QueenZone discussion #1552128
Poll: Best The Cross album?
| NastyQueenie74 14.05.2019 01:13 |
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| Makka 14.05.2019 05:24 |
Interesting poll. I wasn't a huge fan of their first album. A couple of good tracks but yeah, didn't really grow on me. Mad.Bad is my favourite. Some silly lyrics but musically was pretty solid with some nice riffs. I like the 'rough' production feel to it. Blue Rock was a little more polished and laid back than Mad Bad. |
| thomasquinn 32989 14.05.2019 05:52 |
Blue Rock is without a doubt the most well-produced album, but I think the songwriting and playing was better on Mad, Bad and Dangerous To Know. Shove It is still fun, but in my opinion can't hold a candle to the other two. |
| NastyQueenie74 14.05.2019 06:28 |
I think Roger's best work(for The Cross, not his entire career) came from Mad, Bad, and Dangerous. By the time Blue Rock came about, he was in 90's mode(Happiness) in regards to the general style. For me, Shove It isn't at the top, though I do have a soft spot for songs like Stand Up For Love and Manipulator(if that counts). I think what made Mad, Bad, and Dangerous were the Noone compositions. To me, his work(including Hand Of Fools) was consistently strong from both a songwriting, and a mixing standpoint(assuming the 12" and 7" versions of Liar were his doing). Overall, I'm partial to Blue Rock as I just enjoy the overall feel of it. However, if I had to give criticism besides what I mentioned about Roger, it is that Spike's sole-songwriter tracks were either unoriginal in a way(Baby It's Alright takes the verse melody from Strange Frontier)or lacking in musical variety(Dirty Mind/Put It All Down To Love |
| Stick 14.05.2019 10:53 |
Blue Rock by a light year. |
| Khizzy 14.05.2019 11:21 |
Blue Rock by an absolute country mile. Shove It is good but clearly not a band effort and comes across more of a mish mash of rock and dance songs. A few stand out songs on it like Heaven For Everyone, Contact and Love Lies Bleeding, which are worth the price of the album alone. More of a solo Roger effort in my opinion. Mad Bad is generally generic sounding straight rock with bland production that has a few really good songs on it (Power To Love, Final Destination). It's fairly energetic in places and I did give it another listen a few weeks ago but it's just not for me. Better Things for me is the worst Cross song ever recorded. If they had put I Can Take You Higher on this album, it could have potentially saved it from mediocrity but alas, they didn't put it out on any of their albums. Blue Rock has a wealth of melodic and interesting material on it and for me, every track apart from Dirty Mind (and maybe Ain't Put Nothin Down) is an absolute cracker. When I first came across it in around 1997, I didn't like it at all, probably because Roger had less to do with it than the other two albums and because it was produced by someone other than Rog! I've grown to love it over the last few years. Life Changes is in my opinion the best song by The Cross and it's a hidden gem because the album isn't known by a lot of people. |
| Khizzy 14.05.2019 11:22 |
Oh, and a quick shout out to Heartlands. What a brilliant song. Should have been on Blue Rock, no question. |
| dudeofqueen 14.05.2019 11:26 |
Blue Rock terrified QPL / EMI / Parlophone and they withdrew all financial backing for The Cross once it was obvious that Roger was already making plans for post-Freddie life. That album is the best, most consistent solo project by any member of Queen bar NONE. |
| NastyQueenie74 14.05.2019 16:49 |
Khizzy wrote: Oh, and a quick shout out to Heartlands. What a brilliant song. Should have been on Blue Rock, no question.There are probably some more good tracks in what Spike stated was an approximately 20 song reject pile link |
| matt z 14.05.2019 17:10 |
I'll have to hear the other two before i can vote. I've avoided THE CROSS even in the YouTube era because I'd not thought much of the one album I DID hear. Dang. And i used to be a completist fan Guess I've got homework to do |
| dysan 14.05.2019 17:19 |
Same here. They just didn't really do it for me at the time so had no reason to follow up. But I am fond of Shove It. It's quite odd. |
| Pim Derks 14.05.2019 18:45 |
"Blue Rock terrified QPL / EMI / Parlophone and they withdrew all financial backing for The Cross once it was obvious that Roger was already making plans for post-Freddie life." Care to expand on this? I'd like to know more about what happened during/after the Blue Rock release. |
| Stick 14.05.2019 21:20 |
Does not sound right @ Pim Derks. He started the cross because he got bored. They were mostly popular in Germany and Roger was always available for Queen when he had to be. Seems very unlikely QPL or EMI or Parlophone cared or were terrified of his side adventure. |
| NastyQueenie74 15.05.2019 00:34 |
Apparently there were plans to tour more before Freddie's death occurred. You could say the pulling of the Life Changes single was the beginning of the end for them |
| Rick 15.05.2019 17:03 |
Mad Bad. Because of Power To Love (would have been a hit if it was done by Queen, IMHO) and Old Men. The rest is pretty amazing too. Blue Rock is great because of Bad Attitude. Don't really like the Shove It. |
| Golden Salmon 15.05.2019 20:33 |
