readyeddie
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Post by readyeddie on Feb 1, 2021 15:41:55 GMT
I was just flicking through my 7" collection and was looking at the cover for Las Palabras De Amor, and it got me thinking if the baby on the cover has ever been identifiedy? I know that the odds of finding out are about 1,000,000,000,000,000 : 1, but does anybody know?
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cmsdrums
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Post by cmsdrums on Feb 1, 2021 16:49:39 GMT
Don’t know if it’s a family member or just a random model (like the baby on Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’), but it’s interesting that Roger chose to re-use the same image for the ‘New Dark Ages’ single cover by The Cross!
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georg
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Post by georg on Feb 1, 2021 18:04:43 GMT
It was done by the Hipgnosis studio (of Pink Floyd fame). They had done Roger's Fun In Space album and were contracted to do Queen's Greatest Hits album but the image was too abstract (and honestly very un-Queen-like). Here's an interview with them, with the two rejected images.
"We met up with Freddie Mercury at Roger Taylor’s house in Fulham, and discussed the idea of the face with table tennis balls in both eyes and the mouth. The image on the back cover was going to have someone hammering a ball with a table tennis bat – hence greatest ‘hits’. But Freddie Mercury wasn’t having any of that. The baby’s face was just an idea that we liked. Queen didn’t. Looking back, Queen had their own imagery – very sensual and moody, as you can see in Mick Rock’s photo for Queen II. Our ideas were more surreal. I don’t think Hipgnosis were Queen’s cup of tea." I guess the image really resonated with Roger so much that he opted to reuse it. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2021 20:13:11 GMT
Don’t know if it’s a family member or just a random model (like the baby on Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’), but it’s interesting that Roger chose to re-use the same image for the ‘New Dark Ages’ single cover by The Cross! Just looking at the unused idea for Greatest Hits and the Las Palabras De Amor single. It looks like the New Dark Ages sleeve is a combination of both, The birds from Greatest Hits and the baby face from Las Palabras De Amor.  imgur.com/zjk9i8f |
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pg
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Post by pg on Feb 1, 2021 21:49:19 GMT
I would strongly suspect that the baby used was a stock image
It's interesting that the concept presented in 1981 was then used in 1991 (with no obvious credit being given) - it can only be RT, as there's no other common factor.
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Frank
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Post by Frank on Feb 2, 2021 3:16:46 GMT
It was done by the Hipgnosis studio (of Pink Floyd fame). They had done Roger's Fun In Space album and were contracted to do Queen's Greatest Hits album but the image was too abstract (and honestly very un-Queen-like). Here's an interview with them, with the two rejected images.
"We met up with Freddie Mercury at Roger Taylor’s house in Fulham, and discussed the idea of the face with table tennis balls in both eyes and the mouth. The image on the back cover was going to have someone hammering a ball with a table tennis bat – hence greatest ‘hits’. But Freddie Mercury wasn’t having any of that. The baby’s face was just an idea that we liked. Queen didn’t. Looking back, Queen had their own imagery – very sensual and moody, as you can see in Mick Rock’s photo for Queen II. Our ideas were more surreal. I don’t think Hipgnosis were Queen’s cup of tea." I guess the image really resonated with Roger so much that he opted to reuse it. The image with the tennis balls is straight up weird. Glad Freddie put his foot down on that one.  |
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vh
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Post by vh on Feb 2, 2021 13:47:37 GMT
I believe the photo used was one of Roger’s kids.
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Frank
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Post by Frank on Feb 2, 2021 13:58:18 GMT
I believe the photo used was one of Roger’s kids. All the more reason he would use the image again. Makes sense. |
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dysan
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Post by dysan on Feb 2, 2021 17:20:19 GMT
Ha I'm not sure I'd have given Greatest Hits a second look if I was a kid finding it in my family record collection with that cover
Replace those birds with aircraft and you have a decent recreation of a quite well known WW2 poster
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georg
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Post by georg on Feb 2, 2021 17:30:12 GMT
I believe the photo used was one of Roger’s kids. First time I heard of that. Where'd you read that? |
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dcw70h
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Post by dcw70h on Feb 2, 2021 17:46:10 GMT
I also believe that the photo is one of Roger’s kids, I think it’s been mentioned in a fan club mag - but cannot reference that at the moment.
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nickip
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Post by nickip on Feb 2, 2021 23:22:06 GMT
I also read that it was Felix - about the right age for the release of the song.
When the thread came up I tried to find the info on the internet - unsuccessfully - so thought I had imagined it. Maybe I’ll go trawl those scans of the fan club mags to find the info.
