| br5946 26.05.2015 07:16 |
I'm sure some users that garner their attention to the side-projects now and again wonder how there wasn't more public attention. It seems obvious, but some classics clearly got side-lined by the record-buyers. Take The Cross. Shove It (the album) hit a minor #58, Cowboys and Indians was #74, the title track #84, and Heaven for Everyone and Power to Love both got to #83 - the latter is a surprise since its parent album sunk like a stone completely. Hell, Blue Rock was only released on vinyl in Germany and Italy, and again sunk without a trace (any German or Italian users out there that want to counter that?). My out-loud musing is this - how did one of the purest straightforward rock bands of the late 80s and early 90s get pretty much all but ignored, especially when Shove It was a conscious effort to include contemporary dance influences? |
| mr mason 26.05.2015 11:02 |
'The Cross' missed 3 vital ingredients,Freddie,Brian,and John! Roger can write great songs,but without the other 3 interjecting,lets face it,most of 'Rogers' songs sounds misguided and samey,and very very average! |
| Djdownsy 26.05.2015 11:07 |
Perhaps because they were not really that good. Yes there are some excellent moments on certain albums but there isn't really a lot to write home about. Take 'The Cross' for example. The band was formed because the drummer in Queen wanted a new band to pass his spare time. How does this appeal to the greater audience? A fan will buy the album because it's Roger Taylor from Queen. A quarter of the general audience will say 'Who is Roger Taylor?', the other quarter will say 'Who's Queen?'. Then in the remaining half, you have a mix of people who either think the Cross are good, don't like Roger Taylor's voice, don't like the album in general or genuinely aren't aware the 'The Cross' even exists. Also, in terms of marketing and promotion, the band aren't a brand new band open to interpretation. It's the drummer from Queen with a backing band, so, in itself, they will already have a certain image. But ultimately, like I stated at the top, perhaps they just weren't good enough to break into the charts in a big way. Can you imagine any singular member trying to become a groundbreaking artist from the very beginning without any help or influence from the other three. Not even Freddie could have pulled it off. |
| The King Of Rhye 26.05.2015 11:16 |
I agree The Cross were never destined to be a world-wide hit or anything but I think they deserved a little more chart success and all that.....Blue Rock and MBADTK are actually pretty darn good albums! (I don't even count Shove It...it's Roger's 3rd solo album really...lol) Come to think of it though, what "side project" really WAS ever a big hit? (someone will probably find one, I'm sure....lol) |
| brENsKi 26.05.2015 11:45 |
i'd disagree about them being "not that good" - they may not have been great - but they were certainly better than most of what queen produced over the same period as regards "deserved more chart success" - that's a silly thing to say - generally chart success is down to what people want to buy. maybe they actually "deserved more critical recognition" |
| musicland munich 26.05.2015 12:16 |
"Blue Rock" was also released on CD in Germany. |
| philip storey 26.05.2015 13:37 |
I like Rogers output be it with the Cross or Solo.I think Roger really just used the Cross to play live as Queen's live work was coming to an end . |
| Martin Packer 26.05.2015 15:18 |
"Queen's live work was coming to an end" begs the question of what Roger knew (or thought he knew) and when. In 1987/88 it would be far from clear that Queen wouldn't tour again. Maybe he just thought the gaps were getting a bit big (which I remember thinking at the time). So I was pleased to see The Cross at Chalk Farm. And HFE was great and PTL and some of Blue Rock. I thought The Cross were coming along nicely. And I didn't much like "Happiness" though the last track touched me. |
| musicland munich 26.05.2015 19:49 |
Martin Packer wrote: "Queen's live work was coming to an end" begs the question of what Roger knew (or thought he knew) and when. In 1987/88 it would be far from clear that Queen wouldn't tour again.Brian revealed in a MOJO interview ( if I remember correctly) that the band learned in 87 or 88 about Freddie's AIDS disease. - seems like that Bri changed his mind about that over the years. There is also an John Deacon statement about the year 87'wich points in that direction. |
