Queen: The Complete Works

by Georg Purvis

  That said, it didn’t matter much; the compilation was a success, reaching No. 6 upon its release, while its similarly-titled companion DVD soared to the top of the charts for two weeks.

  * * *

  C. QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS ALBUMS

  RETURN OF THE CHAMPIONS

  Parlophone 3 36979 2, September 2005 [21]

  Hollywood 7 2061-62526-2, November 2005

  ‘Reaching Out’ (1’06), ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ (4’30), ‘I Want To Break Free’ (3’59), ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ (5’45), ‘Wishing Well’ (4’33), ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ (4’02), ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ (4’35), ‘Say It’s Not True’ (4’15), ‘’39’ (4’38), ‘Love Of My Life’ (5’11), ‘Hammer To Fall’ (6’45), ‘Feel Like Making Love’ (6’20), ‘Let There Be Drums’ (3’42), ‘I’m In Love With My Car’ (3’36), ‘Guitar Solo’ (6’59), ‘Last Horizon’ (4’42), ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’ (4’38), ‘Radio Ga Ga’ (5’59), ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love’ (4’22), ‘A Kind Of Magic’ (6’07), ‘I Want It All’ (5’09), ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (6’18), ‘The Show Must Go On’ (4’33), ‘All Right Now’ (6’54), ‘We Will Rock You’ (2’35), ‘We Are The Champions’ (4’30), ‘God Save The Queen’ (1’33)

  Musicians: Brian May (guitars, vocals, acoustic guitar), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals), Paul Rodgers (vocals, acoustic guitar on ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’), Spike Edney (piano, keyboards, vocals), Danny Miranda (bass guitar, vocals, acoustic guitar on ‘Say It’s Not True’), Jamie Moses (guitars, vocals, acoustic guitar on ‘Say It’s Not True’)

  Recorded: 9 May 2005 at Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield Producer: Justin Shirley-Smith

  Recorded on 9 May 2005 at Hallman FM Arena in Sheffield, Return Of The Champions is a largely complete show; ‘Under Pressure’ was played after ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ but Brian explained, “This is actually something that we probably won’t put on the DVD, so this is for you. This is like a bonus track!” The set draws heavily from Queen’s expansive past, as well as throwing in several of Paul Rodgers’ songs from Bad Company and Free, and the result is surprisingly listenable. While it doesn’t stand up to Queen’s heyday with Live Killers, Live At Wembley Stadium or Queen On Fire: Live At The Bowl, this is a new band out to have a good time, and it shows.

  However, the audio release doesn’t live up to its video equivalent, which is inevitable: Queen’s shows were always about the theatrics, and this is no exception. Listening to the music does little justice to actually seeing the band, but for what it is, Return Of The Champions is a good celebration of Queen’s past. Clearly, Roger is enjoying himself the most, and the few times he addresses the audience are great. Brian, meanwhile, was more reserved, allowing his excitement to come out in his charismatic playing, while Paul proved himself an adept frontman and unique interpreter of Queen’s songs, though he obviously felt more at ease on his own songs.

  The loss of John Deacon on bass was a heavy blow and, while Danny Miranda was a suitable substitute, it’s not quite the same. One has to wonder, too, why Jamie Moses was brought on board; Brian had never needed a rhythm guitarist on previous Queen tours, and Jamie doesn’t offer much in the way of expanding the sound. This may have something to do with the mix, though Brian did explain that Jamie was simply meant to provide rhythm while Brian tried some new things on lead.

  The Independent called it “a knock-out CD”, while The Denver Post said that “Purists can argue whether this is a revival of an iconic band’s songs or a bastardization thereof, but the music is at least faithful to the spirit of Queen’s 1970s glam-rock bravado, and in that it’s a success.” Classic Rock Revisited was perhaps more justifiably critical, but gave particular praise to Paul’s vocals on ‘I Want It All’ and ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ and the performances of Paul’s own songs: “In fact, the crowd seems more surprised at the power of the Queen + Paul Rodgers combo on these tracks than they do on any of the Queen material.” The Sun was impressed: “Whatever you make of Paul Rodgers stepping in to Freddie Mercury’s shoes to front Queen on tour, you have to admit he’s pretty good at it. And since Queen are still as popular as ever, despite the fact that frontman Freddie died nearly fourteen years ago, there’s still a huge market for shows like this ... The songs still sound just as fresh, the audience is just as captivated – and Brian May’s hair hasn’t changed.”

