What Went Wrong With The Cosmos Rocks ?

You could say what went right with The Cosmos Rocks? I would be interested to hear peoples views on why this Album performed so badly.Released twelve years ago in 2008 with all tracks being written by Brian,Roger and Paul peaked at Number 5.In my opinion there were maybe four good songs on it,Small,We Believe,Say It's Not True and Surfs Up...Schools Out.The cover is awful,the CD inlay is very cheap indeed,very small writing can hardly read the lyrics,maybe done on purpose.There seemed to be hardly any news of its release no big fanfare.I only knew that it was going to be released as they made an appearance on Al Murray's Pub Landlord show performing a song which could have been written about Adam Lambert...C-lebrity. The song Call Me was a obvious rip off of Crazy Little Thing Called Love.I think they played around five songs from the Album during the Cosmos Rocks tour.Many people could not accept PR as a replacement for Freddie and quite rightly.Just a thought Hot Space or The Cosmos Rocks ?

Queen minus Freddie ain't Queen, that's what went wrong.

[QUOTE] [b]philip storey wrote:[/b]Just a thought Hot Space or The Cosmos Rocks ?[/QUOTE]

Neither. I'd rather drive six-inch nails through my own eardrums.

Hot Space easily.

It's not a bad blues rock album, it just sounds absolutely nothing like Queen. More like "Paul Rodgers + Brian and Roger" album. Seems like people wanted a sort of recreation of their golden years, but it's not possible without Freddie.

Hot Space.

For me The Cosmos Rocks sounded like a Paul Rogers solo album not a Queen or Queen+ sound in the slightest, in reality you could of had any musician on it instead of Brian and Roger as it was more a Paul Rogers sound than Maylor if that makes sense (obviously due to PR's vocals). And if Brian and Roger didn't want a Queen sound, which is fair enough they should also not of called themselves Queen+. I don't think they as in Maylor we're that bothered about truly promoting it i.e making some decent promo video's for it or at least a C-lebrity promo, because it was a cheap effort to use Al Murray's TV guest spot as a promo video as it was shite.Then of course Brian having a bit falling out with PR maybe Brian just want's someone to do as they are told i.e AL.

Have to agree regarding the cover. Almost as bad as Brian's Live At Brixton Academy cover. But there were a few solid songs on it but as mentioned, it just sounded like a Paul Rodgers solo album. They should never have used the Queen name to release it and hopefully it's lack of success and terrible songwriting stop them from trying to do the same with Adam.

So many things went wrong. It wasn't marketed that much, like they wanted it to tank. Was that the record label or the band's decision? Who knows?

Brian was absent and you can feel like he kind of phones it in. This is more of a Roger + Paul collaboration with Brian as guest but I don't think the music sounds like a Paul Rodgers solo album at all. Roger is the chief writer, after all.
Lyrics are pretty weak.

Hot Space is obviously better and less cringeworthy. I'd pick HS over TCR any time. But, then again, I'm in the minority that actually likes Hot Space.

Cosmos has a few good moments and it does leave me wanting to know what a second Q+PR album would have sounded like. One with Brian fully contributing, rather than focusing on his Ph.D.

It wasn’t horrible. Nor was hot space. There are so many worse albums out there notwithstanding Queen. But without question, cosmos is the weakest of all “Queen” albums. The golden voice was missing and john’s input was clearly missed.

Brian and Roger don’t consider it a Queen album. They didn’t reissue it in the remasters series and they did not include it in the vinyl box.

If they had to defend it they would point to the album cover and insist it was not a Queen album but rather a Queen+ project.

But it wasn’t a horrible album. You can enjoy it if you have an open mind. You probably wouldn’t play it on repeat. But every now and then, I give it a spin. I enjoy still burning, c-lebrity, small, we believe. Each of them could have made it on a real Queen album.

[QUOTE] [b]philip storey wrote:[/b]

.....a song which could have been written about Adam Lambert...C-lebrity. ?[/QUOTE]

You clearly have no understanding of the world.
That album could've used Adam.

That said; Cosmos Blows is a pile of shit made by middle-aged lazy millionaires who can't write a decent haiku, let alone an album's worth of good lyrics.

Hot Space all the way.
Would even rate Adam's solo work above this shit.

Ugh...and that album title...
We all probably know how that meeting went.

I used to love The Cosmos Rocks, I used to listen to it again and again, but to be honest I haven't listened to it for a long time. Maybe 10 years.
There are 2 main problems - 1 - the cover is absolutely awful, 2 - the songs are good. But the songs should not be GOOD, we were used to Queen albums where every song was something special. You won't find anything like that on this album. And yeah, the fact that there was zero promotion didn't help either.

So much for the argument that Fred was only 1/4 of Queen. Without Fred (and John) there was only an echo of Queen in TCR. Where I feel that presence most is in Some Things That Glitter (is that song a tribute to Fred?), but in almost all the other songs it is absent. The Queen 'brand' didn't work and they really should have called themselves something else. For concerts, of course, the brand still carried/carries weight.

I'm being honest now, I've never listened to it. My first memory of the group was at the time when the collaboration ended so I have never really tried listening to it. I know a couple of songs but I don't think I've listened entirely to one track.

The album has no soul. It's dark and too much Paul Rodgers.

I actually enjoy the album, but it’s not one I listen to often. It’s just good....no real “hook”...as it were. I like Paul’s voice and so for me it works. But it’s nowhere near a Queen sound.