A few years ago, rock and roll photographer, Mick Rock, had released a limited edition and very expensive hardcover called Killer Queen. The price was over $400 which is too extravagant for even such a Queen fan as I am. I'm not sure who bought it, and I had never seen a copy. I imagine it had many of Mick's photographs of Queen from 1973 - 1976. I tried searching for it online, but the lack of information leads me to believe that the book is no longer for sale. Actually, you can see it here http://www.genesis-publications.com/books/queen/index.html for sale, still expensive at about $500. When I was alerted from Amazon.com that this new Queen book was available I ordered immediately just from the cover art, and also because I'm addicted to all things Queen.

I was happy to discover that the book is a very reasonable priced version of the more expensive version of that Mick Rock collector's item. When I received it in the mail, I was taken back from the size. The book is a pretty massive hardcover that measures 12 inches long by nine inches wide. The quality is surprising too for such an inexpensive book, it has 192 pages of thick paper filled with over two hundred and fifty photographs presented in both color and black and white.

Why should you care, and who the heck is Mick Rock? Mick Rock is one of those legendary British guys who hung around the glam scene and took amazing pictures. He had great vision and directed very well. His idea for Queen’s second album cover is the famous Marlene Dietrich, head and shoulders shot that also inspired Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody video a year later. Mick mainly took photos of David Bowie, Queen, Iggy Pop, Sex Pistols and The Ramones back in the early 70s, and more recently, REM and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to name two. Have you heard of him? Probably not, but he is sort of important and his photos are what make him legendary.

Some of these pictures are familiar to me already, as two of Mick's photographs were used for their first three album covers; Queen (1973), Queen II (1974) and lastly for Sheer Heart Attack (1974). Surprisingly, for a Queen fan such as myself, many of these photographs I only discovered in this book Classic Queen. Since I live in the USA, these photos would be harder to come across compared to someone in the United Kingdom where Queen has had much more publicity, despite how bad it was in the beginning. There are many shots from one of the band's earliest big shows that were taken at the Marquee Club in London back in 1974 as they toured in support for their second album Queen II.

Mick Rock appears to be one of the few photographers that the band had trusted apparently. Very early on in their career, Queen had learned of the venomous British Press, and so they usually kept their distance, which of course only egged on the media. Mick Rock, on the other hand, as we can see from some of these pictures of himself and Freddie Mercury, and Mick and Freddie’s girlfriend Mary Austin – that he was surely considered a friend. There are many quotes from Mick and Queen about each other in here as well that support this. Speaking of Mary Austin, I found it also surprising at just how much she was around in those early days as she appears in many pictures with Freddie and Mick.

There is a very brief, one-page introduction written by Jeff Hudson in the beginning. Hudson had also written bios for other celebrity books such as Led Zeppelin, George Clooney, The Kinks and Samuel L Jackson to name just a few. The reminiscent-like memories written on any page where there isn't a fabulous photograph, it seems like this was written by Mick Rock himself, possibly from an interview or two he gave. Mick gives a wonderful different perspective of the early history of the band that is never present in Queen books, one of an eyewitness. Believe it or not, this is a rarity so far. It really just goes to show how much Mick Rock was around the band in those early days. This book concentrates mostly on the years 1973, 1974 and 1975. He only touches briefly on 1976, as we can see by a couple of pictures included from Queen's infamous Hyde Park free concert they gave in September of that year.

Speaking of the early days, I love the fact that it was at the beginning of Queen's career when Mick was around. Now we have this splendid record of the band when they looked like actual heavy rock and rollers, before the yellow jackets and mustaches of Freddie Mercury that ruined it for most American fans, including myself. Queen look very cool in the early days with the long hair, the outrageous Zhandra Rhodes clothes and the heavy eye make-up. There's nothing like the glam Queen look, and Mick Rock supplies us with more pictures and insight than anyone else could. Who has even come close? Classic Queen is sure to be a collector's item in a couple of years, if you have one, buy another and sell it for double in two years.


Product Details
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402751923
• ISBN-13: 978-1402751929
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 8.8 x 0.9 inches



Recommended: Yes