  Name disputes aside, Queen + Paul Rodgers’ first proper album is a fine introduction to the joie de vivre their live shows exhibited on the 2005 tour. Having temporarily silenced the critics, the only question that remained was: how would they do as a studio band?

  THE COSMOS ROCKS

  Parlophone 50999 2 37025 2 3 (CD) [5]

  COSMOS 001 (limited edition) [5]

  Parlophone 50999 2 37025 1 6 (LP) [5]

  Hollywood Records D000261502 (CD) [47]

  Hollywood D000280801 (LP/collector’s edition) [47]

  ‘Cosmos Rockin” (4’10), ‘Time To Shine’ (4’23), ‘Still Burnin” (4’04), ‘Small’ (4’39), ‘Warboys (A Prayer For Peace)’ (3’18), ‘We Believe’ (6’08), ‘Call Me’ (2’59), ‘Voodoo’ (4’27), ‘Some Things That Glitter’ (4’03), ‘C-Lebrity’ (3’38), ‘Through The Night’ (4’54), ‘Say It’s Not True’ (4’00), ‘Surf’s Up ... School’s Out !’ (5’38), ‘Small (2’05)’, ‘Runaway’ (digital editions only) (5’28)

  Super Live In Japan – Highlights (Bonus DVD): ‘Reaching Out’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’, ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Fire And Water’, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, ‘Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)’, ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’, ‘Radio Ga Ga’, ‘Can’t Get Enough’, ‘I Was Born To Love You’, ‘All Right Now’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘God Save The Queen’

  Musicians: Brian May (guitars, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals on ‘Say It’s Not True’), Roger Taylor (drums, percussion, keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals on ‘Say It’s Not True’), Paul Rodgers (lead and backing vocals, piano, keyboards, guitars, bass guitar), Taylor Hawkins (backing vocals on ‘C-Lebrity’)

  Recorded: June 2007–August 2008 at The Priory, Surrey Producers: Brian May, Roger Taylor, Paul Rodgers, Joshua J. Macrae, Justin Shirley-Smith, Kris Fredriksson

  Following the conclusion of the Queen + Paul Rodgers US tour in April 2006, the touring band went their separate ways to ponder the future of the partnership. While Paul had commitments as a solo artist, performing continuously from May until the end of October, and then again when his other commitments allowed it throughout 2007 and the early part of 2008, Brian and Roger had other plans, and not all of them were music-related. Roger was invigorated by the experience of playing to such large audiences again, and this sparked an interest in writing new material; indeed, he was the prime mover in getting Brian and Paul into the studio, and confirmed in 2006 that a new album from the trio would be inevitable. “There was no point in carrying on without new material,” Roger told Australia’s Courier Mail. “Otherwise you’re not a potent, ongoing force. If you’re just going to recycle old records, old songs, old hits, you sort of become your own tribute band.” As if to prove he was still bursting with creativity, that August he released ‘Woman You’re So Beautiful (But Still A Pain In The Ass)’, his first solo single since 1999.

  Brian, however, was reluctant; despite the thrill of being on stage night after night, his fingers weren’t moving as quickly as they had before, and he was in more physical pain throughout the lengthy world tours than he had been in years. Throughout the European tour in 2005, Brian wrote at length on his website about what a rush it was being in cities that had only recently witnessed their first Queen-related concert, but he also noted that the itinerary was rigorous and physically draining for him. (This was confirmed when Paul was stricken with vocal problems, forcing a last-minute rearrangement of vocal duties between Brian and Roger.) Such tours also meant extended time away from his fami
ly, and the process of getting back into a normal routine upon returning home was lengthy; Brian wasn’t ready to relive this anytime soon, and so threw himself into other projects that involved We Will Rock You: The Musical, the completion of his thesis (titled A Survey Of Radial Velocities In The Zodiacal Dust Cloud) and his postgraduate degree, and a book titled Bang!: The Complete History Of The Universe, written with astrophysicist Chris Lintott and astronmer Sir Patrick Moore. The very last thing he wanted to do was to pick up The Red Special and trot off around the world once again.

