Letters QFN-17                                       
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Dear David,
"Now you can label me stupid...", but I dashed out to buy
'Happiness?' and didn't expect it to be a Queen album.
Through listening to his other solo albums and Cross
recordings it was perfectly clear that his frst solo album
after Freddie would be totally different to the stuff he did
with Queen.

What is wrong with simple lyrics? To my mind they clearly
express his thoughts and feelsing on a variety of subjects
close to his heart. Some lyrics are so "simple" that people
seem to have missed out understanding them altogether.

'You Had To Be There' hit me on first hearing as one of the
most powerful on the album, one I could easliy relate to. My
view is that first verse is about meeting Freddie (possibly
Dominique or Debbie), the second about Freddie's death,
certainly it expressed my feelings on the death of my mum,
the thrid verse - hope for the future. So yes Max Fuller did
miss the meaning of the song. 'Lonliness' I feel expresses
the inner lonliness you feel at the time of loss ven when
surrounded by family and friends.

I agree with you about 'Revelations' and the couplet
beginning - "I've been to the Ukrane...". Love is about
silly things including "The way you cook your eggs...".

'Old friend' being clearly about his relationship with
Freddie - a fact made clear when I saw him live in
Manchester there was no hiding the emotion in his voice
during this piece.
                           
To sum up my views on 'Happiness?', it did take a few
listens to take in the full scale of it. Totally different
as I would have expected. His social conscience always did
seem to be strong, ('Tenement Funster', 'Old Men', 'Also
Rans'). Roger said it would be personal and it is. I love
it, regret the fact that it wasn't a bigger hit. I do feel
EMI could make a bit more effort than notifing Fan Club
members that it's coming out. I love Roger's voice and can
usually find something to suit my mood on the album. If
there is any justice Roger really deserves success as a solo
artist.

Here's the set list for Manchester as I remember it. I can't
promise its perfect though!

A Kind Of Magic
Touch The Sky
Ride The Wild Wind
Everybody Hurts Sometimes
Tenement Funster
Man On Fire
Foreign Sand
I Want To Break Free
Voodoo Chile (Hendrix)
I'm In Love With My Car
Happiness
Revelations
The Key
You Had To Be There
These Are The Days...
The Show Must Go On
We Will Rock You
Radio GaGa
Nazis 1994
Old Friends
Twist And Shout (Beatles)

Highlights for me were 'Tenement Funster', 'Ride The Wild
Wind', 'Foreign Sand (his Tony Bennett bit!), 'Voodoo
Child','We Will Rock You', 'Radio GaGa' and 'Nazis 1994'.
All the numbers from the new album sounded great live, but
the best was 'Old Friends' and I loved the version of 'Nazis
1994' which seemed to mix all the versions on the CD
together. 

I was sorry he didn't play 'Freedom Train' which I love.
'Final Destination' would have been great, perhaps he felt
one love song was enough. It was a nice mix of fast, slow
rockers and ballads. Both he and the band seemed to play
well together with it being the end of the tour he
remembered all the words to his songs. Major dissapointment?
Roger not giving in to our cries of "Get 'em off" and
keeping his glasses on all night - and everything else!

Having looked forward to the show for so long I was terified
that he might not live up to my expectations. In reality he
far out shone them. His voice was better than it sounded on
some tracks on the album, the Queen numbers he did with help
from the audience sounded right because he always could be
heard singing slightly higher than Freddie and the fans. He
look fantastic and on the few songs he played drums on
(alone, or along with) he was brilliant, but then again he
always was.

Now a question. Where did he get the support band from?
(Colour Noise) Why? There sounded terrible.

Finally on a more personal note. Smaller people should be
let into venues before taller ones, as I only managed to see
the stage between the shoulders of some guys much taller
than me at just over 5ft tall. Having said this I had a
great night.

I've read 'Mercury & Me' and enjoyed it, but found it very
personal and not a book I could read in one sitting. Jim
seems genuien and a nice bloke. He does seem to confrim from
what happened after Freddie died that "hell hath no fury
like a woman scorned", especially one scorned for another
man. I would give a more in depth view but I've loaned the
book to another Freddie fan.

All the best and I hope QFN goes from to strength to
strength in 1995.
Sheila Cronin
Bury - UK  



Dear Sheila,
I'm not quite sure why you say Roger's first album after
Freddie's death would indicate a departure from the type of
stuff he did with Queen. His solo work was never similar
Queen in any way.

