Acht Doppelseiten und das Cover sind für Mitglieder des QFCG unter dem folgenden Link abrufbar.

Hier die offizielle, englischsprachige Pressemitteilung von Carlton Books über die Veröffentlichung:

CARLTON INFORMATION SHEET
BRIAN MAY’S RED SPECIAL
The story of the home-made guitar that rocked the world
Brian May & Simon Bradley

UNIQUE SELLING POINTS

• A full exploration of every aspect of this iconic musical instrument, played by Brian May in Queen, the worldwide famous rock band who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, with iconic hits such as “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
• Includes photographs of the Red Special at every stage of its creation – the guitar was designed and built by Brian and his father
• The guitar will be fully dismantled and every piece photographed
• Brian has been interviewed extensively for the book

OUTLINE

The Red Special guitar was designed and built by Brian May and his father Harold in their shed in 1963. Some of the materials used were from rather unexpected places: a wooden fireplace, part of an old oak table, motorbike suspension springs, a knitting needle and other surprising items. The guitar was hand-made but worked perfectly, giving a sound that is recognizable to this day. Brian subsequently used his “Red Special” on every Queen and solo album that he recorded and at the vast majority of his live performances. It is a unique guitar with a distinct sound and Brian’s millions of fans will be overjoyed to see it inside and out in this great book.

CONTENTS

Every aspect of the Red Special is examined, starting with Brian talking about his original idea in the early 1960s, through the damage it caused in his relationship with his father (Harold wasn’t keen on his son becoming a musician), through the years of megastardom in Queen, to playing it on the top of Buckingham Palace and at the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony. The guitar has been taken to pieces and photographed inside and out just for this book, and Brian comments on it all. This, alongside photographs of Brian and the guitar in action from the last 50 years, show off this utterly unique guitar as never before.
There’s never been a story like this or a guitar like the Red Special, and any Queen or guitar enthusiast will be delighted to read all about it. There is a human side to the story too; a boy and his father bought together by a guitar, then driven apart by the success that guitar caused.

AUTHOR

Simon Bradley has been a professional guitar journalist since 1996 and iscurrently Multimedia Editor at Guitarist magazine. He has also written for Total Guitar, What Guitar?, Guitar Techniques, SFX, T3, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, Future Music, Computer Music, Rhythm, Guitarrista (Spain), Gitarist (Holland) and many web sites, including Brian’s own brianmay.com

TRIMMED PAGE SIZE
280 x 216mm (11 x 8 ½ inches) portrait

EXTENT
144 pages

IMPOSITION
4/4

ILLUSTRATIONS
Approx. 200 colour and b&w photographs

TEXT
Approx. 30,000 words

BINDING
Hardback book

 Zu dem Buch gibt es eine eigene Website unter www.theredspecial.com