  Owing to the persistence of Roger, however, and the undeniable feeling that the chemistry between the three primary musicians had indeed sparked a creative force, long believed to be missing in the dark days following Freddie’s death, Brian conceded to work on new material once again, and sessions for an untitled studio album began in earnest in the summer of 2007. The recording location was at Roger’s home studio (which only further confirmed his dedication to the project) in Surrey, allowing the band to feel at ease with their surroundings and with each other, and not struggle to meet deadlines or feel pressured into arrangements suggested by a hot-shot producer. This has its pros and cons, as can be expected; without a guiding force to overlook the sessions and offer an outsider’s perspective, bands can fall into complacency; luckily, with three hard-headed musicians like Brian, Roger and Paul, however, this wasn’t ever the issue.

  The goal of the sessions was to create something organic. Shortly after the sessions began in earnest, Paul spoke to Billboard about the progress so far: “We’re letting it sort of develop itself naturally and not pushing it or giving it any pressure. We go in, just the three of us. Roger gets on the kit, Brian gets on othe guitar, I get on the acoustic guitar and piano, either/or, and then we share the bass line afterwards ... I can hear the song line and then Brian can hear all the harmonies on top of it.” The following year, in Australia’s Courier Mail, Brian mirrored these sentiments, explaining how they played together every day: “That’s something I’m proud of. We didn’t just go in there and fiddle with machines; we went in there and played our instruments and worked off each other – you can hear that on the album, I think. It’s an organic album at its core.”

  “Organic” was the manifesto of the sessions, with the decision made early on not to employ session musicians to fill in the gaps – everything would be played by Brian, Roger and Paul. Considering the chemistry that had developed, not only between the primary musicians but also Jamie Moses, Spike Edney, and newcomer Danny Miranda, on the 2005 and 2006 tours, it would have made sense to have had the touring band included on the sessions, as well. However, Brian, Roger and Paul still felt they had something to prove – if not to their fans, then certainly to themselves – that the three of them could write and record an album of new material. While this may have worked in theory, in practice the result was a mixed bag: with no permanent bassist, those duties fell to Brian and Paul, and while they may be a brilliant guitarist and brilliant vocalist, respectively, they’re certainly not bass guitarists, and John Deacon’s inventive and fluid lines are sorely missing on the finished album.

  Within the first three weeks, two complete songs – ‘Voodoo’ and ‘Time To Shine’, both by Paul – were submitted and finished to the band’s satisfaction, with several other ideas started; by the end of the summer, nine tracks were ready to go, with five more still to come. The ideas flowed fast and free, and everybody learned something from each other: “Paul works in a completely different way to us,” Roger told Classic Rock. “Brian and I go to incredible lengths to get things right. He’d never met two pickier, fussier individuals. We even ended up teaching him how to sing harmony vocals, which he’d never done before, but we learned from his spontaneity.”

  The first new Queen-related songs since the 46664 songs from 2003 was, incidentally, a re-recording of Roger’s ‘Say It’s Not True’, a live favourite on the 2005/2006 tours but drastically rearranged and overloaded with the pomp and grandeur of Queen’s glory days: transformed from its simplistic, acoustic origins to an emotional, uplifting power ballad, it was a promising return to form, and allowed Paul a perfect opportunity to affirm himself as a vocalist on a par with Freddie. Released as a digital single for World AIDS Day on 1 December 2007, the song was released as a physical product later that month, but because of its previous availability, the single reached a disappointing No. 90 in the UK.

  Recording on the album continued well into 2008, with promotion starting earlier than anticipated, when the touring band appeared on the second series finale of Al Murray’s Happy Hour in April 2008. The new album title was announced, as such, in the loo, where Brian, Roger and Paul were standing, having just graffitied the wall with “The Cosmos Rocks” and looking charmingly innocent, before they were introduced to perform the new single. But it wasn’t ‘Say It’s Not True’ that was performed; instead, Roger’s ‘C-Lebrity’, a tired potshot at instant stardom, was announced as the lead single. The band delivered a rambunctious performance, with Paul and Roger clearly enjoying themselves, Brian less so, before finishing up with versions of ‘All Right Now’ and an unaired ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

  The next day, the online community exploded with activity, with equal amounts of venom from Queen purists and praise from open-minded fans. Anticipation ran high, but the momentum ran out far too soon; considering the single wouldn’t be released for another four months, and the album following two weeks after that, the promotional blitz was premature, and by the time ‘C-Lebrity’ was finally released, fans had either had it already by way of rips from YouTube, or had moved on to something else.

