QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS: THE COSMOS ROCKS

I dusted this album off this morning and gave it a spin and was actually quite surprised on how much I enjoyed it. As a standalone, this album is much better than it is given credit for. Paul Rodgers is no Freddy Mercury, but he has a very good and distinctive rock and roll voice. With previous listens to this album, I do remember thinking that it was decent enough, but this really isn't Queen. I sat down with the lyrics book to listen to this album this morning, with the anticipation that this would be bad. I was pleasantly surprised. It seemed as though I would go into each song thinking that this will be bad, and then it would start to play, and it was like, "nope this song is good too". The standout songs for me were Small, Warboys, We Believe, and Some Things That Glitter. The song C-lebrity is oh-so-real commentary on reality TV, and pseudo C-lebrities like the Kardashians and Hiltons of the world, and it includes Taylor Hawkins from the Foo Fighters with some guest vocals. Unfortunately, the worst part of this album is the use of the Queen name. Even though it is Queen + Paul Rodgers, the lack of Freddy Mercury and John Deacon makes it a bit of a travesty to use the Queen name. I would really have to say that in a "blind taste test" I am pretty certain that most people would not have been able to guess that this was Queen, although I think that Brian May's guitar technique and sound does show up from time to time to add that bit of Queen touch. Overall, I think that this is a really good album, but it is non-essential. Really, the worst thing about it is the exploitation of the Queen name, but if you can get beyond that, the underlying music and lyrics are actually worthy of the Cosmos' love.