Oct. 28 has been set as the release date for what the new album from what they’re calling Queen these days, which features Paul Rodgers as the frontman. Put aside the fact that the disc is entitled The Cosmos Rocks, and the fact that the guy from Bad Company is singing, and you’re still left with more than a few warning signs that this record might amount to one of the worst ideas in popular music history.
There’s not much material out there to preview from The Cosmos Rocks yet, but here are two minutes of the single, “Time to Shine”:
Sure, there’s nothing particularly offensive about that clip, but a Billboard article on Cosmos strikes fear in my heart.
The group has already debuted several of the new songs at shows and on TV, including first single “C-lebrity,” which features vocals from Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, and “Say It’s Not True,” written in honor of Nelson Mandela’s 46664 AIDS initiative….
After a pitch-modulated voice exclaims, “What planet is this?” opener “Cosmos Rockin’” blasts in with a handclap-bolstered beat and a peppy blues riff from guitarist Brian May. “Time To Shine” is an atmospheric rocker with an inspirational vocal (”Raise up your mind / It’s time to shine”), while “Still Burning” is a swaggering rocker that nods to Rogers’ tenure in Bad Company and Free.
Elsewhere, “Small” and “We Believe” are acoustic-leaning power ballads, “Call Me” conjures the multi-tracked operatic singing that was Queen’s Mercury-era trademark and the stomping “Surf’s Up … School’s Out!” closes the proceedings on an arena-rocking note.
Something I don’t particularly want to hear about a classic rock album is that it features “a pitch-modulated voice” or a track called “Surf’s Up … School’s Out!” It takes a bit of cognitive dissonance to accept that Brian Wilson is still writing songs about teenagers and surfing, but at very least, he’s from California. Paul Rodgers is nearing 60 and from Middlesbrough. The premise just doesn’t seem plausible, unless they’re talking about surfing the internet, which might be even worse. Also, a track called “C-lebrity”, with vocals from Taylor Hawkins? Why? That’s all I want to know. Why?
Still, if you hate yourself, and whatever legacy Queen have remaining, feel free to head to whatever store you buy your albums at come late October.
Queen Makes Date For ‘The Cosmos Rocks’ [Billboard]
@sydbarrett05: But he’s not Freddie Mercury. Who was sort of a defining characteristic of Queen.
i’ll agree that he Wasn’t some sort of hack, i like some old Bad Company or Free on occassion as much as the next guy
It was indefensible to let Taylor Hawkins sing even on the Foo Fighters’ “Cold Day In The Sun,” let alone on any other band’s song.
Still, whatever, let the geezers have their fun. I enjoyed The Who’s Endless Wire, and fully support classic rockers who exercise their prerogative to add weird final chapters to their recorded legacies instead of just leaning on the old hits for the more lucrative tours and reissues.
IMHO, this doesn’t do anything to the legacy of Queen, at least as far as I’m concerned. Anyone with any sense knows Queen died in ‘91. If it does anything, it slightly taints what legacy remained for Brian May and Paul Rodgers. I prefer to just think it’s a bunch of old guys who want to make new music together and happen to have the money, connections, recognition and ability to put it out and have people (possibly) buy/hear it.
I’ve always hated Queen, but I love Bad Company and Free, so for me, if anything, this whole thing has lowered my opinion of Paul Rodgers.
@Al Shipley: Taylor Hawkins wasn’t half-bad doing a Dennis Wilson impersonation on the Pacific Ocean Blue reissue:
Still I can’t imagine wanting to hear this new Queen record - and I can’t imagine trumpeting a Taylor Hawkins cameo will do much for sale, either.
I think Taylor Hawkins and the Coattails put out a pretty great CD, really. But yeah, bad idea.
@BigRicks: i had a comment eaten, and it’s a good thing because i failed to notice that you’d already said everything i was going to say.
Amusingly enough (for Southern California folks):
tonight at 8:30 on KCET, you can witness a Queen show not unlike the one I loved despite the damage to my split ends. The public television station is broadcasting “Queen Rock Montreal,” which captures a 1981 performance of the band at that Canadian city’s Forum. Because it’s pledge drive time, you’ll undoubtedly have a chance to phone in for a “gift” of the concert DVD as well.
Extra fun comes during those pledge breaks, when Ms. Fox will be interviewing Queen guitar god and PhD-accredited astrophysicist Brian May about the band’s new life with Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers in the Freddie seat, his gig as chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University and his recent book “Bang! The Complete History of the Universe.”
Brian May reading excerpts from his PHD thesis on Astrophysics has the potential to be less cringeworthy and more compelling…
Perhaps a better idea would have been to include May readings between tracks a la OUR LADY PEACE’s record SPIRITUAL MACHINES with Ray Kurzweil…
I can only think that Taylor Hawkins sings in the event that that track is the single, then a video is shot. His appearances in FOO FIGHTERS videos show his willingness to dress in drag, should fit in nicely with QUEEN’s past video releases…
Wikipedia brings some LOLs:
In 2000, Brian May and Roger Taylor participated together on a new version of We Will Rock You as Queen featuring boy band 5IVE. John expressed his unhappiness over the new version, perhaps also disappointed by such an uncredible musical union.
over the top ridiculousness has always been Queen’s MO, but the results used to end up super catchy and rockin, while based on that one song sample, that’s not the case anymore… but really, at this stage in the game who in their right mind honestly expected any Queen (or Lynyrd Skynyrd, or Stooges, or Black Sabbath, or Velvet Underground or etc etc etc) album to be even marginally decent? at a certain point any hope of greatness is past and the rest is just Michael Jordan playing for the Wizards.
The guy from Bad Company was also the lead singer of Free.
A really great band…It has become tiresome to read how people want to peg him as some sort of hack…he isn’t…and even though Bad Company had some more pedestrian sort of rock tendencies…I would rather take anything they did over scores of other groups!
Please go back and check out Free..and beyond “All Right Now” and find out why this man is so fantastic.