This is a list of the top 5 songs that always leave me inspired whenever I listen to them. I'd like to hear some of yours , too!

1. The Show Must Go On - Queen (Innuendo)
This song always makes me shed a tear. If Freddie Mercury can sing this from his death bed, then there is nothing I can't do if I put my mind to it. Beautiful lyrics from Brian May.

2. A Change of Seasons - Dream Theater (A Change of Seasons)
A Change of Seasons always inspires me because of all the different feelings it portrays... excitement, ignorance, fear, anger, acceptance... it makes me realize not everything is in our control.

3. Fearless - Pink Floyd (Meddle)
One of my favorite "softer" songs... The first verse makes the song for me. "You pick the place and I'll choose the time, and I'll climb the hill in my own way"

4. The Best of What's Around - Dave Matthews Band (Under the Table and Dreaming)
One of the more happier songs Dave has ever done, and also one of the few with an uplifting message. The outro always leaves a smile on my face. RIP LeRoi!

5. Imagine - John Lennon (Imagine)
If there is any hope for the future, it simply lies in the message of this song. RIP John Lennon!

Welcome,

A list of all groups I've seen live since I was 15 years old. It's not the most spectacular list you'll see, but I'm proud of it.

A Brand x2
Absynthe Minded
Albert Hammond, Jr.
Arno
Arsenal
Ben Gibbard
The Black Box Revelation
Bon Iver
Bon Jovi
Borko
Bowerbirds
Brian May
Bryan Ferry
Buscemi
Coldplay
Daan x3
Death Cab for Cutie
De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig
De Mens x2
DJ 4t4
Dr. Lektroluv
Flip Kowlier x2
FOXYLANE
Fun Lovin' Criminals
Gabriel Ríos x2
Garland Jeffreys
The Glimmers
Gorki x2
Hannelore Bedert
Headphone
Heideroosjes
't Hof van Commerce
The Hong Kong Dong
Hooverphonic
The Human League
The Ideal Husband
Jan Leyers
Janez Detd. x2
Jef Neve
Jon Bon Jovi
José González
Kosheen
Kris Dane
Laïs x2
Les Truttes
Level 42
Levellers
Mass Market
Massive Attack
Milk Inc.
Millionaire
Milow x2
Mint
Mintzkov
Mogwai
Motek
Nailpin x3
The Nico Van Gendt Project
Novastar
Ozark Henry
Pennywise
Penguins know why
Praga Khan
Queen
Queen + Paul Rodgers
Racoon
Radio Infinity
Ramses Shaffy
Raymond van het Groenewoud x2
Richie Sambora
Roger Taylor
Sarah Bettens
Savalas
Seabear
Selah Sue
Shameboy x2
The Scene x2
Sioen x2
Siouxsie
Sonic Youth
Supergrass
Styrofoam
Tim Vanhamel x2
Tom Helsen
Triggerfinger x2
The Van Jets
Vive la Fête
Voice Male
Wim Mertens
Within Temptation
Yevgueni x3
Zap Mama x2
Zornik x2
(and some crap.)

U2 frontman Bono will begin writing for the New York Times in 2009, it's been announced.

The singer will write between six and ten pieces which are expected to centre on his charitable efforts in Africa.

New York Times editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal told students at Columbia's School of Journalism that Bono's writing would come for “nothing”.

Rosenthal also said he was keen for Queen guitarist Brian May to return to the paper. May wrote about space for the newspaper's website in 2004.

He also expressed admiration for Bruce Springsteen, a previous contributor to the newspaper.

Sat 11 Oct – Queen & Paul Rodgers

We arrived at the SECC well in advance as a) we wanted to beat the traffic and b) it was Queen so we wanted to be down the front. We wandered into the SECC shopping complex/ airport/ village, got some food, ogled the merch stand and then went and sat ourselves in one of the already-long queues to get through the doors at 6.30. We were told once again that we weren't allowed to take little plastic bottles of water into the gig with us (presumably in case we, well, drink it?) although they did give us little paper cups to pour the water into to make up for it.

