The return of Queen

Good news. Queen has a new CD. It is The Cosmos Rocks and it is the first studio album release for the iconic group since the death of frontman Freddie Mercury in 1991. That is quite a long time and it is nice to know that Brian May and Roger Taylor are still making music. Not only that, the album is made up entirely of new songs that not only bring back memories of the old flamboyant days of Queen but which also show that these guys can still hack it big nearly 40 years later.

But there is something different. Billed as artists in the CD is Queen + Paul Rodgers. Now who is Paul Rodgers and what is he doing with Queen? My initial reaction was that Paul Rodgers must be the winner of some reality TV search to find a new soloist that Queen did. I read something about plans to do something like that some years ago. It would be a search similar to what INXS did also on TV, to find a new vocalist after the death of Michael Hutchence.

I do not know if that Queen contest ever pushed through. I didn’t think then that it should or if it would have been successful for whoever won. I didn’t think then and I still do not believe that anybody could replace Mercury. How many guys around can you find who can write something like Bohemian Rhapsody, let alone be able to approximate a Mercury performance. But now here is this guy Rodgers who sounds actually great.

Rodgers, it turns out is no new Queen wanna-be. He is an old hand at the game. Aside from his successful solo career today, he was a founding member of the also great groups Free and Bad Company and has worked with the likes of Jimmy Paige, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker and other similar big names. He can stand on his own as a singer, songwriter and musician and has no need for Queen. but they both somehow gravitated towards each other.

This collaboration germed two years ago when Queen was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. Rodgers was brought in to join May and Taylor in a special performance of Queen hits and of Rodgers’ own rock classic, All Right Now. Whoever thought of bringing Queen and Rodgers together for the occasion created pure magic. Rodgers did not try to be Freddie. He was just himself and he turned out to be just what Queen needed to get a second wind.

Queen was formed in the early ‘70s. It had Freddie on vocals, Brian on guitar, Roger on drums and John Deacon, who has retired, on bass. They were not only splendid to watch on stage, they also excelled in coming up with complicated, multi-layered arrangements for rock songs and performing these with flawless harmonies. I always thought of their works as very theatrical and it was no surprise to find Bohemian Rhapsody turned into a stage musical of Queen songs.

Queen also had hits with Another One Bites the Dust, Killer Queen, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, Who Wants to Live Forever, The Show Must Go On, One Vision, Fat Bottomed Girls, Bicycle Race, Don’t Stop Me Now, Stone Cold Crazy, Tie Your Mother Down, Love of My Life and others. They were once named the 2nd Greatest Band on All Time. Try to guess who was the first.

The Cosmos Rocks by Queen + Paul Rodgers, who by the way shares the songwriting chores, has real rocking sounds, Cosmos Rockin’, and Warboys, a piano driven anthem like Time to Shine, simple lyrical melodies like Some Things That Glitter and Through the Night, even bits of wry humor in C-lebrity. The closer titled a small reprise in small letters is a delightful surprise.

Rodgers is a superb vocalist and Queen allowed him to shine. Of course, this is not to say that May and Taylor did not do great stuff. The harmonies, the crunchy guitars, the driving beat, fans expect, are all there. The Cosmos Rocks is still Queen, older, but very up to date.

Other cuts included are Still Burnin’, Small, We Believe, Call Me, Voodoo, Say It’s Not True, and Surf’s Up... School’s Out.