Q Magazine Book of the Month - December 2011, p147

YOU'VE GOT TO READ THIS . . .

40 YEARS OF QUEEN

Forewords by Brian May & Roger Taylor

RECOMMENDED BY MARK BLAKE

Part pop-up story book, part fetish object, 40 Years Of Queen arrives in its own heavy-duty slipcase, along with a CD of a 1977 band interview and reproduced tickets, posters and lyrics concealed in little pocket within its 94 pages. The band history, briskly written by ex-Melody Maker staffer Harry Doherty, is illustrated with rare pictures, including female mud-wrestlers backstage at Knebworth, Freddie Mercury being photographed by Andy Warhol and youthful Brian May serenading the family cat Squeaky.

But it's those hidden mementoes you'll want to go back to, such as Queen's handwritten letters to their fanclub in 1975. "Keep yourselves alive," urges May, while Mercury wishes all his darlings, "an outrageous Christmas and a naughty New Year."

KEY LINE: "This'll make Ben Hur look like The Muppets" - Roger Taylor on Queen's '86 stage set.