Once the doors opened, we were guided through the aircraft-hanger bit and into the general standing area. The stage set up has two little side wings to either side and a big catwalk down the middle, and we managed to get a position maybe 6 or so rows back and to the left of the catwalk. Not bad, we thought. We had a pretty decent view of the stage, although anything happening on the end of the catwalk was completely invisible (especially as they were lighting it from the back so if you did look around you got a spotlight in the face). The whole back of the stage was a big screen, which included artwork/video and shots of the band while they played which was good when they were out of sight.

Anticipation increased as the last-minute sound checks were done, the rock'n'roll pre-gig music got turned up loud and finally the house lights went down. The backdrop behind the stage came on to show space, not unlike the album cover, and started to approach earth. They also played the intro to the album, the 'what planet is this...?' bit.

The opening song was Hammer to Fall, which was a great energetic opener, and went into a non-stop-foot-tapping set which was absolutely fantastic. I wasn't keen on the new album, but I did really enjoy C-lebrity and Cosmos Rockin' live. I'm still not quite enjoying Surf's Up, We Believe or Say it's not True - for the last one particularly I can't understand how that song was not so much better. However, the classic Queen material all rocked spectacularly.

I enjoyed the Paul Rodgers material as well - 'All Right Now' was great as a second encore song, I liked Bad Company (I don't really know any of Bad Company's stuff although I really should - especially as the guitarist was former Mott the Hoople demi-god Mick Ralphs). I loved the way they wheeled out a baby grand piano just for that one song for Paul Rodgers to play. Seagull was lovely. I wonder if someone was reading Jonathan Livingston Seagull at the time...? The footage of Free and Bad Company from back in the 70s was great as well - I didn't realise Paul Rodgers used to be quite so pretty.

Highlights for me were Love of My Life, '39, Radio Gaga, A Kind of Magic and Bohemian Rhapsody. '39 particularly was wonderful - it started with just Brian May at the far end of the catwalk on acoustic guitar and ended with Roger Taylor on a mini drum kit, Spike Edney on a Roland piano accordion (wow, I didn't know Roland made such things!) and pretty much everyone apart from Paul Rodgers helping out. I just love the song as well. This also led into Roger Taylor doing a solo starting with his mini drum kit, Danny Miranda's bass, and back to the drum kit that was gradually built up into a full size version. Just for sheer ingenuity and inventiveness, that's probably the best rock drum solo I have ever seen.

Brian May's guitar solo with Bijou in between was spectacular as well. I loved how they used the footage and recording of Freddie. On that theme, I thought the way they did Bohemian Rhapsody was also more than wonderful. Especially the little duet between the recording of Freddie and Paul Rodgers at the end.

I was particularly impressed that the crowd didn't seem to feel the need to try and stomp on my toes, elbow me in the ribs or shove me off my feet. It was amazing! There was enough space to breathe at all times! That's usually the thing that ends up detracting from my enjoyment of shows, especially SECC shows, but this crowd was wonderfully behaved.

Set list:
Hammer To Fall
Tie Your Mother Down
Fat Bottomed Girls
Another One Bites the Dust
I Want it All
I Want to Break Free
C-lebrity
Surf's Up
Seagull
Love of My Life
'39
Roger Taylor solo
I'm in Love With My Car
A Kind of Magic
Say It's Not True
Bad Company
We Belive
Guitar Solo/ Bijou
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Radio Gaga
The Show Must Go On
Bohemian Rhapsody

Encore:
Cosmos Rockin'
All Right Now
We Will Rock You
We Are the Champions

Overall, it was a fantastic gig. It may not have been Freddie but it was the next best thing.

концерт на моей памяти в огромном Олимпийском, полная противоположность харьковскому. Огромный многотысячный зал стадиона показался мне уютным клубом, не более, чем на двести мест. Я стоял в 5 метрах от сцены, видел Пола и Брайана на расстоянии вытянутой руки... или двух рук... или трёх ;) В общем на этот раз всё, что происходило на сцене было видно как на ладони.

