Album boasts Bad Company vox as royal replacement
James Viscardi
13 years. It's been 13 years since the legendary rock gods, Queen, put out an album. Now you may be thinking, "Queen? But isn't Freddie Mercury dead?" You would be correct. So how exactly do you create a new Queen album without the late great Mercury? Well, first of all, you do not attempt to replace him. Brian May and Roger Taylor simply partnered up with the notable voice behind Bad Company, Paul Rodgers.
Upon the mention of Queen's new album, many might say, "No Freddie, no Queen." While this is an understandable concern, you aren't a Queen fan if you think Freddie Mercury was the entire band. Even if you loved Mercury and thought he was the quintessential front man - Brian May and Rodger Taylor played a huge part in Queen's success as well. They could just as easily pull off a Queen reunion without him.
With that said, The Cosmos Rocks by Queen with Paul Rodgers isn't a perfect album, but is well worth the 13-year wait. Brian May's guitar playing abilities, for someone as old as he is, haven't faded in the least. This album is full of tunes that will have fans rocking out and playing air guitar while walking city streets. Songs like "Cosmos Rockin," "C-Lebrity" and "War Boys" are definitions of rock ballads. Pair up the fantastic guitar parts with Paul Rodgers' vocals and it becomes a little bit of magic.
Rodgers is no Mercury, but man, can he sing. He can belt out rock anthems and sing the sweetest of slow songs. His voice is unique - which is rare in music nowadays - and diverse. Rodgers is not replacing Mercury. Instead he brings his own feel and meshes his style seamlessly with May and Taylor's.
This album will take you up, down and all around Queentown. It's not perfect, but it's a step in the right direction. I, for one, welcome the new Queen line-up and hope there's more music to be played by these monumental musicians.
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It was going so well until...
[QUOTE]They could just as easily pull off a Queen reunion without him.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]They could just as easily pull off a Queen reunion without him.[/QUOTE]
I agree with this review. As influential as Freddie Mercury was, he was not the very definition of Queen. Queen were a lot of things. And a good deal of those things carry on with Brian May and Roger Taylor.
The guy's obviously not a professional. He avoids cheap puns, lacks vitriol and actually makes sense.
What about John!!??
Great, another reminder of what the Queen fans have become today.
While negative reviews of the Cosmos Rocks album are dismissed as ramblings of irrelevant and untalented nobodies, opinions like "Queen could just as easily reform without Freddie Mercury" are treated as the gospel.
The same people who supposedly think of Queen as four equal members are more than willing to belittle Freddie's part by saying the band is just capable of continuing without him!
While negative reviews of the Cosmos Rocks album are dismissed as ramblings of irrelevant and untalented nobodies, opinions like "Queen could just as easily reform without Freddie Mercury" are treated as the gospel.
The same people who supposedly think of Queen as four equal members are more than willing to belittle Freddie's part by saying the band is just capable of continuing without him!
"Now you may be thinking, "Queen? But isn't Freddie Mercury dead?" You would be correct."
"Rodger Taylor?"
Yes, he's certainly a professional, but not as a writer.
"Rodger Taylor?"
Yes, he's certainly a professional, but not as a writer.
Pro writer or not, the man has hit the nail on the head.
Queen was 4 people, sometimes working together, but very often not, early Queen tracks are almost solo songs with added session players.
They only worked closely together on a few tracks, however the 'sound' they made when combined was very much a unique element.
This album stays true to much of what Taylor and May have done in the past Tenament Funster would look no more out of place on this album as C-lebrity does, same goes for tracks like Sail away sweet sister.
Need your loving tonight, even though not a Taylor or May track could fit in to Cosmos, Dragon Attack also works well if you put Paul in lead vocal.
What this album doesn't have is the flambouance or Freddie, but frankly Freddie had left a lot of that behind, look at his contribution to the writing over the last few albums... play the game, don't stop me now, as older examples would also get hammered if they had arrived on Cosmos Rocks.
The thing is, if you are a true Queen fan, that mean being able to appreciate everything from Lily of the Valley to Don't Try Suicide, to Fun it. In my opionion the tracks on Cosmos fit right in.
Queen was 4 people, sometimes working together, but very often not, early Queen tracks are almost solo songs with added session players.
