''Fun in Space'' is the debut solo album by English musician Roger Taylor, the drummer of

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

. It was released on 6 April 1981 in the UK and 9 May in the US. The album peaked at number 18 in the British charts, while it performed poorly in the US. The album was recorded in between legs of Queen's tours for '' The Game'' and ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' ...

'' albums. Taylor wrote, produced, sang and performed all of the songs himself. The album's credits state "P.P.S. 157 synthesizers", a joke referring to Queen's usual statement of "No synthesizers" in the liner notes of all albums up to ''The Game''. "Future Management" was issued as a single in Europe, while "Let's Get Crazy" was released in the US. The album was re-released as a digitally remastered CD in 1996.

Cover

The original cover art was created by American artist Jim Laurier. The piece was commissioned for the July 1980 issue of '' Creepy'' magazine. The back cover of the album shows Roger Taylor reading that issue. The 'alien' writing on the magazine on the front cover consists mainly of upside down Hebrew characters. The actual words are meaningless. Coincidentally, the alien on the cover art was designed by Roger Taylor's former

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses d ...

bandmate

Tim Staffell Timothy John Staffell (born 24 February 1948) is an English rock musician, visual artist, model maker and designer. He was a member of Smile, a band that included guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Upon Staffell's departure, Smile w ...

. The alien was commissioned by Jim Laurier and Tim Staffell wasn't aware of the album cover until he found his alien on Roger Taylor's mantlepiece when visiting his home.

Track listing

* Sides one and two were combined as tracks 1–10 on CD reissues.

Personnel

* Roger Taylor – drums, percussion, lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass guitar, keyboards * David Richards – engineer, approximately 50% of keyboards *

Hipgnosis Hipgnosis were an English art design group, based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, Def Leppard, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black S ...

– artwork, cover design

Singles

* Future Management A-Side: "Future Management"
B-Side: "Laugh Or Cry"
Released on 30 March 1981.
Reached #49 in the UK Singles Chart.
Released in the UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Ireland. * Let's Get Crazy A-Side: "Let's Get Crazy"
B-Side: "Laugh Or Cry"
Released on 15 May 1981.
Released in Japan, USA, Canada and Australia. * My Country A-Side: "My Country"
B-Side: "Fun In Space"
Released on 29 June 1981.
Did not chart.
Only released in the UK.

Charts

References

{{Authority control Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) albums Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis 1981 debut albums Hard rock albums by British artists Parlophone albums EMI Records albums Elektra Records albums Albums produced by Roger Taylor (Queen drummer)