Yes, simple lyrics seem to spell 'bad' to some people. I say
if it touches something inside you, the complexity of the
words is not an issue.

Again, different people will assocciate differently to the
same song. So if one speaks to you, it doesn't always reveal
the writers true intent. That said they (the write of the
song) would probably be happy that it meant something to
someone else too.

Love, what can I say about it? Love is about normal things
taking on seemingly abnornal proportion when viewed by
others. "Like coming home in time for tea". Funny How Love
Is... I think I've heard that somewhere before.

'Old Friends' is certainly about Freddie. The first show
that Roger performed at Sheperds Bush Empire last year
proves this, as behind the stage was a huge white backdrop
onto which were projected images throughout the show and
fetured Freddie whilst the band performed this song at the
end of the evening. As far as I'm aware this projection
wasn't used anywhere else, but if you know different I'd
like to know. Anyone?

I couldn't agree more about the non-advertising of
'Happiness?' for such a major talent as Roger is. I
personally know of one small advert in the classified
section of a national (UK) music paper informing us of the
tour dates and someone else told me of an advert on one of
the European satellite stations. OK, so there were a few
reviews of the album and single in the serious music press,
but nothing in the way of posters, full page adverts in
magazines - not that I know of anyway. If you know of any
please send me a photocopy as I would appear to have missed
them - thanks. I suppose the banning (by many European
radio/TV stations) of the 'Nazis 1994' single brought more
adverse publicity than EMI created intentionally. Perhaps
the fan club could shed shome light on the advertising
policy for us at EMI or whoever is responsible. Any ideas
Jacky? Would it be down to EMI or Roxy Meade to 'sell'
'Happiness?'/Roger? Roger, Brian or Queen NEVER let anyone's
expectations down. They continually blow them away!

Colour Noise. I can't say? I didn't like them much, but a
few fans who went to many shows said they grew on them after
a while; which can be true for many things if you experience
it enough times and have an open attitude. I saw them 3
times (or rather heard them from the bar!) and they didn't
grow on me at all. They did make Roger seem very
sophisticated though didn't they.

__________________________________________________________________

Dear David,
On Friday 3rd of February I went to 'The Amasal' at Stafford
to see GaGa in concert. The venue was at a social club and
held about 200 which be could seated at tables.

GaGa, as I'm sure most fans are aware are a three piece
Queen 'cover' band and hail from Liverpool. They are Graham
the Drummer, Dave the Bassist and John the Lead Guitarist.

GaGa took the stage at 21.00 for the first of 2 sets. They
opened with 'One Vision' and followed it with 'A Kind Of
Magic', 'Son And Daughter', 'Somebody To Love',' I'm Going
Slightly Mad', 'Hammer To Fall', ' Spread Youyr Wings',
'Brighton Rock'. This set lasted about 50 minutes and went
down extremely well with the audience.

After a break of about 30 minutes they returned and began
with 'Tie Your Mother Down' which got the crowd going. This
was followed by 'These are The Days Of Our Lives', and then
'Bohemian Rhapsody' was played in full. The opera section
was inserted at the correct time - the first time the band
had done this as they usually substituted 'Under Pressure'
for that section.

The set went on to include 'Keep Yorself Alive', 'I Want To
Break Free', 'Crazy Little Tging Called Love', 'Headlong',
'Another One Bites The Dust', 'The Show Must Go On'. They
performed 2 encore to the delight of the crowd which
included 'Now I'm Here', "we Will rock You', ' We Are The
Champions' and ended suitably with 'God Save The Queen'. 

A great evening was had by everyone there, and the
organisers have booked them again for later int the year
(October). If you have not seen GaGa yet, or if you would
like to see them again, they are doing several live dates
through out the summer of 1995. I can recommend them to
anyone and everyone. I'm sure you'll be suprised just how
good they are. Yours Sincerely Joy Whitelock Somerset - UK


Dear Joy,
Thanks for the report and set list. They seem to be getting
more adventurous these days with the numbers they do. They
were better when I saw them last, than they were a few years
ago, when I saw them previously. So if anyone has the chance
to see them give them your support. It really will be a good
night out.

__________________________________________________________________

Dear David,
I recently went to Guildford and saw a copy of the 'Mercury
& Me' - I couldn't resist buying it once I'd seen all those
beautiful photographs inside. I actaully find it quite
sensitiely written. It highlights the complex and colourful
personality we all know Freddie had anyway.

