Queen guitarist Brian May has launched a new YouTube series to promote the reissue of his second solo album, 1998’s Another World, which will be released in multiple formats and configurations on April 22.
The first episode of the new series, which premiered Wednesday, features May sharing his recollections of the Another World cover photo, which features Brian positioned next to a twisted juniper tree located on El Hierro in the Canary Islands.
In the episode, titled “Another World: Back to the Tree,” May explains how he first saw a black-and-white photo of the historic tree — which is located in the town of El Sabinar — in a newspaper and was fascinated by it.
Brian notes that he was going though a hard time emotionally back then, and remembers that something about the tree inspired him to visit it.
“This tree [was] living in very adverse circumstances. It’s trying to grow in a place where there’s constantly a driving wind off the oceans, saltwater wind, and it’s still managing to survive,” he says in the video. “How has it survived? By adapting. I thought, I want to visit that tree. So, I found it in a travel magazine…On an impulse…I thought, ‘OK, we have to go there.'”
Brian then shares the story of the photo shoot, explaining how he tried to position his body to resemble the tree. For the YouTube series, May returned to El Hierro in March to see the tree today.
New episodes of the Another World YouTube series will debut weekly through mid-May.
As previously reported, the Another World reissue can be pre-ordered now and will be available on CD, cassette, vinyl and digital formats, and as a deluxe box set, two-CD set and limited-edition vinyl picture disc.
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