Is This the Real Life?
Mark Blake
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Blake's book on Queen is a fascinating and insightful look into the lives of the
Britlish band Queen. The writer has conducted extensive interviews with the band as well as talking to key people surrounding the group including personal assistants, record producers, friends, press, and former band members.
Is This the Real Life? beautifully tracks the lives and history of the four band members - Freddie Mercury, Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor - from pre-Queen bands all the way up to current day. The book opens with the group's appearance at the heralded Live Aid concert in 1985. Here is the first paragraph: "It is 13 July 1985, and for rock stars of a certain vintage, it's a difficult time. Many who came of age in the
Sixties and Seventies are living off past glories and the blind goodwill of fans. The world has yet to invent the pensioner rock star, and Pete Townshend's adolescent mission statement 'Hope I die before I get old' has never seemed more ill-judged."
It's a wonderful piece of writing and just a small sampling of the author's masterful wordsmithing. Blake is a writer of the first caliber, and his descriptions and ability to juggle and dispense facts without boring the reader is a rare ability. No one else could have written this book
- luckily, no one else did. If you want to find out who Queen really were, read this.
Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Steven Rosen, 2011
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