| mickyparise 30.09.2008 22:25 |
Published Date: 30 September 2008 Seventeen years after Freddie Mercury's death, Queen have just released a new album with Free frontman Paul Rodgers. Their European tour comes to Scotland next month. It's all very exciting. Dear Paul Rodgers, Brian May and Roger Taylor So chaps, how did last night's gig at Zurich Hallenstadion go? Did you have the whole house rocking? Did you have the whole town rocking, in fact, to the mighty mighty power of rock'n'roll? Did all of your Swiss fans dance out of the door, dance into the street, all the people swaying to the musical beat? Did you rock down the road and down to the town, where all the people stared and smiled and got down? Did a policeman say "stop this noise!" before the beat took him over and he became one of the boys? Ha ha! I am, as you have probably spotted, paraphrasing the lyrics of Cosmos Rockin', the blistering opening number from your long-awaited new album, The Cosmos Rocks, a collection of brand new Queen songs that have enhanced the band's reputation in much the same way as your duet with the boy band Five, the critically acclaimed musical We Will Rock You, and Too Much Love Will Kill You, Brian May's touching and sensitively titled tribute to Freddie Mercury, following his death from Aids in 1991. It really is a splendid album, chaps. I'm particularly enjoying C-Lebrity, your wittily titled critique of celebrity culture. "I can't sing or dance at all. Some may say I'm lackadaisical, and if I was real good I'd stand no chance at all. I want to be a face on TV. Then you can see I'm a c-lebrity." That song will certainly give the likes of Jade Goody and Victoria Beckham something to think about. It's about time someone pointed out that celebrities aren't all they're cut out to be. I mean, some of them are just famous for being famous! I'm also a big fan of Warboys, a devastating anti-war protest song. "Their language is the language of the bullet and the gun," as Paul Rodgers sings, laying into the Warboys of the title, his voice full of heartfelt anger and passion. "If you can see them coming, baby, better run." For me, it's a powerful companion piece to Status Quo's In the Army Now and Zombie by The Cranberries , and has certainly made me think about war in a different way. I was particularly moved by the verse where Paul sings "Warboys, warboys, children and their toys, Warboys, warboys, make lot a noise, Warboys, when the lightning explodes, I pray for your soul." Soldiers do make a lot of noise, don't they, with all those tanks and guns? But the most powerful lines are in the closing verse, where Paul reminds us that, even though it's the soldiers who do all the killing in wars, the army is not entirely to blame – no, we must never forget that it's people higher up the chain of power that make the decisions about whether wars happen or not. The soldiers, as Paul points out, are ultimately just "helping to kill, those who deserve to die. Tell me who decides. You and I. We have the power." That's right, we do have the power. And if we choose to use that power for good, we can do something to stop those evil Warboys from starting all those wars and killing all those people and making all that noise. I'm guessing that using our power might have something to do with spreading the word about songs like Warboys, but I'm going to come along to your gig in Glasgow on 11 October, where I look forward to hearing what else I can do about the Warboys and their noise. My favourite song, though, is probably Surf's Up… School's Out. I can't think of any other band who'd think of putting those two classic rock phrases in the same song. That old Queen magic is still there! And it's a song that has a message too. "For a perfect life, find a perfect girl. You gotta follow that dream to a perfect world," sings Paul Rodgers. I'm sure Freddie Mercury would fully endorse that sentiment. The song also contains the kind of inspiring insights into life's brutal truths that only men approaching pension age would have the wisdom and life experience to come up with. "In the town and the country/ We all lay and dreamed our dreams, Then we found the world is tough/ And all is not quite what it seems." Surely everyone can empathise with that. Especially if you've run into one of those Warboys at some point along the way. Anyway, Paul, Brian and Roger, I just wanted to write and say that it's fantastic that you're still rocking the cosmos after all these years. I'm sure everyone will agree that Paul is a worthy addition to the band's line-up, and could soon even – dare I say it? – eclipse memories of Freddie Mercury. The new songs are definitely up there with Bohemian Rhapsody. Somewhere up there, Freddie is looking down on you and humming along to your new album – perhaps, even now, he's singing the words to the poignant Say It's Not True: "Say it's not true. You can say it's not right. It's hard to believe/ The size of the crime." link The full article contains 906 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper. Page 1 of 1 * Last Updated: 29 September 2008 8:24 PM * Source: The Scotsman * Location: Edinburgh |