Треклист был слегка изменён, но программа в целом осталась та же. Roger Tailor сильно постарел и сдал, страдал одышкой и пел I'm In Love With My Car под фонограмму: одновременно стучать и вытягивать ноты у него не получалось - задыхался, зато Say It's Not True, похоже, пел всё-таки сам. "Доктор Brian May" пилил гитару по полной программе и сильно щурился, разглядывая что-то в зале и кивая туда головой. Осталось загадкой, что же это было ;)

Как ни крути, группа Queen является основоположником того, что назыается ныне "гламур" (тогда оно называлось фамильярно-просто glam), этого напыщенного и присыпанного блёстками дерьма: дорогие костюмы, лимузины и полное уродство и пустота за ними. Забавно, но всему этому самому посвящена песня C-lebrity с нового альбома. Как грится "за что боролись, на то и напоролись".

В первых альбомах группы этого всего не было: это был такой добротный рок в стиле Led Zeppelin, и приятно, что The Cosmos Rocks содержит такие треки, как Time To Shine и Warboys (лучший номер того вечера, кстати, в Харькове и 15-го в Москве не исполнялся). Здесь талант нового вокалиста раскрывается в полной мере (интересно было бы послушать эти вещи в исполнении Фредди): у парня и голос на месте и харизмой не обделён. Да, всё это не похоже на классический Queen, и это славно (от классического осталось только Say It's Not True: та же Too Much Love Will Kill You, вид сбоку)

to be continued...

I'm not fan of Queen with Freddie Mercury but even I find Queen with Paul fucking Rodgers distasteful. And this new song of theirs ('C-lebrity') is the worst thing I've ever heard (and that's after sitting through Summer in Paradise by the Beach Boys)

Fuck you Brian May, fuck you.


QueenBrian May

“Our teachers were The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, blues & soul…”

The first thing you notice about The Cosmos Rocks, the much anticipated first album from rock legends Queen + Paul Rodgers 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.

No, this is a full bodied, group endeavour: May, Rodgers and Taylor in a totally democratic union, even down to equally sharing the credits. The album’s dedication to legendary Queen front man ‘Freddie Mercury,’ (you’ll also see thanks credits to John Deacon and Paul Kossoff) shows the band mates still feel his presence strongly enough to dedicate this entirely new work to him, nearly 13 years on from Queen’s last studio album.

You also wonder how Rodgers who takes control as main vocalist on all thirteen tracks here feels about his work being dedicated to the man whose fans still worship at the altar of the pre-Mercury demise Queen.

But then thinking about it, it doesn’t seem quite so strange. Brian May and Roger Taylor have, after all, never shied from acknowledging the mighty presence Mercury provided to the band on stage and the wonders of his extraordinary creativity in the studio. Mostly, they acknowledge how even today, they still miss ‘dear Fred’.

In the case of Rodgers, he 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. On top of this, Rodgers has now played enough sold-out and wildly received dates as Queen + Paul Rodgers to know that it works, and that the acceptance is there. You only had to be there at last month’s Nelson Mandela 90th birthday concert to feel the heat from the audience to the band’s blinding set.

It all makes perfect sense when you get the opportunity to see what the band have to say about the sessions:

“We went in and played, every day, and ALL kinds of things happened, little bits of chemistry happening between us. It’s good, organic music."
“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. “

The Cosmos Rocks was recorded and mixed at Taylor’s The Priory studio between November 2007 and August 2008, and co-produced and engineered by Joshua J Macrae, Justin Shirley-Smith and Kris Fredriksson. It marks the first album of newly recorded material from Queen + Paul Rodgers since they first set out on the road in 2005, and the first Queen studio album since 1995.

A first single from the album, “C-lebrity” is released September 8 in digital format. Versions contain exclusive performances of Queen + Paul Rodgers live performances of “Show Must Go On” and “Fire and Water” filmed during Q + PR’s 2005 Japanese tour.

The track, according to Roger Taylor – and seemingly much in keeping with many on The Cosmos Rocks – is the writers’ skew on the times in which we live: “’C-lebrity’ is really a comment on the current concept of fame - success and all that goes with it. Getting your face on TV is enough - talent doesn't really enter into the equation. ‘Celebrity’ is an overused and devalued word today. I think the song shows we have lost none of the humour of Queen!”

