The Cosmos Rocks

Performer: Queen
Engineer: Zebedee Mullen; Alex Wordsworth; Kevin Metcalfe; Tom Mitchell
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Queen: Roger Taylor , Brian May. Personnel: Paul Rodgers; Nigel "Stix" Burchett (drums). Former Bad Company belter Paul Rodgers's bluesy, testosterone-heavy style might seem an odd replacement for late Queen singer Freddie Mercury's operatic art-rock acrobatics, but his collaboration with Queen's guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor has revitalized all three British rock stalwarts. The team-up began with a tour focused on classic Queen material, but for their first album of new material, the trio wisely avoids trying to recreate the Queen of yore; the album is credited separately to Queen and Paul Rodgers, and the songs seem to represent an equitable meeting of Queen's elegant, larger-than-life flash and Rodgers's down-and-dirty blues-rock grit, arriving at a new paradigm that alternates between the high-minded and the down-to-earth in what amounts to a classic-rock lover's wet dream come true.

Queen embodied 1970s glam rock--mixing heavy riffs and intricate vocal harmonies with a gender-bending image. Freddie Mercury's operatic voice and Brian May's guitar were multi-tracked ad infinitum to create pomp-rock in the grandest sense. In the '80s, Queen tried on rockabilly, disco, and more, but always returned to their arena-rock roots. The group ended with Mercury's tragic AIDS-related death in 1991.

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