They only worked closely together on a few tracks, however the 'sound' they made when combined was very much a unique element.
This album stays true to much of what Taylor and May have done in the past Tenament Funster would look no more out of place on this album as C-lebrity does, same goes for tracks like Sail away sweet sister.
Need your loving tonight, even though not a Taylor or May track could fit in to Cosmos, Dragon Attack also works well if you put Paul in lead vocal.
What this album doesn't have is the flambouance or Freddie, but frankly Freddie had left a lot of that behind, look at his contribution to the writing over the last few albums... play the game, don't stop me now, as older examples would also get hammered if they had arrived on Cosmos Rocks.
The thing is, if you are a true Queen fan, that mean being able to appreciate everything from Lily of the Valley to Don't Try Suicide, to Fun it. In my opionion the tracks on Cosmos fit right in.
Sheer Brass Neck wrote:
"Now you may be thinking, "Queen? But isn't Freddie Mercury dead?" You would be correct." "Rodger Taylor?" Yes, he's certainly a professional, but not as a writer.
At least he did claim that Queen were going on tour with Rodger Moore and the support act was The Cosmos Rock like this plonker did
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-QUEEN-CONCERT-TICKETS-NEWCASTLE-ARENA-4TH-NOVEMBER_W0QQitemZ320295444465QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item320295444465&_trkparms=72%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
Heres part of what this idiot wrote in his ad -
"Grab yourself a pair of Queen/Rodger Moore tickets. The concert details are as follows; 4th November, 8pm, Block 213, Row U, seats 306 and 307, Newcastle Telewest Arena. Special guests include The Cosmos Rock."
"Now you may be thinking, "Queen? But isn't Freddie Mercury dead?" You would be correct." "Rodger Taylor?" Yes, he's certainly a professional, but not as a writer.
At least he did claim that Queen were going on tour with Rodger Moore and the support act was The Cosmos Rock like this plonker did
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-QUEEN-CONCERT-TICKETS-NEWCASTLE-ARENA-4TH-NOVEMBER_W0QQitemZ320295444465QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item320295444465&_trkparms=72%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
Heres part of what this idiot wrote in his ad -
"Grab yourself a pair of Queen/Rodger Moore tickets. The concert details are as follows; 4th November, 8pm, Block 213, Row U, seats 306 and 307, Newcastle Telewest Arena. Special guests include The Cosmos Rock."
Togg wrote:
"This album stays true to much of what Taylor and May have done in the past"
For a moment there I REALLY thought I could agree with you, but then you go and spoil it all. :P
This is album stays true to much of what May and Taylor have done in the past, but ONLY what they have done on their respective solo albums. That flamboyance you mentioned is what makes the difference between a solo track and a Queen track, and that's what the Cosmos is missing.
"This album stays true to much of what Taylor and May have done in the past"
For a moment there I REALLY thought I could agree with you, but then you go and spoil it all. :P
This is album stays true to much of what May and Taylor have done in the past, but ONLY what they have done on their respective solo albums. That flamboyance you mentioned is what makes the difference between a solo track and a Queen track, and that's what the Cosmos is missing.
Hey Tero! From your extensive experience in the studio with Queen when Freddie was alive and now with Paul Rodgers, please share your wisdom from what you witnessed since you are such an authority on the subject. Who did what? I'd really like to know from you since you have a multiple posts here. Please educate the rest of us. It's amazing how many people say "where's John?". The funny thing is that people understate the importance or Roger and Brian. Now I wasn't in the studio as you were to have this great wisdom to enlighten us with, but without Brian, Queen COULD have finished their career in the 80's as a cheezy keyboard band. The anti QPR people are funny. They buy the cd's, go to the concerts and then complain about it. If the album was too Queen then Paul would be ripping off Freddie. If it's too different, Its not Queen enough. Paul makes a tiny mistake and people jump on it and even give the time of the song when he does. Give it a rest. We're lucky that there is new life here.