Other tracks on The Cosmos Rocks include “Cosmos Rockin’”, “Time To Shine”, “Still Burnin'” (a mission statement of why artists are compelled to create), “Small”, “Warboys”, “We Believe”, “Call Me”, “Voodoo”, “Some Things That Glitter”, “Through The Night”, “Say It's Not True” (a new version of the track donated to Nelson Mandela’s 46664 HIV Aids campaign), and “Surf's Up, School's Out”.

The album is released in three physical formats: standard CD, deluxe package which includes additional DVD featuring 15 highlight performances by Queen + Paul Rodgers from the band’s Super Live in Japan concert recorded live at Saitama Super Arena, Tokyo on 27th October 2005, along with double gate-fold vinyl release (vinyl only available through import). The album will also have a special digital release including bonus tracks.
Coinciding with the release of The Cosmos Rocks, Queen + Paul Rodgers embark on a 33-date Europe and Northern Eurasia tour beginning mid-September. The tour reaches the UK on October 10 with 11 dates including two at London 02 and the tour’s final date at Wembley Arena on November 8.

Queen + Paul Rodgers
The Cosmos Rocks

Album Track listing:
1. Cosmos Rockin'
2. Time To Shine
3. Still Burnin'
4. Small
5. Warboys
6. We Believe
7. Call Me
8. Voodoo
9. Some Things That Glitter
10. C-lebrity
11. Through The Night
12. Say It's Not True
13. Surf's Up . . . School's Out!
14. Small reprise

Album/DVD Tracklisting:
Live in Japan
1. Reaching Out
2. Tie Your Mother Down
3. Fat Bottomed Girls
4. Another One Bites The Dust
5. Fire And Water
6. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
7. Teo Torriatte
8. These Are The Days Of Our Lives
9. Radio Ga Ga
10. Can't Get Enough
11. I Was Born To Love You
12. All Right Now
13. We Will Rock You
14. We Are The Champions
15. God Save The Queen

Produced and performed by Brian May, Paul Rodgers and Roger Taylor

Co-produced and engineered by
Joshua J Macrae, Justin Shirley-Smith and Kris Fredriksson

All tracks written by Queen + Paul Rodgers

Extra backing vocals on C-lebrity: Taylor Hawkins courtesy of RCA Records

This album is dedicated to Freddie Mercury

www.musichead.com.au
www.queenpluspaulrodgers.com
www.queenonline.com
www.paulrodgers.com

sablespecter's journal from last week about his all-time favorite film made me want to put one of mine in the spotlight today:



Flash Gordon from 1980, is the cult classic that I adored then and now. Queen created the perfect soundtrack for this campy sci-fi fest. I didn't have the full album as a kid, but the best songs, Flash's Theme and Football Fight, were flipsides on the 45 that I played to death. I do own the soundtrack now, and I really enjoy Brian May's guitar sound on Battle Theme and The Hero. The Hero is the only other song besides the main theme to include Freddie Mercury's vocals (singing lyrics, anyway)... most of the other instrumental tracks feature dialogue and sound effects from the movie, which is extremely entertaining for the diehard fan like me :) Other highlights: The Ring (Hypnotic Seduction of Dale), which features some cool spacey synths and perfectly recalls the scene in the movie, and The Kiss (Aura Resurrects Flash), which is a gorgeous creation (Freddie's voice used as an instrument-- amazing):



I also had a book from the movie that contained screenshots as well as cartoon drawings. For some reason, I don't have it any longer.. would love to track another copy down someday.

The other crazy thing is that I don't even own the DVD! But you know... every once in a while I catch the flick on TV and it makes for a very happy surprise :) I also came across this blurb from the Hollywood Reporter that says an updated version of the movie might be on the way... But there's no chance it will be an improvement on my 80s favorite :)

{EDITED TO ADD: Flash VS. Prince Baron on the tilting platform}