From Queen Archives: Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon, Interviews, Articles, Reviews
Reviews > Queen + Paul Rodgers Music Reviews > 09-14-2008- The Cosmos Rocks - The Mail on Sunday
Queen can't fill the king's shoes
There is a certain art to being a defunct pop group. The masters of it are Abba, who have sold millions of records since splitting up in 1982. They have found new vehicles for their music in the theatre and cinema, with the indestructible Mamma Mia!, while calmly rejecting reunion offers that are said to run to billions. Last month they topped the album charts again with Abba Gold, 16 years after its release - number one not with a bullet but with a boomerang.
And then there's Queen, who followed Abba's example in staging a jukebox musical and are also big in compilations. But Queen are one of the few groups to have seriously attempted a second innings.
Following Freddie Mercury's death in 1991, you could see Brian May and Roger Taylor itching to keep going as they issued remakes of their own hits with guest vocalists. Now here they are making a whole new album with their regular touring singer Paul Rodgers, the voice from Free.
On the cover, Queen's name is in big type, with '+ Paul Rodgers' smaller underneath. So you are led to expect a Queen album, even though John Deacon, the bass player, is not involved. And here May and Taylor are messing with their heritage.
Queen were what they were because they had about ten distinctive strengths, including a superstar frontman, classic rock guitar, football chants, crystalline production, well-crafted harmonies, ruthless efficiency (they planned and honed their slot at Live Aid, even chopping Bohemian Rhapsody down to size), and tremendous variety, which sprang from all four members being able to write on their own.
It would be unfair to expect all these elements to be there now, but only the production, the harmonies and the guitar have survived. And even May's guitar is deployed with less drama and more stadium plod. The near-title track, Cosmos Rockin', is closer to Status Quo than Queen.
In concert, Rodgers is a decent choice to fill Mercury's enormous shoes - energetic and with a powerful voice - but his recording heyday is 35 years behind him. What he brings to the studio is blues-rock obviousness, with random yells, tired imagery ('when the moon rises, the dogs will howl') and songs about music.
There are glimmers of May and Taylor's old skills - Time To Shine is built on a wailing Arab motif, Call Me contains hints of Crazy Little Thing Called Love, and We Believe has a simplistic grandeur that could give them another Christmas No 1. But much of this album is pub-rock writ large. And say what you like about Mercury, he was never pubby..