Artist: Queen + Paul Rodgers
Label: EMI Records
Released: 2005
Amid the flood of all sorts of reunions of rock gods we’ve witnessed in the last few years, we’ve now also seen the return of the immortal Queen, admittedly without Freddie Mercury but with another eminent voice from the world of rock, Paul Rodgers, the legendary Free and Bad Company songbird, on board of a band that’s considered one of the greatest innovators in rock history. We’ll probably agree pretty quickly that Rodgers is a bit of an odd choice, but hand on heart, where would you even look for a credible replacement for the irreplaceable Mercury, whose commanding character, charm and energy still stand today as an untouchable landmark of musical expression? The glitz and grandeur of his legacy, and with it Queen’s, only grows in our minds over the years, which also explains the mass euphoria and excitement that swept most of the civilized world when the big Queen tour was announced.
According to Brian May, Queen aren’t setting out to blasphemously rearrange the old Queen classics with Rodgers, and that’s exactly what we get on Return Of The Champions. Fortunately, and to the great relief of most, you could say! “We were looking for someone who’s the complete vocal opposite of Freddie Mercury,” went Brian’s words, which do make Paul Rodgers an obvious choice. The question is just whether it’s also the right one. A move that was undoubtedly well thought out has both a positive and a negative effect. Even a fleeting glance at the magnificent legacy of the Queen catalog puts Rodgers in a pretty awkward starting position. Walking the well-trodden Freddie lines is certainly a job worthy of all respect, but with Paul Rodgers’ vocal characteristics it can turn into a Sisyphean task awfully fast. The fact that Rodgers’ deeper-leaning vocal register is simply no match for the demanded vocal acrobatics will surely sprout a few gray hairs, especially among the more orthodox Queen worshippers. Still, Queen with Paul Rodgers do carry a completely new energy, which is of course no wonder, at least in those moments where Rodgers’ raspy voice slots nicely alongside Brian May’s high-flying and, content-wise, utterly intellectual guitar wizardry. Rodgers steers more than decently through Radio Ga Ga and A Kind Of Magic, not to mention the Free and Bad Company territory, while numbers like Bohemian Rhapsody already walk dangerously close to the line separating successfully pulled-off Queen gems from the category of potential disasters. May and company have resorted to an interesting experiment here, in which the pre-recorded intro and verse (a borrowed Freddie rendition, probably from the famous 1986 Wembley concert) kindly spare us from what would most likely be far more fatal brain damage. Similarly effective are the executions of Tie Your Mother Down and the vocal polyphony of Fat Bottomed Girls, both infused with the raw energy and passion we were used to from Queen in the late seventies. More than satisfying!
A word or two about the material tailor-made for the restless Rodgers, whose voice at the gentleman’s fifty-five years still sounds as convincing as it gets. Despite the satisfactory vocal exposure on most of the Queen evergreens, you can feel a considerable dose of relief in his voice when he returns to the more laid-back, let’s call it “spiritual” Wishing Well, Feel Like Makin’ Love and especially All Right Now. Passion and an incorrigible flirtation with eroticism remain the pillars of the singer’s charismatic image. Rodgers just can’t get out of his own skin, and let’s face it, nobody expected any radical vocal maneuvers worth mentioning from him anyway. Thanks in part to him, Return Of The Champions carries an enviable crop of exciting moments, which, in an unusual symbiosis with the all too familiar grotesque picture of the unfriendly, yawning spiritual void of today’s music scene, and probably also thanks to Queen’s long abstinence, is a guarantee of huge sales for this unusual document. Fun, but still light years away from the Queen we know and adore.
Lineup
Paul Rodgers: vocals
Brian May: vocals, guitar
Roger Taylor: drums, vocals
guest musicians:
Spike Edney: keyboards, backing vocals
Jamie Moses: guitar, backing vocals
Danny Miranda: bass, backing vocals
Production
Justin Shirley – Smith
Track list
Disc 1:
1.Reaching Out
2.Tie Your Mother Down
3.I Want To Break Free
4.Fat Bottomed Girls
5.Wishing Well
6.Another One Bites The Dust
7.Crazy Little Thing Called Love
8.Say It’s Not True
9.’39
10.Love Of My Life
11.Hammer To Fall
12.Feel Like Makin’ Love
13.Let There Be Drums
14.I’m In Love With My Car
15.Guitar Solo
16.Last Horizon
Disc 2:
1.These Are The Days Of Our Lives
2.Radio Ga Ga
3.Can’t Get Enough
4.A Kind Of Magic
5.I Want It All
6.Bohemian Rhapsody
7.The Show Must Go On
8.All Right Now
9.We WIll Rock You
10.We Are The Champions
11.God Save The Queen
Album length: 101.03
