Friday, May 15, 2009

Brit Music Scene

Brit Music Scene

Queen Part Ways With Paul Rodgers - Let’s Be Honest, He Was No Freddie Mercury

Posted: 14 May 2009 05:40 PM PDT

Queen were one of the greatest rock bands ever. Not just in the UK but in the whole wide world. With Freddie Mercury as their front man, Queen had very few bands that could beat them for style, songwriting, and sheer spectacle.

Unfortunately, Freddie Mercury died in 1991 at the tender age of just 45 after a protracted battle with AIDS. The band then naturally disbanded until 2004 when Brian May and Roger Taylor teamed up with Paul Rodgers, formerly of Free and Bad Company.

Queen + Paul Rodgers, as they chose to be called, have toured extensively and even released a studio album in 2008. However, the collaboration was only mildly successful and it’s clear to most people that this new iteration of a classic band were relying on the old material too heavily.

Which is why I’m neither surprised or that bothered to hear that Queen and Paul Rodgers have ended their extended collaboration.

According to NME, Rodgers announced the parting of ways in an interview with Billboard magazine. He commented:

“At this point we’re gonna sit back from this. My arrangement with (Queen) was similar to my arrangement with Jimmy (Page) in The Firm in that it was never meant to be a permanent arrangement.”

“I think we made a huge success of it, actually. We did two world tours and a couple of live recordings, and… made a studio album, which was pretty historical for because they hadn’t really gone in the studio with anybody and recorded something like that for a very long time. So it was quite an achievement, I think.”

“It’s kind of an open book, really. If they approach me to do something for charity, for instance, or something like that…I’d be very much into doing that, for sure.”

Maybe the comparisons are unfair but I was never really a fan of Queen + Paul Rodgers. If Freddie Mercury hadn’t been such an over-the-top, integral part of the group then maybe it would have worked, but for me at least, Mercury was and always will be irreplaceable.

I’m not saying Rodgers is a bad singer but he just didn’t fit in Queen. Unfortunately for May and Taylor (John Deacon has now retired) no-one will fit into Queen like Mercury did. It may be time for the remaining two members of the old band to hang up their guitar and drumsticks respectively and call it a day.

[Photo Source: Amazon.co.uk]

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