But I thought there was too much detail about the last few
days. I can't think why Jim Hutton thought we would want to
know some of the things he put in that chapter. Still the
photos alone are worth the 15 it cost.

Helen Hill
Aldershot - UK


Dear Helen,
I personally feel the amount of honesty in 'Mercury & Me' is
about right. This may not have been how Freddie would have
wanted it, as you're right in saying Freddie was an
intensely personal man, but that doesn't stop all his
friends from opeing up their hearts to share there times
with him. Jim obviously felt he was giving the millions of
Freddie fans something they had been denied for all these
years - information about Freddie's 'normal' life.

I feel that a lot of worse books could have been written and
may have been stopped from hitting the bookshelfs by Jim
telling it as it was. And he should know. Think about it
that way. We can be fairly certain that no one will now
write a book claiming to tell us about the personal life of
Freddie and produce fabricated so-called 'true stories'! I
hope not anyway.

__________________________________________________________________

Dear David,
It's interesting to see you are going to cut back to 4
issues per year - though hopefully 1995 will bring lots of
news, ie. Queen album, Brian album, tour? It was pleasing to
see QFN receive a favourable review in Record Collector
recently.

I don't know your views on the book 'Mercury & Me' but I
feel Freddie would feel very betrayed by this. He was a very
private person and as always protected his loved ones.
Surely they should do the same for him?

Roger finished his UK tour in style at Wolverhampton with a
blistering 2 hour set. Despite the hall only being
two-thirds full and awful sound problems Roger seemed to
really enjoy himself. He played a fascinating section of
tracks old and new and added a couple of covers.

It would appear Roger has forgotten his work with the Cross
- I expected 'Final Destination' at least. Never-the-less
Roger gave 100% throughout, but why weren't more of you
there? On Brian's first visit to the area he packed out the
NEC and followed this a few months later by selling out
Aston Villa Leisure Centre. Lets make sure we give Roger the
support he deserves next time around!

Dean Pedley - UK

Dear Dean,
Well 4 issue a year, yes it's a tough decision, and one I've
taken a lot of thought over. There are a few factors which
have resulted in this and they are as my thoughts on this
are as follows, but not in any order of importance.

* QFN has increasingly taken up more and more of my time.
Although I enjoy it very much, and all the friends I have
made through it. It's not, and never was meant to be a full
time job - though it's difficult to believe when some days I
spend double the amount of time on it than I do at work! I
simply can't allow QFN to rule my life completely! This is
what was happening until recently - many hundreds of hours
go into a single issue, corresponding with other fans and
editing what will and what won't end up in the final draft.

I have had my job as editor eased over the past few issues
by some fams submitting their articles and reviews on
computer disc (if anyone can do this then please do) and I
also have someone typing up many of the longer articles, but
still - time slips away and I want fans to know what they
can expect from QFN - what I plan to give. I won't pretend
it's easy and that I can produce an issue every 2 months
like I did when QFN began, as I can't.

* As Queen now no longer exist as a band I feel there
doesn't seems as much need or urgency about there
activities. Maybe Brian May or Roger Taylor fanzines will
spring up (if they haven't already), therefore reducing the
need for QFN further.

* There are now quite a few other fanzines (at least 9 that
I know of) that litter the Queen world. As a fiercely
independant person and newsletter editor, I somehow I just
don't want to be one of them - who produce shoddy badly
produced affairs just for the sake of it.

* When I first had the idea for QFN in 1990, (though the
first issue only appeared in 1991) there wasn't a single
Queen fanzine in the UK (not that I know of anyway) so I
sought to fill a gap which I thought the fan club wasn't
catering for. They have since addressed these areas and I
have often wondered if fans/subscribers see QFN as essential
or an accessory. Coincidentially, POTU began independantly
and unknown to me in virtually the same month as QFN!

* There are many other new Queen fanzines springing up all
the time and I don't want to be one of a glut. QFN provided
a valuable service in the early days when there didn't seem
to be an alternative. Even the official fan club has since
taken on board some of the things QFN pioneered in early
issues - fan reveiws/articles and a possible bootleg review
section etc.

I hope this has answered yours and others feelings of why
QFN has gone seasonal - it's certainly got a lot of guilt
off my chest! 
__________________________________________________________________

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