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Elly Roberts reviews
Parlophone (EMI)
- Cat.no: 3369792
- Released: September 2005
- Rating: 10/10
- Format: 2 CD set
Brian May and Roger Taylor have decided that the show must go on, or is it the ‘brands’ play on?
Controversy still rages as to whether fans are beingconned with these kind of ‘projects’ (without original line-ups), so itbecomes a personal opinion.
Many bands are doing it right now, e.g. The Monkees, as you only get MickeyDolenz and Davey Jones, The Doors et al.
Here, music worlds collide to bring out a new dimension to standard rockers.Paul Rodgers will never be Freddie Mercury, and Freddie would never havebeen Rodgers, as purists will testify. Both have been credited as some ofthe best rock singers of all time. Drummer Roger Taylor, normally back-upvocalist even pops-up as lead singer on self-penned Say It Isn’t True, andBrian May leads the rapturous crowd through an acoustic ’39 and Love Of MyLife for Freddie’s mum in the audience. Overall, Rodgers has broughtfreshness to the world famous repertoire which has graced the air-wavessince March 1974 for Queen and 1970 for Free.
Former Free and Bad Company frontman Rodgers is arguably the only singer whocould tackle the material. A brief Freddie tribute hinted that GeorgeMichael might be his possible replacement back in 1993: that venture wasnever seriously on the cards.
Having seen Rodgers lead Free at the Boxing Arena Liverpool in 1971 (myfirst rock concert) and then Freddie leading Queen at Maine Road Manchesterin July 1986, I have the benefit of drawing comparisons between the twolegends. Comparisons can often be dangerous territory, but they areinvariably inevitable.
Also, in reality there’s only half of Queen, asbassist John Deacon elected to miss-out on this project, being replaced byNew Yorker Danny Miranda. Spike Edney from Chicago on keys and vocals andJamie Moses beef-up the new line-up. So, if you’re happy with thereplacement and additions then you’ll have no problem with this live albumof 27 tracks including some of the greatest moments in rock history. With acombined tracklisting that most bands could only dream of, the fusiondefinitely works for me.
The previously mentioned concerts I attended wereamongst the best gigs I’ve experienced; they were very different affairsthough. Free an out-and-out rough-edged soulful Blues outfit: Queen slickand sophisticated Pop-Rockers, both equally as great, but in differentstratospheres. Mercury was the in-your-face OTT controller of the band:Rodgers a more static Bluesman.
May and co. haven’t exactly rushed this one- so does the chemistry work? For the band it must have been a strangeexperience working together and playing each other’s songs for starters.From an audience angle, they sound as if they’re lapping it up (check crowdon Another One Bites The Dust), and had I been there (which I’d planned tobe at Hyde Park – but was cancelled due to the London bombing) I wouldhave too. This concert recorded at Hallam FM Arena Sheffield on May 9, 2005,where Queen last performed 19 years ago, proves that hybrids can, and dowork.
Most tracks are done as originals, with the exception of the sublime introre-working of Hammer To Fall.
Disc 2 opens with Taylor on the balladic These Are The Days Of Our Lives,doing a fine job. From then on it’s a rock-romp – Radio Ga Ga etc. OnBohemian Rhapsody it’s hard to work out if it’s Freddie’s voice or Rodgerswho starts the song, but as we all know they let tapes do the operetta -they could never do it live – with Rodgers finishing it off. There’s abelting version of Free’s classic All Right Now (6 mins plus) with Mayripping into Kossoff’s solo, sending the crowd nuts, as it did back in 1971.
So, did they pull it off? – Just listen to the crowd at the end. Say nomore.
A DVD will soon follow.
The full list of tracks included are :
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 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
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.