Brian May was there to warn the fans of Queen that Freddie Mercury was not replaced by Paul Rodgers, the former singer of The Free and Bad Company, among others. Queen (nowadays only guitarist May and drummer Roger Taylor) did a number of sold-out shows with Rodgers as the singer and apparently that collaboration tasted like more. The Cosmos Rocks betrays its content with the title: they mainly rock
… on this album. The opening song makes the amazed listener reach for the cover. Is this Queen? It sounds more like Status Quo! It is a wise move by May and Taylor to explore Queen's rocking side. Rodgers is a great singer who gets along well with (hard) rock but is less able to compete with the theatrical side of the group. The big smile at the end of Call Me shows what the gentlemen are about: fun. That the result therefore occasionally sounds a bit non-committal, the listener has to put up with. This is the digipack version of The Cosmos Rocks. It comes in a hard cover case and additional photos. As a bonus a DVD with the recording of the concert that Rodgers, May and Taylor gave in October 2005 in Tokyo. (PdK)more
