A Few Things If I May....

GB Queen Archivist.

I have been following the comments here on RT's 'The Lot' boxed set with both interest and the usual irritation. There is a lot I could say (no pun intended), but Gary summed it up in his thread yesterday - though I might not necessarily share his view that 'most fans are pleased with the overall set'.

Much of the comment I see aimed at Gary on QZ is unfair and without foundation. Some of it is just plain stupid and insulting, but I've come to expect that from certain imbeciles and teenagers that exist here.

GT seems to be getting similar crap aimed at him, that I used to get, before I gave up and buggered off away from this often draining tiresome space, and he is quite rightly equally bewildered. He's not upset by it, but I think he is pissed off by how massively wide of the mark some of it is.

I see things like...

A) That I think is beneath you as a person, and unprofessional as a QPL employee.

B) GT might well be furious, but is unable to say that here, in case it puts his job at risk.

C) Your work as an excellent archivist has been tainted.


I think it appropriate to point out:-

1) GT is not a QPL employee. He helps us out when we call upon him, most notably co-writing sleeve notes and other text with me.

2) GT does not put his Queen job at risk, because he doesn't have a job with QPL to put at risk. Thus, he is free to speak his mind, and most often he does so, openly and without fear of upsetting his perceived employer. He just happens to do so with careful and sensible consideration, rather than blurting out all kinds of nonsense without thinking about it first! This irritates a lot of QZ-ers, who seem to think he should make public EVERYTHING he's privy to when he works on projects with us. I know this feeling well.

3) It's evident by now, surely, but just to make things absolutely clear; Gary is not an archivist. Queen employ just the one Archivist, and that is me. Gary is not here every day in the archive with me. He has his own job in Torquay and is very happy with it. We work together on the phone 99% of the time, and it works extremely well.


I hope this makes the situation clearer, and further that it illustrates how ridiculous it is to blame GT for various things alleged to be his fault, when actually he was responsible for none of the decisions or proof-readings he gets abuse over.

Many people here perceive things that are very very far removed from the actual behind-the-scenes reality. Gary helps us out without hesitation, and always does his level best, like me, to achieve the best possible end result. It is not his fault if other people then present that work in ways that are beyond his control. So, to haul him over the coals, as some of you do here, especially this week, though entirely predictable, is plainly absurd, ludicrous and inappropriate.

I recently said to Gary "Welcome to my world," because the void between the reality of my actual job, the things I do and am responsible for, and which I have absolutely no say in and am not responsible for, and how that is perceived by certain fans out there.... is VAST.

It would be great if some of you QZ-ers thought a good deal more, did a little research first, before launching into ill-informed and unfounded criticisms of what you think Gary and/or me has done wrong, or should account for, or explain away, or defend, or apologise for. It is utterly crazy!

'The Lot' is being fixed at this very moment. It's regrettable that errors crept in, of course it is. No one is more disappointed than us. But, it'll be a bloody good product offering Roger's entire back catalogue, and his new album which has just charted!!!! Enjoy it. Listen to the singles, remixes, extended versions, live renditions, previously unreleased audio, and the videos that you never had before. And all the album lyrics. All this stuff is available together under one roof for the very first time. Read the breath-takingly wondrous sleeve notes so carefully put together for you, and just take it all in. And give us a break!!

GB

GB - Thanks for uncharacteristically constructive response. I hope you are you right about The Lot being corrected.

You are correct that GT should be treated like a human being, as he has always attempted to civilly respond on QZ.

I hope you continue to take the high road and continue to respond constructively no matter the provocation.

Well said, Greg.

I can't believe that people on QZ think that Greg Brooks or Gary Taylor have any say whatsoever in any of the product that is released, or how it turns out. The disc errors had nothing to do with either of them (the text errors in the book, on the other hand...); as Gary outlined in the other thread, he and GB assemble a product of how they think it should look before their bosses alter it to how THEY think it should look. Guess who's going to get the final say every time?

Imagine if GB and GT had their way, we would have had a 10-disc singles box set that included nearly everything on it, we would have had the archives boxes years ago, the bonus discs on the 2011 reissues would have been packed with rarities, and so on and so forth.

I agree that the disc errors are downright embarrassing, especially for a product so exorbitantly priced, but Greg and Gary are not the ones to blame for this – Virgin/EMI are. As Inu-Liger posted in other threads, contact them and demand replacements. Hurling abuse at a freelancer and an archivist are not going to solve the problem.