| Saint Jiub 30.09.2008 22:31 |
You forgot to mention how great The Musical is. |
| anna_libra 01.10.2008 00:34 |
"The new songs are definitely up there with Bohemian Rhapsody." wtf??? |
| Matias Merçeauroix 01.10.2008 01:40 |
OPEN LETTER TO QUEEN AND PAUL RODGERS. *ANTHRAX* Hopefully they will open the envelope. Cheers, Hor |
| Adolfo and the spiders from Mercury 01.10.2008 02:26 |
dare I say it? – eclipse memories of Freddie Mercury thats the only part that I disagree with, no-one is trying to replace him, and certainly not eclipse him either, in fact, they even have tracks of Freddie singing and even huge pictures of him appear on the screen, other than that, I think it is a fine letter |
| inu-liger 01.10.2008 04:58 |
Bad Horsie wrote: OPEN LETTER TO QUEEN AND PAUL RODGERS. *ANTHRAX* Hopefully they will open the envelope. Cheers, wHore Fuck you, that's not funny. |
| Cwazy little thing 01.10.2008 05:52 |
Im not sure about that letter at all - I think someone is taking the piss. The whole thing wreaks of sarcasm - lets be honest, no one thought the collaboration with Five was legacy enhancing. Its either a wind up, or its written by someone very strange. |
| 0val 01.10.2008 05:53 |
No, FUCK YOU, 'cuz that's just hilarious! |
| 0val 01.10.2008 05:54 |
I hope they all die. Cheers, 0val |
| LucTonnerre 01.10.2008 06:13 |
Can you spell IRONY?Great article full of disappointment about this thing they call an Queen album. I absolutely agree with the author. TCR is a disgrace, a slap in the face of every Queen fan. |
| new one 01.10.2008 06:17 |
It is real, go to scotsman.com and search for queen and paul rodgers and you'll find it. I find it very poor journalism if indeed it can be called that. Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit and this is the lowest form of journalism |
| cosmoSEBrocks26 01.10.2008 06:22 |
upset with for my English means, but i think that since the group Queen Paul Rodgers, the future of Rock has beautiful days before him, since the last real album of Queen "smart link Corporation" because i believe that "made in heaven" is a good work group post fatal of labour, Freddie music in the world was really sense. But since the training very ingenious group Queen Paul Rodgers in 2004 things have advanced. It was view of the group as "police, Genesis 47, Pink flyod" for the tying together. The old group as this gives a real meaning to the music. Today Queen Paul Rodgers so a new album magnificent even if the criticism is not good because if i AIS good remember Queen na never really had good critical on their album. note although i am dates Bercy and zurick - hallenstadion and the atmosphere was really magical and that there was énorment young people to see the show. Queen Paul rodegrs is a new group which goes well yet we surprised and with a beautiful future. God save the Queen Paul Rodgers |
| Matias Merçeauroix 01.10.2008 07:04 |
inu-liger wrote:
Bad Horsie wrote: OPEN LETTER TO QUEEN AND PAUL RODGERS. *ANTHRAX* Hopefully they will open the envelope. Cheers, wHoreFuck you, that's not funny. Fuck me, yeah. In the ass, if possible. Cheers, Whore Hor |
| PieterMC 01.10.2008 08:13 |
I can understand people not liking the album, but the sheer level of hatred shown towards QPR by some people just amazes me. |
| ermin 01.10.2008 08:17 |
It's not about unreasonable hate. Since Brian himself said that QPR is akin to a new beginning, I'm treating their product as such. If I were to blind-listen TCR (without knowing who it was), I wouldn't like it. It's not because they 'betrayed' Freddie or anything like that. It's because I simply don't like it. Reasonable people disagree, and disagree respectfully. |
| PieterMC 01.10.2008 08:33 |
ermin wrote: It's not about unreasonable hate. Since Brian himself said that QPR is akin to a new beginning, I'm treating their product as such. If I were to blind-listen TCR (without knowing who it was), I wouldn't like it. It's not because they 'betrayed' Freddie or anything like that. It's because I simply don't like it. Reasonable people disagree, and disagree respectfully. And that is fine. I still don't think that any sort of hate is necessary. There are plenty of artists that I don't like. I don't feel like I HATE them though. |
| Queenfred 01.10.2008 08:50 |
That's the funniest thing I've read in ages! Very well done indeed. |
| Soul Brother 01.10.2008 08:54 |
If the band HAD been called Green Onions it would have avoided a lot of this crap. Incidentally, The Scotsman newspaper is shite and in terminal decline. Wonder why? |
| Josh Henson 01.10.2008 08:57 |
ermin wrote: It's not about unreasonable hate. Since Brian himself said that QPR is akin to a new beginning, I'm treating their product as such. If I were to blind-listen TCR (without knowing who it was), I wouldn't like it. It's not because they 'betrayed' Freddie or anything like that. It's because I simply don't like it. Reasonable people disagree, and disagree respectfully. I totally agree with what you said. |
| john bodega 01.10.2008 08:58 |