Freddie was the greatest. But just remember that he was human too. He did , after all, do things like "Delilah" (a truly embarassing song that I would never play to a non Queen fan), he wrecked enough of Hot Space. If Paul did that, he's be crucified on here. I hope I don't start a debate about Delilah. C'mon people, that was simply humoring Freddie
Freddie was the greatest. But just remember that he was human too. He did , after all, do things like "Delilah" (a truly embarassing song that I would never play to a non Queen fan), he wrecked enough of Hot Space. If Paul did that, he's be crucified on here. I hope I don't start a debate about Delilah. C'mon people, that was simply humoring Freddie
"Queen are: Freddie Mercury,Roger Taylor, John Deacon and Brian May"
Hey Dude!
I didn't recognise myself from any of your rantings.
- I haven't claimed to know about their studio work with or without Paul
- I haven't claimed to be authority on that subject
- I don't use the number of my posts as an argument in any discussion
- I have never valued one member of Queen to be more important than another
- I haven't bought the Cosmos Rocks cd
- I have no intention of going to any of their concerts
- I have never expected this "new" band to sound like Queen of the old days
- I haven't been jumping on Paul (or Brian, or Roger) on any of the mistakes they make in concerts
- I have never claimed Freddie to be a perfect superhuman
- I have never claimed that everything Freddie did was pure gold, or that everything the others did was pure shit
- I have never attributed the artistic or commercial success to any on member of the band
In short, your post is the biggest pile of argumentative and deliberately insulting shit I have ever seen on QZ.
And some people say Treasure Moment is a troll... :/
I didn't recognise myself from any of your rantings.
- I haven't claimed to know about their studio work with or without Paul
- I haven't claimed to be authority on that subject
- I don't use the number of my posts as an argument in any discussion
- I have never valued one member of Queen to be more important than another
- I haven't bought the Cosmos Rocks cd
- I have no intention of going to any of their concerts
- I have never expected this "new" band to sound like Queen of the old days
- I haven't been jumping on Paul (or Brian, or Roger) on any of the mistakes they make in concerts
- I have never claimed Freddie to be a perfect superhuman
- I have never claimed that everything Freddie did was pure gold, or that everything the others did was pure shit
- I have never attributed the artistic or commercial success to any on member of the band
In short, your post is the biggest pile of argumentative and deliberately insulting shit I have ever seen on QZ.
And some people say Treasure Moment is a troll... :/
Just my two cents, but I think big parts of Brian Mays solo-albums sound more or less exactly like Queen with Brian singing. Freddie never managed to catch that Queen feeling on Mr Bad Guy despite having some Queen-like songs. There is something that happens when Brians guitar is added to a song that gives it that instantly recognisable sound. The same thing happens in many places on TCR despite it being a very PR sounding album, most notably on Small when the guitar solo starts. If you want to, try and imagine Bohemian Rhapsody or indeed any Queen song without the guitar or with someone else playing and there is something big lost.
We all love Freddie and the music he created, he was a truly unique musician. So dont get me wrong in any way.;)
We all love Freddie and the music he created, he was a truly unique musician. So dont get me wrong in any way.;)
Brian May + Roger Taylor = Smile.
Any Band Member(s) + Freddie = Queen.
Why don't people understand this??
Queen were not made up of four equal parts no matter what Freddie said in the past.
Freddie was at least 90% Queen because he provided the voice, and the artistry.
The other members were very good musicians and song writers, but without Freddie, they are Smile Plus.
If any member died except Freddie, the remaining Members + Freddie = Queen.
e.g. If Brian and Roger died, but Freddie and John lived on, Freddie + John = Queen.
Yes. Freddie + John + a new Guitarist + a new Drummer will still be Queen because you have the VOICE of Queen, and the Flamboyant Artistry of Queen.
This new Queen may not be as Rock Oriented and would not feature Brian May's Red Special but it would still be Queen.
Any Band Member(s) + Freddie = Queen.
Why don't people understand this??
Queen were not made up of four equal parts no matter what Freddie said in the past.
Freddie was at least 90% Queen because he provided the voice, and the artistry.
The other members were very good musicians and song writers, but without Freddie, they are Smile Plus.
If any member died except Freddie, the remaining Members + Freddie = Queen.
e.g. If Brian and Roger died, but Freddie and John lived on, Freddie + John = Queen.
Yes. Freddie + John + a new Guitarist + a new Drummer will still be Queen because you have the VOICE of Queen, and the Flamboyant Artistry of Queen.
This new Queen may not be as Rock Oriented and would not feature Brian May's Red Special but it would still be Queen.