The majestic Queen

Freddie Mercury - The Great Pretender
From 2012, and promoting a new orchestral reworking of his solo Barcelona LP, a project I don't recall hearing about, this looked at his works from around 1984 onwards, through his 2 solo LPs, their contrasting successes, working with Montserrat Caballe, finding helpful co-workers, and reluctantly giving interviews. There was a lot of good archive of him chatting, as well as many usual faces filling in the rest. The story even included the Made In Heaven project.

Brian May says the new biopic will be out in November:

"A bumpy road"

"Movies that mean anything very often go through a very difficult gestation period and this is probably no exception," May told the BBC.
"This is an interesting experience for Roger and me because we have so little power. To get the movie made you basically sign away all your control."

He's not taking the blame.

The film trailer is here:

Bohemian Rhapsody

Queen - Live at the Rainbow '74
From November 1974, at a time when they were previewing/promoting Sheer Heart Attack, so a set notable for many early hits which were dropped later when convenient. Ogre Battle, for example, seems unlikely to turn up in the biopic. The weird part was an encore that crowbarred in bashes at Hey Big Spender and Jailhouse Rock, which seem somewhat askance.

Opera legend Montserrat Caballe has died at the age of 85:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45769808

Her pop connection is her friendship and big duet with Freddie Mercury on the song Barcelona, released originally in 1987, and then re-released in connection with the Olympiad in 1992. RIP 

The Bo Rhap film had its premiere last night. Remi Malek has got good plaudits as Freddie, more than the rest of the film anyway.

The Story of Bohemian Rhapsody
This 2004 doc took Brian and Roger back to the studio where they made A Night at the Opera so they could relate some old anecdotes. Producer Roy Thomas Baker was more useful. Celebrity fans like Noddy Holder, Joe Elliott and Bob Geldof were variable. Again, there was needless discussion of what the lyrics mean, including the nonsense that only Roger knows the real answer and he's sworn never to tell. His mother Jer and sister Kashmira were more interesting to hear from, and video director Bruce Gowers was at least practical about how the video and its effects were done.

Bohemian Rhapsody - special
The producer and many of the main cast talked about their enjoyment in making the film, and in some cases, their total misnomers about the band. Such is the modern way.

Director Stephen Frears has spoken about the aborted version of the project which featured Sacha Baron Cohen, which was set to look at Freddie's private life in more detail, and be appropriately outrageous, which didn't chime with Roger & Brian's plans.

Mercury and Me, by Jim Hutton
A moving memoir from Fred's final partner. They met around 1984 and were together until Fred's death. He was a barber at the Savoy, but they became soul mates, and Jim was part of Fred's close network of friends (with Peter Freestone and others). Jim was with him through his final records, his shopping trips and parties, and the sad final decline with AIDS. After he died, the cosy world at Garden Lodge crumbled as Fred left the place to Mary Austin, who was less romanticised about Freddie. This book was published in 1994, and despite also being HIV positive, Jim didn't die until 2010.

To some surprise, the film won a dramatic award at the Golden Globes, and Remi Malek too won an acting award 

Bohemian Rhapsody became one of the top 10 films in the UK in 2018, and apparently notable as most of the list were sequels or franchises (it's not as though it was exactly original, though!)

Bryan Singer's been removed from subsequent director nominations whilst accusations cloud his reputation.

misery guts wrote:To some surprise, the film won a dramatic award at the Golden Globes, and Remi Malek too won an acting award 

Malek won Best Actor at the BAFTAs last night too. Will he make it a hat-trick at the Oscars?! 

^^^He did.

Urban Myths: Princess Diana, Freddie and Kenny - One Normal Night
An amusingly bittersweet tale based on the idea that Di was a pal of the DJ and the rock legend, and joined them on a night out at a gay club, incognito. The story comes when they lose track of her, and she stumbles her way to a dressing room where she meets (and chats to) a drag queen who's clearly suffering with AIDS. Keeping it short and simple was a strength for a piece like this, which won't win any awards or hype, but makes its point far more effectively.