| The Real Wizard 26.05.2015 20:06 |
musicland munich wrote:Would love to see the exact quotes. This seems to be a giant mystery.Martin Packer wrote: "Queen's live work was coming to an end" begs the question of what Roger knew (or thought he knew) and when. In 1987/88 it would be far from clear that Queen wouldn't tour again.Brian revealed in a MOJO interview ( if I remember correctly) that the band learned in 87 or 88 about Freddie's AIDS disease. - seems like that Bri changed his mind about that over the years. There is also an John Deacon statement about the year 87'wich points in that direction. But - maybe that's the way it should be. What happens in the band stays in the band... |
| musicland munich 26.05.2015 20:30 |
BUOYED UP BY THEIR TRIUMPH, and the massive back-catalogue sales that Live Aid provoked, Queen set out on a massive trek through Europe - the first and only profitable tour in their entire career - in the summer of '86. But not long after that triumph, the three other band members were confronted with the news that Freddie Mercury had AIDS. "We discovered about Freddie in 1987 or '88: we were in Switzerland. We'd all known that something wasn't right, but that really did bring us together, knowing that he was on borrowed time. There was nowhere to run, so we just went on and did what we could. He was getting tragically frail towards the end. ^Brian's statement in 99'....I will look for John's statement also.. |
| The King Of Rhye 26.05.2015 22:37 |
brENsKi wrote: as regards "deserved more chart success" - that's a silly thing to say - generally chart success is down to what people want to buy. maybe they actually "deserved more critical recognition"Yeah, good point there.....I'm just a silly bastard anyway....:P |
| cmsdrums 27.05.2015 03:23 |
Whilst the three The Cross albums are quite different (especially the first), I'm in agreement that they deserved a better deal of recogntion and had some pretty good songs amongst the more average ones. Although 'Shove It' is pretty much a Roger solo album, songs like 'Cowboys & Indians', 'Stand Up For Love' and 'Contact' seemed, to me, to have quite good hit single potential, and if these had been able to be judged completely unbisedly by press/public, coudl have done well. Cosnidering Queen were a big band in Europe and the UK at the time, I think the Queen associateion actually probably worked against Roger once the press labelled it his 'pet' project. 'Mad, Bad...' was a total change of sound, and a result of the band having played live and coming more together as a 'rock' band. Again, 'Liar', 'Power to Love' and 'Final Destination' coudl potentially have been hits with the right marketing campaign and airplay (which was still pretty essential back then). 'Blue Rock' has that 'European feel, and has a more mature songwriting style throughout, but saw the band coming to an end due to Roger's need to tend to Queen as a result of the Freddie situation, and a lack of real support either from the label, the press and the fans. A shame, as none of the albums are a letdown, and each contain some greatr moments, and Roger's pretty superb vocal performances throughout really shouldn't be overlooked. As an aside, I remember hearing 'Shove It' for the first time in a nightclub in my hometown.....I was just having a beer and the DJ put on a promo copy which he had just got that week, and said that he checked it out and loved it, and was by a band called 'The Cross'. I wasn't even awre of the band at that point, but my ears pricked up as soon as I heard Roger and the Queen samples! It actually sounded really fresh and different to a lot of stuff in the charts at that time, but still felt 'of the period'.....needless to say I asked him to play it again and he did!! :-) |
| Martin Packer 27.05.2015 03:55 |
I accidentally discovered the "Cowboys And Indians" cassette single in HMV in Oxford Street (close to where I was working at the time). I don't even know why I picked it up as it was by the then-unknown-to-me "The Cross". But something on the packaging alerted me to the fact it was Roger. If it hadn't been for spotting that single and getting curious I wouldn't've known about The Cross for quite a while longer. |
