Music Review: Roger Taylor, Fun In Space (Reissue)

By Tyler Hodg

Queen drummer Roger Taylor, along with Omnivore Recordings, has dug into the vaults and re-mastered his first solo record, Fun in Space. Initially released on vinyl in 1981, the album was previously only obtainable on CD as part of a ten-CD plus DVD collection titled The Lot, but now, it has been packaged with three bonus tracks (“I Wanna Testify,” “Turn on the TV,” “My Country [Single Version]”) and made available on a single disc. Generally, the album may not be considered a classic per se, but it’s definitely underrated enough to deserve the reissue treatment.

Fun in Space was Roger Taylor’s first release outside of Queen. While many solo albums are a product of a disbandment, that was not the case this time around; the record was actually recorded in between legs of Queen’s tours. Taylor first recorded three songs in 1977, which thankfully have made their way onto the album as bonus tracks; the extra content makes the package that much more attractive and satisfying.

Kicking off with the energetic “No Violins,” the tone for the album is set: Fun in Space is, well, fun. The music is impressive, but never becomes overbearing or in your face. Aside from the second track “Laugh or Cry,” there aren’t any ballads, despite the fact that Taylor comes from a band that features them fairly predominantly on their records. “Airheads” is a hard rock song unlike any other on the album, and “Fun in Space” truly befits the album’s title with spacey sounds and a length that seems to reach to infinity (but actually clocks in at 6:22).

What is specifically great about Fun in Space is the aura it holds; it sounds like the album was created from the pure interest of making music out of passion, rather than ego. When it’s the latter, it’s painfully obvious the majority of the time, and often makes the music uncomfortable. The project was produced, written, and recorded by Taylor himself, aside from “approximately 50 percent of keyboards,” which makes this record a true solo effort.

As far as the album artwork goes, Fun in Space screams out to be excused. Whether this cover was impressive at the time or not, it now seems dated and clearly a product of its time; it features a strange looking alien reading a magazine with Roger Taylor on the cover. On the back, the roles are reversed with Taylor focusing his attention on a magazine featuring the alien. Obviously, the artwork is tongue-in-cheek and not meant to be taken seriously, so in that respect, it fits the attitude of the music on the record.

Very few artists are just as big on their own as they are/were with their “main band”—Paul McCartney, Ozzy Osbourne, Michael Jackson, to name a few—but Roger Taylor is surprisingly not one of them. Somehow Fun in Space slipped through the mainstream cracks. This is not a widely known album, yet there are no outstanding reasons why: Roger Taylor humbly showcases his immense talent with well-written songs that are as creative as they are audibly appealing.

Regardless of the past, the future is once again bright for Fun in Space and this re-release will give new and old fans countless reasons to invest their time into an incredibly deserving album.

Fun In Space was reissued by Omnivore Recordings on March 24.