When this book’s first edition was published by Reynolds & Hearn in 2007, we described it less than enthusiastically as “The best Queen website on paper? Possibly.” It was an attempt to emulate R&H’s Complete David Bowie, something of a tour de force, but an internet-derived style was all too apparent in its lack of organisation, not to mention a worrying number of misspellings.
That said, the sheer amount of information between the covers was never in doubt – and, to his credit, author Georg Purvis has put a lot of thought and work into rejigging his book, creating a much improved product. Of course, Queen activity since 2007 has been limited to Q+PR with Paul Rodgers, a project that spilt long-time fans (tellingly, the former Free singer does not feature pictorially on either the front or back covers). But many other areas of the book have been improved and amended, leading to the conclusion that this is now a Queen reference to be valued.
The combination of personal opinion and definitive information still sits uneasily in places, but the whole is a major step on from the 2007 draft. Whether instigated by Purvis himself, or new publishers Titan, this second edition is to be commended.