| ITSM 27.05.2015 08:55 |
I think the only (big) hits from the side projects were: Brian May - Too Much Love Will Kill You Freddie Mercury - Living on my Own (1993 remix, released after his death). |
| cmsdrums 27.05.2015 10:11 |
ITSM wrote: I think the only (big) hits from the side projects were: Brian May - Too Much Love Will Kill You Freddie Mercury - Living on my Own (1993 remix, released after his death).Does Barcelona count as a 'side project', or a standlone in it's own right? I suppose if it hadn't been successful then it would have certainly been labelled just a side project. |
| brENsKi 27.05.2015 10:16 |
ITSM wrote: I think the only (big) hits from the side projects were: Brian May - Too Much Love Will Kill You Freddie Mercury - Living on my Own (1993 remix, released after his death). Think you possibly missed a few: Brian 1991 - Driven by You Freddie 1984 - Love Kills 1984 - I Was Born to Love You 1987 - The Great Pretender 1987 - Barcelona 1991 - In My Defence |
| Penetration_Guru 27.05.2015 17:00 |
br5946 wrote: My out-loud musing is this - how did one of the purest straightforward rock bands of the late 80s and early 90s get pretty much all but ignored, especially when Shove It was a conscious effort to include contemporary dance influences?- Tin Machine wasn't particularly successful either. - If including contemporary dance influences in a straightforward rock band (assuming that isn't contradictory) was such a good idea, why was it only really tried by INXS? More generally, The Cross wasn't well marketed (Virgin apparently didn't know they had a Freddie Mercury recording), partly because RT didn't want to be "Queen's Roger Taylor aaaannndd THE CROSS!!!!" |
| ITSM 28.05.2015 02:23 |
Yes, brENsKi (and cmsdrums), I did. Thanks for letting me know - at least The Great Pretender and Barcelona. |
| Mr. Bed Guy 31.05.2015 15:11 |
In the late 80s and early 90s there was no internet. So I really remember from my mind how "The Cross" did in public and how they were perceived here in Germany. Shove it was - although it were the plastic 80s - a weak album. No straight direction in album & songs. Me and some friends had vinyl album and Shove It single. There was a catalogue retailer called "Disc Center" where our whole school class ordered records once a month :-)) great times. "Mad, Bad..." was a short success (47 at charts). I remember full-page advertising in the most important German music magazines. Musik-Express gave 4 stars out of 6 and called it a straight rock album. I know they played at "Rock am Ring" in 1990 or 1991, but bizzarrely I can't find anything about that concert on the net. But I remember a friend who was there told me about the gig and he was very pleased of "Sister Blue". Power to Love got some few airplay. Myself wished it by telephone call one morning at RPR1 and it was played!!! Blue Rock was smashed by "Musikexpress" critic. It got 1 Star out of 6. No chart entry. New Dark Ages got some few airplay. I remember the band had an TV appearance on a Saturday afternoon on German TV, I guess it was in Berlin, Funkausstellung or something.... Can someone confirm my memories??????????? |
| musicland munich 31.05.2015 16:50 |
Mr. Bed Guy wrote: Can someone confirm my memories???????????Yes, The Cross did a performance at the Funkausstellung in Berlin ...on Freddie's birthday 05.09.1991 but there were some more, "Hollymünd" WDR 08.09.91 for example. Link link And I also have some tiny snippets about the Cross from that period. I will look for them and do another post here. And yes, the promotion was a bit poor. |
| musicland munich 01.06.2015 19:03 |
I guess it's hard to sell "anything" when you literally cut down to size like that. It's a 10 Euro Cent Coin to compare the snippets size... Freddie's Stamp Collection was able to get more inches in the papers :) |
| hobbit in Rhye 02.06.2015 15:02 |
The tiny 10 cent coint that I often cannot find it in my poche because it's so tiny! How can one find The Cross. |
| JomaDuckSoup 03.06.2015 05:09 |
link This is from Freddie's birthday. Last Birthday actually :( |