Queen are back!

Somehow I mostly missed this til today, but Queen's first new studio album for 13 years -- entitled The Cosmos Rocks -- is out next Monday! Yay! I'm thoroughly over-excited, so here's a few bits & bobs about it:

Classic Rock Magazine's review is rather positive, which is obviously a good sign. "The Cosmos Rocks, while characterised by having Rodgers's raw blues in place of Freddie's flamboyance, is undisputedly the work of Queen. Not only can The Cosmos Rocks sit proudly in the Queen canon, it can also do the same alongside Rodgers's work with Free and Bad Company... Overall The Cosmos Rocks has more than enough power to take your breath away. Freddie's legacy is in safe hands."

Freddie's legacy

The lack of Freddie Mercury is understandably something that has concerned many, often leaving uninformed commentators to suggest he'd be spinning in his grave. Really? These comments from the order page for the "Exclusive Queen Online Tour Edition" of the album suggest otherwise:

"Rodgers... can stand assured in the fact that Mercury always rated him as one of the best rock voices of his time. It is public record that Mercury would make a point of dropping into the Marquee or any number of other London venues when Rodgers was performing with his band Free. Mercury often in his past acknowledged Free's Fire and Water as one of the albums to most influence Queen."

So ner to all those Rodgers haters. That page also has these promising snippets of info to impart:

"The first thing you notice... is "all tracks written by Queen and Paul Rodgers"..."produced and performed by Brian May, Paul Rodgers and Roger Taylor" (indicating that between them they played all instruments, including bass - Paul and Brian swapping duties - in case you were going to ask). This is obviously not a case of Rodgers lightly stepping in to fill a vocal gap, as some might have been drawn to assume would be the case when the three of them got into the studio together." (Another ner!)

Old style

"There's a lot of guitar orchestras and some of our old trademarks, but at the core of it you'll hear the three of us playing. People really, truly playing together in the studio - you don't get that much these days. But, you will get it on their new album. Do they still call them 'albums'? I don't even know. But this is really, we believe, an Album in the old sense of the word - something you can put on and listen to all the way through, and it takes you on a journey... the subjects and moods in it are widely spaced - but nevertheless, a challenge to the listener to put his day on hold for an hour or so, be drawn in, make connections, and experience something new."

"These days it has seemed to us that few people have this in mind - CD's by large tend to be a collection of songs, often produced by different teams, assembled in random sequence - with the idea that folks will shuffle the order on their iPods anyway. Of course you always have that option! But our teachers were the Beatles, Hendrix, blues + soul and... you know where we’re going with this."

"'Albums' in the old sense" are certainly preferable to a mere collection of songs as far as I'm concerned, so bring it on.

Buy buy buy

Of course, Queen have pleasingly embraced new technology in other, more fan-friendly ways. As well as being available as a, y'know, CD, the new album can also be had in a CD & DVD edition (featuring a full 15-track live gig on the DVD!), a digital download, and that Queen Online exclusive version, with slipcase and poster. There's even a vinyl version, just to fill out the spread. On top of that there's the Album Club that you can join for £2. For your money, you get three live tracks from the 2008 European Tour; first listen to tracks from The Cosmos Rocks; automatic entry into 12 prize draws to win exclusive prizes; exclusive video and pictures galleries; opportunity to purchase an exclusive ‘Album Club’ T-shirt; an exclusive album club forum; plus the latest tour news, set lists and reviews. Considering three tracks on iTunes would set you back £2.37 anyway, it's not bad really. (Those lucky enough to have joined before 8th September get 15 free tracks, the gits. Look out for them on Torrent sites, then.)

Anyway, that'll do for now. The countdown to release begins now... HMV better get my copy to me for Monday! (Hey, sometimes they get stuff to me the Saturday before release -- fingers crossed!)