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pg
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Post by pg on Feb 3, 2021 20:39:35 GMT
If its one of RTs it can only be Felix
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Post by ThomasQuinn on Feb 4, 2021 11:51:52 GMT
If its one of RTs it can only be Felix We're assuming it can only be one of RT's kids born in wedlock then? ;-P |
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Post by ThomasQuinn on Feb 4, 2021 11:55:02 GMT
It was done by the Hipgnosis studio (of Pink Floyd fame). They had done Roger's Fun In Space album and were contracted to do Queen's Greatest Hits album but the image was too abstract (and honestly very un-Queen-like). Here's an interview with them, with the two rejected images.
"We met up with Freddie Mercury at Roger Taylor’s house in Fulham, and discussed the idea of the face with table tennis balls in both eyes and the mouth. The image on the back cover was going to have someone hammering a ball with a table tennis bat – hence greatest ‘hits’. But Freddie Mercury wasn’t having any of that. The baby’s face was just an idea that we liked. Queen didn’t. Looking back, Queen had their own imagery – very sensual and moody, as you can see in Mick Rock’s photo for Queen II. Our ideas were more surreal. I don’t think Hipgnosis were Queen’s cup of tea." I guess the image really resonated with Roger so much that he opted to reuse it. The image with the tennis balls is straight up weird. Glad Freddie put his foot down on that one.
Wow. Yeah, that's just a really bad call - I expect better (though not less weird) from Hipgnosis. If they were desperate for a Queen-and-hits related pun, it should've been something like a woman wearing a royal robe, a crown and boxing gloves throwing a punch. Their pun was just lazy, silly and would (rightly!) not have passed muster in a high school art class.
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Post by staysweet on Feb 4, 2021 15:30:06 GMT
It was done by the Hipgnosis studio (of Pink Floyd fame). They had done Roger's Fun In Space album and were contracted to do Queen's Greatest Hits album but the image was too abstract (and honestly very un-Queen-like). Here's an interview with them, with the two rejected images.
"We met up with Freddie Mercury at Roger Taylor’s house in Fulham, and discussed the idea of the face with table tennis balls in both eyes and the mouth. The image on the back cover was going to have someone hammering a ball with a table tennis bat – hence greatest ‘hits’. But Freddie Mercury wasn’t having any of that. The baby’s face was just an idea that we liked. Queen didn’t. Looking back, Queen had their own imagery – very sensual and moody, as you can see in Mick Rock’s photo for Queen II. Our ideas were more surreal. I don’t think Hipgnosis were Queen’s cup of tea." I guess the image really resonated with Roger so much that he opted to reuse it. The image with the tennis balls is straight up weird. Glad Freddie put his foot down on that one. Is the image on the left the one that was actually used? It looks like a drawing to me, not really a photo. Also, I believe Felix has dark eyes, doesn’t he? |
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georg
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Post by georg on Feb 4, 2021 18:14:24 GMT
Folks, I really don't think it's Felix. Hipgnosis is an art studio, and art studios generally either create their own art or, in a pinch, use stock imagery. That's not saying Hipgnosis couldn't have gone "hey we need a kid, anyone got one?" and Roger said "here use this one" and tossed them Felix, but unless there's definitive proof somewhere that it's him it's likely not him.
As someone said above they thought they read it in a Fan Club magazine; I perused the 1982 and 1991 ones, when questions about either Las Palabras or New Dark Ages would likely have been asked, and saw nothing mentioned. It likely could have been any time after 1982, but I don't have the time to dig my way through nearly 40 years' worth of Fan Clubs at the moment...
Saying all that, my parents ran their own art studio in the '80s, and a picture of my eyes was used in one of the medical books they were designing, so again, it's not unlikely it's not Felix...
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dysan
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Post by dysan on Feb 4, 2021 18:27:19 GMT
It's also worth noting they are in fact not the same image.
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cmsdrums
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Post by cmsdrums on Feb 4, 2021 18:31:17 GMT
Those suggesting it may be Felix might be right, but could also be conflating that one of his kids (Rufus?) appears on the cover of ‘Electric Fire’?
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emrabt
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Post by emrabt on Feb 4, 2021 18:56:25 GMT
Is the image on the left the one that was actually used? It looks like a drawing to me, not really a photo. Also, I believe Felix has dark eyes, doesn’t he? A lot of babies eyes change colour in the first year or two, normally blue to brown or green. I also thought "Felix" but I wonder if we are all making the Roger connection because of New Dark Ages connecting it subconsciously to Roger? |
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pg
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Post by pg on Feb 4, 2021 20:10:34 GMT
If its one of RTs it can only be Felix We're assuming it can only be one of RT's kids born in wedlock then? ;-P I'm not sure he actually had any in that category! |
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