[QUOTE]I hope this makes the situation clearer, and further that it illustrates how ridiculous it is to blame GT for various things alleged to be his fault, when actually he was responsible for none of the decisions or proof-readings he gets abuse over. [/QUOTE] Unfortunately this is how dysfunctional this website's users are (although thankfully not ALL of them!). They're so used to seeing red when it comes to the LITTLE mistakes, that the fact this boxset's BIG mistakes have left them seeing multiple shades of red that have clouded their common sense so much, it didn't matter which front end "rep" they were going to attack, irregardless if you yourself were the usual favourite punching bag or not. [QUOTE]Many people here perceive things that are very very far removed from the actual behind-the-scenes reality. [/QUOTE] Typical of binary minded people who don't take the time to research, never mind reach out to you or GT personally. [QUOTE]It would be great if some of you QZ-ers thought a good deal more, did a little research first, before launching into ill-informed and unfounded criticisms of what you think Gary and/or me has done wrong, or should account for, or explain away, or defend, or apologise for. It is utterly crazy! [/QUOTE] A lot of apologies are overdue, but oh let's not remove something so inconvenient such as stubborn pride in order to make that happen, eh Queenzone? [QUOTE]'The Lot' is being fixed at this very moment. It's regrettable that errors crept in, of course it is. [/QUOTE] THANK YOU, Greg! This is wonderful news. And that said, I hope the record company and "Team RT" will be echoing this very very soon. Would be nice to calm down the hot headed fans and move on past this soon enough.

[QUOTE] [b]Lord Gaga wrote:[/b] As Inu-Liger posted in other threads, contact them and demand replacements. Hurling abuse at a freelancer and an archivist are not going to solve the problem.[/QUOTE] My long lost faith in QZ has just been restored a little :)

Greg, you or Gary, please analyse the whole 'Errors' topic on this forum and inform about the problems the right person, who coordinates 'The Lot' project.

Let's hope not only the 'Life Changes' issue will be corrected...

I tried to write something similar to the thread but the people (especially one russian teenager) don't care and keep on bitching about the incorrect people. The only good thing is that the errors are being fixed

Hi Greg,

Thanks for your response, it's the kind of thing that fans appreciate.

You signed off with "Give us a break". That is exactly what I was trying to say. My comments have been taken by you, in the exact opposite way I intended.

Regardless of what GT's exact role is, or whether he is an emplyee, my points you have listed were in his defence. I was saying, "look, there are two sides to every story", but because no official statement was made that addressed the errors that were being discussed, criticism was leveled unfairly at others (ie, you guys).

Because of that, I was saying was that you are, in a way, being thrown under the bus - because nobody else was coming forward to say "WE acknowledge all the errors and are sorry" - So you guys found yourselves in the firing line, because you are the only guys who make an effort to connect with the fans (which is very much appreciated by me, and countless others, I'm sure).

I am not alone in having huge respect (and a certain degree of jealousy) for you and the job you do, but you said "It would be great if some of you QZ-ers thought a good deal more, did a little research first, before launching into ill-informed and unfounded criticisms of what you think Gary and/or me has done wrong, or should account for, or explain away, or defend, or apologise for. It is utterly crazy!"

Greg, the Queen machine is so backward in coming forward, the forums are full of people doing research and theorising on all sorts of stuff. But research is hard when getting information out of the QPL is like trying to get blood out of a stone.

It looks like the initial attitude was "Lets keep selling this, and hope that nobody notices the mistakes".

Ultimately, Team RT should have come forward immediately and said "this was not the fault of X, Y or Z, it happened because of A, B and C". If that had happened, all this would have been avoided.

Again, I stress the point that I was attempting to make people realise that if the mistakes don't all boil down you and GT, why is nobody from an official source clarifying that? It seems unfair on YOU if you ask me. That is all I was saying.

I would like to add though, thank you for clarifying a few things, and you have done an excellent job in compiling the set. I have been enjoying it on Spotify very much, and despite the mistakes, I'm looking forward to getting a copy of it, if it gets an error-free release.

You and GT keep saying enjoy the CDs. I wish I could. But I never got it, and don't know if I ever will!

Blimey. Hell's teeth!!!!!!

Greg, I'm staggered - a great post.

It'd be interesting to know exactly +what+ is being done and +how+ end-users will be recompensed, but I assume it is either too early or you don't know in order to say.

It'd also be interesting to know +why+ the product was released in such a shambolic state, but I fear QPL is too embarrassed or simply doesn't care to allow an explanation.

Thank you again, but, and it'll serve no purpose in the bigger picture, I will STILL refrain from ever purchasing a Queen or related product again.

Errors like this should NOT go to market.

[QUOTE] [b]Benn Kempster wrote:[/b]

Blimey. Hell's teeth!!!!!!

Greg, I'm staggered - a great post.

It'd be interesting to know exactly +what+ is being done and +how+ end-users will be recompensed, but I assume it is either too early or you don't know in order to say.

It'd also be interesting to know +why+ the product was released in such a shambolic state, but I fear QPL is too embarrassed or simply doesn't care to allow an explanation.

