Biography
Roger Meddows Taylor is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is a multi-instrumentalist, best known as the drummer for the rock band Queen.As a drummer, Taylor was recognised early in his career for his unique sound.He has been acclaimed by Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins as one of the most influential rock drummers of the 1970s and 1980s,as well as being voted by radio listeners as the eighth-greatest drummer in classic rock music history in a poll conducted by Planet Rock in 2005. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Taylor
Album & Cover
Fun in Space is the debut solo album by English musician Roger Taylor, the drummer of Queen. It was released on 6 April 1981 in the UK and 9 May in the US. The album peaked at number 18 in the British charts, while it performed poorly upon its US release, due to no promotion from the record company. The album was recorded in between legs of Queen’s tours for The Game and Flash Gordon albums. Taylor wrote, produced, sang and performed all of the songs himself.The album’s credits state “P.P.S. 157 synthesizers”, a joke referring to Queen’s usual statement of “No synthesisers” in the liner notes of all albums up to The Game. “Future Management” was issued as a single in Europe while “Let’s Get Crazy” was released in the US. The album was re-released as a digitally remastered CD in 1996. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fun_in_Space
The alien on the album cover comes from the July 1980 issue of Creepy Magazine. The back cover of the album shows Roger Taylor reading that issue. The ‘alien’ writing on the magazine on the front cover consists mainly of upside down Hebrew characters. The actual words are meaningless. The magazine was purchased by Strom Thorgerson in a shop down the road from the Hipgnosis studio called Forbidden Planet, the magazine owners in New York were persuaded to allow Hipgnosis to use the alien and duly made one from latex and polystyrene with light bulbs inserted in its eyes to brighten them.
Cover Location: Hipgnosis Studio, London, UK
Who Did What: Illustration – Colin Chambers/Colin Elgie/George Hardie/Ian Wright/Jeff Cummins/Jill Furmanovsky/Paul Maxon. Design [Alien Monster] – Alistair Bowtell. Illustration [Alien] – Jim Laurier. Graphics – Ian Wright. Photography – Paul Maxon/Peter Christophson/Aubrey Powell.
Label: Elektra 5E-522(US), EMI EMC3369(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell
Tracklist
| Side One No Violins Laugh Or Cry Future Management (You Don’t Need Nobody Else) Let’s Get Crazy My Country I & II |
Side Two Good Times Are Now Magic Is Loose Interlude In Constantinople Airheads Fun In Space |
Credits
Engineer, Keyboards [Approximately 50%] – David Richards
Mastered By – George Marino
Producer, Written-By, Arranged By, Vocals, Instruments – Roger Taylor
