period”) and ‘A Kind Of Magic’ presenting the quartet as larger-than-life cartoon avatars, reflecting their 1980s status as family-friendly stadium-filling Olympians.
The synergetic relationship with Queen’s camp theatricality (a quality beloved by their fans and condoned by their critics) and the two sci-fi/fantasy cult movies they soundtracked, ‘Flash Gordon’ (1980, Mike Hodges) and ‘Highlander’ (1986, Russell Mulcahy), is also celebrated in a brace of essays penned by Sonic Bond writer Don Klees (‘Aura(l) Pleasures – Queen’s ‘Flash Gordon’ Soundtrack’) and author Ken Shinn (‘Celluloid Heroes (With Just A Twist Of VT)’). And yes, ‘Star Fleet’ and ‘Biggles: Adventures In Time’ also get a mention!
From the ridiculous to the sublime, tribute is paid to the creative inspiration that can be found in the more esoteric aspects of Queen’s catalogue with ‘In The Land That Our Grandchildren Knew…’, an account of how guitarist Brian May’s space-faring sci-fi parable ‘’39’ (a deep cut from ‘A Night At The Opera’ and B-side of ‘You’re My Best Friend’) inspired academic and screenwriter Sam R.M. Geden’s M.A. dissertation film, furthered by the author attending a talk at the Science Museum held by May (who holds a PhD in astrophysics) and Lord Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal.
‘In The Lap Of The Gods’ is a tribute not only to the fans who became lifelong friends but also the many instances of how those fans have come together to successfully organise fund-raising events for AIDS/HIV charities and other worthwhile causes. Editor David Geldard has been behind several events, and his own essay shares how he became good friends with Queen super-fan and the band’s official biographer Jim Jenkins when the pair held a fundraising Queen-themed event for the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. It is thanks to those close connections forged by fandom that David has solicited many of the testimonials found in this book, including an interview with Denise Silcock, who has hosted several Queen-themed fundraising parties to raise money for AIDS charities in Freddie’s name; and throughout the book one will find numerous accounts from those who attended of the impact of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness in 1992, which benefited AIDS charities worldwide. This book’s goal is to make its own contribution to that legacy, with all profits going toward supporting the work of The Mercury Phoenix Trust.
Contributor Shirley Dyson says, “This is such an exciting project and a wonderful opportunity to support the Mercury Phoenix Trust. Queen brought so many of us together in a friendship that still lasts to this day which is some achievement, with so many memories to share!”
David and I truly hope you enjoy the final result as much as we’ve enjoyed working on it and hope you find it was worth the wait!
❉ ‘In The Lap Of The Gods’ is edited by David Geldard and Jay Gent for Cult Ink. Illustrations by Jim Sangster. All profits from this book go toward supporting the work of The Mercury Phoenix Trust. The book is available to order in paperback from Amazon UK, £12.99: https://amzn.to/3XkP2bZ(If you’re not based in the UK, it will be available from most Amazon marketplaces in the next 3-5 days, priced in the local currency.)
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