Haha, it's a tie right now: 47 votes for both MBDTK and BR. I did vote for BR for the reasons stated already. It is a decent album, and funny enough one of their best tracks didn't make it to the tracklist. MBDTK is not as nicely produced but there are some solid aspects to it, if you go looking. I love "Final Destination" among others. "Shove It" is kind of weird because it's mostly a solo album with guest musicians (including Freddie in the UK version), and it's nowhere as inspired. |
| dysan 16.05.2019 06:42 |
I think that's why I've kept going back to Shove It - it's a complete 'experiment' that had no real aim when he started it and what we have is what he issued from that material. It feels very intimate. The fact it is soooo 1987/88 sounding make it a nostalgic treat on top of that. Jive Bunny / The Fat Boys / TOTP 1987 flashbacks everywhere. Much like Bowie's Low - a personal little project that became a proper album. It freed him up and I find it more satisfying that pretty much anything else 'solo' he did. The other later Cross stuff to me is just pretty bland 80s / early 90s FM soft rock. Perhaps due to giving the other guys more say. That said, at the same time Bowie (sorry to refer back again) was doing Tin Machine which was probably more the style RT was aiming for in the band format. A dangerous 'flushing out' of the system. I wonder if the two projects informed each other? They even share studio. Plans for TM were well underway by the time Shove It came out. The same fate befell them on their second album - it went more mainstream with larger input from the other chaps and probably half an eye on diminishing commercial returns. |
| Saint Jiub 16.05.2019 23:49 |
dysan wrote: I think that's why I've kept going back to Shove It - it's a complete 'experiment' that had no real aim when he started it and what we have is what he issued from that material. It feels very intimate. The fact it is soooo 1987/88 sounding make it a nostalgic treat on top of that. Jive Bunny / The Fat Boys / TOTP 1987 flashbacks everywhere. Much like Bowie's Low - a personal little project that became a proper album. It freed him up and I find it more satisfying that pretty much anything else 'solo' he did. The other later Cross stuff to me is just pretty bland 80s / early 90s FM soft rock. Perhaps due to giving the other guys more say. That said, at the same time Bowie (sorry to refer back again) was doing Tin Machine which was probably more the style RT was aiming for in the band format. A dangerous 'flushing out' of the system. I wonder if the two projects informed each other? They even share studio. Plans for TM were well underway by the time Shove It came out. The same fate befell them on their second album - it went more mainstream with larger input from the other chaps and probably half an eye on diminishing commercial returns.Dysan you have very bad taste ... LOL You like The Miracle, and you like Shove It. You believe that the later Cross stuff is bland possibly because the other band members had more say. I wholeheartedly agree ... I have very bad taste too. |
| NastyQueenie74 17.05.2019 06:01 |
Didn't expect the poll to end up being so riveting |
| cmsdrums 17.05.2019 11:48 |
I really like all three albums, and each has a special place for me due to the times and memories of events and people in the days of release. I remember being so thrilled when I first put Mad: Bad... on, to hear the complete change of style into a 'rock' band from the poppier Shove It, but equally as a standalone album from it's time, Shove It is a lot more innovative production-wise than a lot of its contemporaries....some good songs and grooves and a really fantastic and 'different' mix and production - an album that moved me from my 'hard rock' roots to an interest in loops, samples etc.. Blue Rock is the final piece of the jigsaw and a far more 'mature' and collective sounding album, benefitting from more input from each band member due to Roger being otherwise engaged with Queen at the time. My least favourite solely from an audio (how it sounds) point of view - I'm not a fan of Mark Wallis'' production/engineering work on it. Three VERY different albums, but each absolutely with its merits and high points. |
| King of all Queen fans 17.05.2019 23:13 |
There not one good Cross album, let alone a best one. Roger should ve focused on Queen only |
| NastyQueenie74 18.05.2019 05:36 |
Piss off, troll |
| King of all Queen fans 18.05.2019 07:24 |
Why? Because you don’t like my opinion? It’s a forum, so get used to opinions that aren’t a 100% yours. Piss of yourself |
| NastyQueenie74 18.05.2019 16:17 |
Well have you heard their albums? If so, I guess they're really shit to you. If you haven't though, you've got no business making such a blanket statement |
| King of all Queen fans 26.05.2019 10:09 |
I have listened to all of them multiple times but they’re not my cup of tea. So what?!? Go fuck yourself nastqueenie74 bitch |
| NastyQueenie74 27.05.2019 03:09 |
Well someone's a bit temperamental. Also, how have I never heard of this nastqueenie74 fellow? I'm curious as to who came first |
| Agr123456 29.05.2019 14:32 |
I like The Cross a lot. Despite the Shove It album which for me it's crap except a few songs (Love Lies Bleeding -Single Version-, Feel The Force and the live versions of Contact) But MBADTK and Blue Rock are excellent albums. (I'd say that i prefer them before other Queen albums like Sheer Heart Attack, Jazz or A Kind of Magic) ( !!!) |