A rare recording of Freddie Mercury has turned up:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48691517

Time Waits For No One was originally part of the soundtrack to the 1986 West End musical Time.
The version released at the time featured the Queen star accompanied by dozens of layers of backing vocals.
But an early piano rehearsal of the song, featuring a different vocal take, has now been unearthed.

Dave Clark apparently didn't like this version, hence the later better known version.

13 Moments That Made Freddie Mercury & Queen
In a minor bump to the format, a rehash of a familiar story, but from a generally positive perspective. A mix of contributors, from fans and friends, including Wayne Sleep, Cleo Rocos and Spandau Ballet's Steve Norman. The rise and occasional falls of the band were treated sympathetically, and it was more about him than them.

The Show Must Go On - The Queen + Adam Lambert Story
At last, some recognition of the current state of affairs. It's 10 years since he came 2nd on American Idol. He impressed Brian and Roger during the show, and when his first solo album proved a bit too hot for the mainstream, he was welcomed into the fold. The Paul Rodgers era passed with little comment, besides Roger being dismissive, and John Deacon was treated with even less respect. I've often wondered why they haven't done an album with Adam, and the logic seems to be that live performance is what they need him for, and he can do albums as his own solo career.

Freddie Mercury - A Christmas Story
A familiar story, partly I think put together by the same people behind the "13 Moments..." effort mentioned earlier. The angle here was that Queen had the same song as Christmas #1 on 2 occasions, and that Freddie also enjoyed this time of year, and that he was generous with his friends. There were a few new-ish faces here, which always amazes me to be found even after 28 years. A lively story, though.

Roger Taylor was awarded an OBE in the New Year's Honours List too.

A Concert for Australia: Fire Fight
A special concert in Sydney to raise money for the recovery program. Tina Arena, Alice Cooper, Ronan Keating and Michael Buble all sang songs, but Queen & Adam Lambert got a long stretch of time to run through what was billed as the infamous "Live Aid" set from 1985. The crowd seemed keen. Olivia Newton-John and 80s legend John Farnham helped main event & close the show. Hopefully it will do enough good.

Among other contributions to recent news during the pandemic, Brian May has now suffered painful and serious injuries in his garden:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52594627

 Get well soon..!

Brian's updated his problems, which turned out to be rather worse than he at first thought: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52796964

Get well soon this time 

Better news at last, as a new live album has got them to #1 here for the first time since 1995, and given Adam Lambert his first #1 into the bargain.

misery guts wrote:13 Moments That Made Freddie Mercury & Queen
In a minor bump to the format, a rehash of a familiar story, but from a generally positive perspective. A mix of contributors, from fans and friends, including Wayne Sleep, Cleo Rocos and Spandau Ballet's Steve Norman. The rise and occasional falls of the band were treated sympathetically, and it was more about him than them.

Queen's Greatest Moments
A Top 30 rundown this time, but not a million miles away from the above. Entertaining though the story is, the more these shows are made, the more it becomes like bingo in ticking off the surviving members of the entourage. For the record, the top 3 were the final videos Freddie made, the Bohemian Rhapsody video, and the Live Aid performance.

A Life in Ten Pictures: Freddie Mercury
A new series, but many of the same old faces. It's nice to see Peter Freestone, Peter Hince, David Wigg and some of the others who were actually close friends of Fred's. His godson Freddie Mack was a younger face. The photos were more unfamiliar than over-familiar, which was good too.

Brian May is back in the news for his health again, having had eye surgery. One Vision, and all that.

Being Freddie Mercury: Under Pressure
And still these shows come. Here, psychiatrist Dr Bob Johnson gave his opinion of how a boy from Zanzibar changed so drastically over what short years he in fact had. Most of the usual old guard (Freestone, Hince, Wigg, etc) gave their views too. Even Cleo Rocos got on board.

Queen at the BBC
Another entry in this series of compilations, here running from Killer Queen onwards through to These Are The Days Of Our Lives, often jumping back and forth chronologically, and often making you wish to see the whole shows they were drawn from (they clearly played Montreux in 1984 and 1986).