  Work on the album finished for good on 1 August 2008, with Brian exclaiming on his website, “After many months, and much mountain climbing, and a degree of pain – we have an album!” He prophetically finished his update with, “And hey, can I have my life back now?! ... I need five months off! See ya...” The album was sent off to be mastered, and the touring band once again began rehearsals for the upcoming world tour, set to begin on 15 September in Kharkov, Russia – the same day that The Cosmos Rocks was released.

  Reviews were cautiously hopeful, with most centering around the lack of Freddie and the almost-there-but-not-quite gelling of Paul’s ramshackle blues-rock pedigree with Brian and Roger’s background in histrionic bombast. Uncut was particularly venomous, frothing that “this ill-fitting rebirth, fronted by the defiantly ungay, unIndian and uneccentric Paul Rodgers, can be seen as an attempt to ditch the Mercury-inspired absurdity and bolster Queen’s hard rawkin’ credentials ... Only the funky military swagger of ‘Warboys’ and the beautifully-crafted Freddie tribute ballad ‘Some Things That Glitter’ (possibly Rodgers’ finest vocal performance since his Free heyday) survive this faintly ridiculous project with any credit.” The Guardian was also contemptuous: “All involved have underlined that Rodgers should in no sense be thought of as Freddie Mercury’s replacement, but it’s hard to stop yourself wondering what Mercury might have made of all this. The songs might have sounded less awful if they were delivered with a certain knowing camp, a grandiloquence that suggested a sense of the ridiculous. But Paul Rodgers’ stock in trade is a kind of pained sincerity: not for nothing was he the favourite vocalist of our erstwhile PM. When he sings ‘Once I loved a butterfly, don’t wonder how, don’t ask me why’, he sounds as if he quite literally did love a butterfly, like one of those blokes you see on late-night Channel 4 documentaries trying to explain away his intimate relationship with a horse.” Virgin Media simply hated the album: “At best, this sounds like Queen with a lifeless stand-in where their heart should be. At worst, it’s not even that, sounding like a third-rate ZZ Top or just anonymously dull stadium rock. Hard to pick the nadir of such a dire selection, but ‘C-Lebrity”s galumphing satire particularly grates.”

  Two reviews, mostly mixed, brought up some valid points. Australia’s undercover.com was a little more generous in its damning: “Had they gone to neutral ground and called it by another
name other than Queen, we would be hailing it as one of the great rock releases on 2008. Unfortunately, it is so far removed from what Queen sounded like and not all that far removed from what the various Rodgers albums sounded like that it is difficult to accept The Cosmos Rocks as a follow-up to the Mercury legacy.” The Mail on Sunday, too, nearly hit the nail on the head: “There are glimmers of May and Taylor’s old skills – ‘Time To Shine’ is built on a wailing Arab motif, ‘Call Me’ contains hints of ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, and ‘We Believe’ has a simplistic grandeur that could give them another Christmas No 1. But much of this album is pub-rock writ large.”

  The good notices approached the album with an open mind. Some, however, blew some truly hyperbolic smoke: “The new trio’s first studio album has this seemingly unlikely coalition clicking together as a fine-tuned, cohesive unit,” Mojo gushed. “Without Freddie’s decorative flourishes, the onus is on straight shooting heavy rock, with bullish single ‘C-Lebrity’ the mission statement Queen/Bad Co hybrid. Elsewhere, ‘Small’ is a gentle throwback to Free, and ‘We Believe’ an ‘80s-spec stadium-rock anthem. Occasionally they stumble, as on the clunky ‘Warboys’, but with Rodgers imperious, Queen’s second coming is vindicated.” “Not only can The Cosmos Rocks sit proudly in the Queen canon,” Classic Rock purred, “it can also do the same alongside Rodgers’ work with Free and Bad Company ... As the album unfolds it rapidly becomes clear that all the components of classic Queen are here. It’s a work of extraordinary confidence, taking the band’s familiar blueprint and casually expanding it to encompass the organic blues and visceral soul of Paul Rodgers. Overall The Cosmos Rocks has more than enough power to take your breath away. Freddie’s legacy is in safe hands.”