That letter is about as funny as Uganda. They could've saved me a bit of time by just writing "Didn't like the album". Probably would've gotten a solitary chuckle, which is one more chuckle than they got out of me in reality. Some people should fuck off to Neptune, I swear to God..... |
| bst123 01.10.2008 11:10 |
Well, ...another QPR know it all review.......by this Scotsman!! Very cynical piece indeed, OK...., the boy band Five thing, well ....bad mistake, and don't forget the Pepsi commercial. The musical, ....fun but not my cup of tea (commercially very smart), I prefer a live / concert situation, it's more spontaneous. Queen then and now: So what's left of Queen? a drummer and a guitarist. Both of them are and were accomplished musicians and songwriters in one off the biggest band ever. Paul Rodgers, also a fine singer with a very unique resume. I mean somehow he managed to get involved with a lot of great bands and band members (Brian and Roger, Jimmy Page/The Firm, Bad Company etc.). Queen as we knew them, a working force of four individual members is no more, not on stage and not in the studio. What we've got is are two combined classic rock forces with 2 members of Queen and a well known singer/songwriter called Paul Rodgers. The Album "The Cosmos Rocks": The thing is, when you look at the cover and see the name Queen, and then listen to the tracks you start to compare them with the old Queen. The problem here is that most reviewers listen to it like that. Personally I think there are some great, good and bad tracks on the album, even if I don't compare them with the old Queen. It's not bad, and on the other hand when you are 60 years old I don't think you can create something totally refreshing and new considering the background of these three musicians. I do think they created something new in a sense, and to me the album sounds like a kind off blues-driven, Bad Company, little Queen backing-vocals and signature guitar and drum sound rock / ballad album. It is indeed a bit of a fan-service but never the less I don't think it deserves all those very bad reviews. The thing I find very interesting is that most of those so called reviewers and especially the older ones used to write very bad Queen reviews when Freddie and John were still around!! Nowadays Freddie is some kind of God!! I must say, live, he was, I've seen a lot of bands/singers/entertainers over the years and even if your not a Queen fan, you have to admit that he was great (in his field the best IMHO). Making the old Queen records was a group effort, involving them all and they pushed each other to new heights and grounds. Regarding my opinion on the old Queen as a 4 member unit take fore example Freddie's solo album mr. Bad Guy (except Barcelona and single The Great Pretender) and also Brian's, they sound like they are (Queen)demos. Demos that didn't go through the Queen-machine. Only Roger has his very unique sound, totally different from Queen, not always top notch but he/it had it's moments. Don't get me wrong I like some of the solo stuff, but in my opinion they needed each other to get this very unique Queen-sound. Conclusion = it's not strange that the TCR-album sounds like it does, it's a group effort of Brian, Roger and Paul, just like the old Queen albums with input off all it's four Queen-members. It's 50% Brian/Roger and 50% Paul Rodgers and not the old Queen at 100%. So you can't compare the two. The Cosmos Rocks Tour 2008: They seem to have a lot off fun and are more relaxed this time around. I think the're still a very good live band. So, especially for people who haven't seen Queen live in there heydays this is a very nice surprise. I saw Queen in 84' and 86' and one thing still stands, .......the sheer FUN !!!. What amazes me the most is that the concerts are still very energetic and enthusiastic, even without Freddie,...different ...yes,.. but still fun. Better then the original Queen......uh.....no....but it's great to see such great musicians (including Spike, Jamie and Dani) at work!! So, my reaction to this Scotsman from Edinburgh = FUCK YOU, and do your homework!! The rest of you Queenzoners ENJOY the/your QPR-concerts. I'm going next week (7th of October Ahoy / Rotterdam / Holland), I think it's going to be great, here's a PREVIEW: link |
| goinback 02.10.2008 00:27 |
Queen's lyrics were always pretty terrible, so quoting the lyrics as a review of a Queen album sort of misses the point. Queen usually focused on the music instead of the words. |
| L-R-TIGER1994 02.10.2008 00:39 |
Always terrible?you're deaph pal!!. |
| April 02.10.2008 16:07 |
I don't like the letter. It's crazy. |
| Ray D O'Gaga 02.10.2008 21:37 |
The comments in response to that piece of quote-unquote journalism are hilarious and not at all complimentary to the author. |
| gnomo 03.10.2008 06:58 |
LucTonnerre wrote: TCR is a disgrace, a slap in the face of every Queen fan. Luc, I am a queen fan and I do NOT feel that TCR is a slap in MY face; in fact, I quite like it. So please, count me out, and next time say "every Queen fan minus at least one Italian". Thank you very much. |