Thank you again, but, and it'll serve no purpose in the bigger picture, I will STILL refrain from ever purchasing a Queen or related product again.

Errors like this should NOT go to market.[/QUOTE]



GB: Don't be too staggered, BK, because in the early days here on QZ I was happy to contribute constructive comment and impart things that were not quite public domain yet (with band approval). But then suddenly when I declined to give ALL the info that certain people told me it was my duty to give, I got into all kinds of crap and nastiness.

I explained my position calmly and politely. I said, "Would you be demanding me to tell you about all my clients' personal bank details and private financial issues, if I was a Bank Archivist for Lloyds?" But that wasn't good enough. Still they expected me to tell them everything on demand, and have no respect for the job I do or the people I do it for. Some people have no concept of integrity. Then came the personal attacks, abuse, 2 death threats, and generally many people thinking it was fine to say and accuse me of everything and anything they liked. That is not acceptable and I'm not going to be a doormat for such idiot people.

I wasn't having that. I stood up for myself, and gave back only as good as I got. It got very nasty very quickly, so I pulled away from all that rubbish. I view it as certain QZ-ers effectively cutting off their Queen noses in spite of their faces. Because now I tell them next to nothing, when I could impart much sometimes.

Now... it's Gary who has to put up with the same kind of unfounded crap.

It's a real shame that this position exists, but honestly it effects the genuine QZ-ers far far more than it does me. The comments were/are like water off a duck's back to me. Life is too short to let such things effect you. You have to grow a thick skin and not let those particular people penetrate you with their ill-thought out comments and repetition.

Anyway... I genuinely hope people do enjoy the fixed RT box, coz there's some fab stuff there to discover or rediscover. There's a good deal more than you might think.

GB

Very eloquent, very nice and largely thoughtful, but it doesn't change anything: those errors are embarrassing.

Bitter nitpickers who are never happy with anything and obsequious stepfords who are always happy with everything aren't the only two options here. Some people are honestly and rightfully outraged by those mistakes, as they flaunt an overall unprofessional work and lack of quality control.

If I pay full price for a new car and I get it with broken windows, should I be kissing the dealer's feet because it still runs and still has comfortable leather seats, or am I entitled to complain about the broken windows?

Assuming the ridiculous mistakes aren't indeed Greg's or Gary's fault, the fact remains the product's a joke (and not a good one) compared to what it could be (and hopefully will be).

Give *us* a break.

[QUOTE] [b]GB: Queen Archivist wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]Benn Kempster wrote:[/b]

Blimey. Hell's teeth!!!!!!

Greg, I'm staggered - a great post.

It'd be interesting to know exactly +what+ is being done and +how+ end-users will be recompensed, but I assume it is either too early or you don't know in order to say.

It'd also be interesting to know +why+ the product was released in such a shambolic state, but I fear QPL is too embarrassed or simply doesn't care to allow an explanation.

Thank you again, but, and it'll serve no purpose in the bigger picture, I will STILL refrain from ever purchasing a Queen or related product again.

Errors like this should NOT go to market.[/QUOTE]



GB: Don't be too staggered, BK, because in the early days here on QZ I was happy to contribute constructive comment and impart things that were not quite public domain yet (with band approval). But then suddenly when I declined to give ALL the info that certain people told me it was my duty to give, I got into all kinds of crap and nastiness.

I explained my position calmly and politely. I said, "Would you be demanding me to tell you about all my clients' personal bank details and private financial issues, if I was a Bank Archivist for Lloyds?" But that wasn't good enough. Still they expected me to tell them everything on demand, and have no respect for the job I do or the people I do it for. Some people have no concept of integrity. Then came the personal attacks, abuse, 2 death threats, and generally many people thinking it was fine to say and accuse me of everything and anything they liked. That is not acceptable and I'm not going to be a doormat for such idiot people.

I wasn't having that. I stood up for myself, and gave back only as good as I got. It got very nasty very quickly, so I pulled away from all that rubbish. I view it as certain QZ-ers effectively cutting off their Queen noses in spite of their faces. Because now I tell them next to nothing, when I could impart much sometimes.

Now... it's Gary who has to put up with the same kind of unfounded crap.

It's a real shame that this position exists, but honestly it effects the genuine QZ-ers far far more than it does me. The comments were/are like water off a duck's back to me. Life is too short to let such things effect you. You have to grow a thick skin and not let those particular people penetrate you with their ill-thought out comments and repetition.

Anyway... I genuinely hope people do enjoy the fixed RT box, coz there's some fab stuff there to discover or rediscover. There's a good deal more than you might think.

GB[/QUOTE]








We want more details about promised AMAZING NEW RAINBOW PROJECT. Why this project was cancelled?