Brian Mays Red Special

Get the full story behind the Red Special, Brian May's hand-built guitar--a unique instrument that helped make May's musical dreams come true. In 1963, Brian May and his father Harold started to build the Red Special--an electric guitar meant to outperform anything commercially made. Here, Brian talks about of his one-of-a-kind instrument, from its creation on. He played it on every single Queen album and during the band's amazing shows: the roof of Buckingham Palace, Live Aid, the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics . . . and beyond. Along with original diagrams, sketches, and notes, May has included a great selection of photographs of himself with the guitar--which was fully dismantled so it could be shot-- as well as close-ups and X-rays.

The Red Special guitar was built by Brian May and his father 50 years ago, and has been played on every Queen album and all of their live shows around the world. This book is a full exploration of every aspect of this iconic musical instrument.

Queen in 3-D is an inside view of one of the greatest rock acts of all time told in his own pictures and words by founder member, songwriter and guitarist Brian May. Complimentary 3-D OWL viewer included.

An Annotated Tour of the 1850s series of Stereo Photographs "Scenes in our Village" by T.R. WilliamsThis book is the perfect antidote to the stress of life in the 21st Century.It portrays the idyll of life in an 1850s village, "far from the sound of the train's whistle".The identity of the village was lost to the world for 150 years, and only by a miracle does this magical set of stereoscopic views survive, brought together for the very first time by Brian May and his co-author, photohistorian Elena Vidal. Their research is amazingly in-depth, but the book is utterly readable, and the pictures leap into glorious 3-D, viewed in the new focussing stereoscope which May has designed and produced, to bring the stereos to life, and then fold neatly into the slip-case of the book.The book gives an extraordinary insight into everyday village life at the time - with a woman at her spinning wheel, the blacksmith outside his smithy, three men at the grind stone sharpening a tool, the villagers in the fields, bringing in the harvest as well as often taking time to enjoy a good gossip. In every case the original verse which accompanied the view is reproduced. In addition, May and Vidal have researched and annotated all the views, revealing another layer of meaning, by exploring the history of these real characters, this idyllic village and its links with the present day. The result is a powerfully atmospheric and touching set of photographs." A Village Lost and Found brings master pioneering stereographer T. R. Williams's passionate life-work Scenes in Our Village to a new audience - in glorious 3-D, as never before.For an Electronic Press Kit for A Village Lost and Found click here

As the lead guitarist of Queen, Brian May is one of rock's most recognisable stars. Brian May: The Definitive Biography charts his life from his childhood, through his years studying astrophysics and teaching, to his success with Queen, his more recent projects and his volatile relationship with actress Anita Dobson. Bestselling writer Laura Jackson examines closely the many aspects of the May's life, detailing Queen's struggles to acheive success and what life at the top was really like. It charts the camaraderie and conflicts within Queen as well as the disintegration of May's first marriage, the death of his father and the profound professional and emotional effects of Freddie Mercury's illness and death. Packed with nearly seventy first-hand exclusive interviews with some of May's closest friends, colleagues and fellow musicians - including Iommi, Joe Elliott, Raul Rodgers, Cliff Richard and Spike Edney - this is an extraordinary, inimate portrait of a rock legend.

This all-color, fully illustrated practical book brings the unique Haynes ‘Build your own’ approach to a new audience. Comprehensive step-by-step procedures show both novice and experienced guitarists how to build their very own unique, high-spec custom S-type instrument, tailor-made for their needs, for far less than the cost of buying a factory-built equivalent. Various body, neck and hardware options are covered to suit all requirements, along with advice on how to build a guitar to give the desired sound. Details of fine-tuning, along with set-up advice, helps to ensure that the finished guitar will be a joy to own and play

In the summer and autumn of 2006 I read several interviews with Brian May in which he mentioned his desire to complete the PhD that he had abandoned in 1974. I looked up the papers he had published while a PhD student, which were on spectroscopic studies of the motion of the dust responsible for the zodiacal light, and felt that there was a basis for a thesis. Since he had been a student at Imperial, I knew, as Head of the Astrophysics Group at Imperial, that it would be good for the Group if he came and worked with us. I got in touch with him by email and suggested he come and talk about it. He replied enthusiastically and said that he was working on typing up what he had completed by 1974. I gradually realized that I was the only staff member at Imperial who had previously worked on zodiacal dust, so that I would have to act as his supervisor. Eventually we met and I tried to assess whether he would be able to find time for the huge amount of work that finishing off a thesis involves, particularly if it has not been touched for over 30 years. Since some of Brian’s emails were coming from the recording studio I knew there was strong competition for his time.

With one big bang, the universe exploded into being 13.7 million years ago. This is the story of how everything came about, from the moment when time and space came into existence, to the formation of the first stars, galaxies, and planets, to the evolution of human beings able to contemplate our own origins and ultimate destiny--and on to the infinite future, after the Red Giant Sun consumes Earth. Bang explains it all in clear, straightforward terms, chronologically, without any mathematics, and including the most up-to-date discoveries. New in paperback.

From the photographer of the critically acclaimed 108 Rock Star Guitarscomes a new collection of beautifully shot guitar photos, documenting the legendary instruments of B.B. King, Kurt Cobain, St. Vincent, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and more than one hundred and fifty icons of rock.