|
|
 - Lighten up! The artists here are not trying to be Queen Tribute bands,..By now everyone knows what a tribute band is: Beatlemania, 1964 a tribute to the Beatles, ...I even saw that there is a touring Alice in Chains tribute band. Tribute bands seek to exactly duplicate the original band. Any original band with any originality is going to take some liberty with the material, interpret it differently, maybe update it, and hopefully pass it on and interest a new audience to this great music. The true tribute of this album is hearing the influence of Queen on a new generation of artists. There's only 1 exception. Joss Stone is a fantastic vocalist but her track came across as self-indulgent- way too much R&B vocal riffing. Having said that, the stand out tracks are Tie Your Mother Down by Shinedown and Fat Bottomed Girls by Antigone Rising. Having covered these songs myself in smoky, hole-in-the- wall bars, I appreciated the fact that the guitarists from Antigone Rising identified Brian May's riffs as "country/rockabilly" in origin. The rest of the band follows suit in putting a refreshing southern spin on this rollicking rocker. This track alone is reason enough to buy this album. Rating:  - Killed QueenIf there's one band which has given INXS a run for their money in royally screwing over their heritage following the demise of their charismatic frontman, it's Queen. The posthumous album Made In Heaven, the Ben Elton musical and Godawful appearances with piss-weak boy band 5ive have already decisively battered the memory of the `70s rock institution, with this latest piece of tosh another head-scratching addition to the list. A chiefly American line-up attempt reinventions of classic Queen tunes, proving that Metallica, Travis and Homer Simpson's versions of key Queen moments weren't so bad after all. Eleven's version of Stone Cold Crazy adds interest due to Mr Joshua Homme's additional trademark guitar fuzz, Jason Mraz offers a touch of Mercury to his delivery of Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy and the cast of We Will Rock You bring their lifeless version of Bohemian Rhapsody to the table. The normally stellar Flaming Lips similar struggle with the epic Queen hit, playing it far too safe to create anything as groovy as their White Stripes cover from earlier in the year, while Joss Stone (still in nappies when Mercury joined the great gig in the sky) seems thoroughly bored by Under Pressure as she mumbles her way through it. Josh Kelley adds a few interesting genre-hops on Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Ingram Hill delivers '39 with a country tinge, but it's too little too late. This isn't a Killer Queen, just a covers collection to send you slightly mad. Rating:  - Old Man's View On: Killer Queen - A Tribute To QueenI received this CD from my step-daughter as a Christmas present. She is in her early twenties and knows all of the performers on the CD. I'm in my mid-to-late forties and do not know any of the performers, but probably know all of the Queen lyrics by heart. My reaction to all of this is amusement and curiousity. I really liked some of the interpretations and was left indifferent to others. Overall, the CD made me sad that Freddie Mercury died ... so many years ago. Yet, I'll still listen to this CD again ... and probably again. Rating:  - Going slightly mad....Buy this disc if you want to feel like someone stole your favorite toy, tagged it with profane sharpie writing, and then tried to sell it back to you as something new; Gavin's version of we are the champions made me feel like stabbing myself in the eye with my pen; Eleven's version of stone cold crazy made me feel like i was having a seriously horrible acid trip; and breaking benjamin's version of who wants to live forever sounded like i had the vocals slowed down but the music was sped up; good rock song + crappy artists = cringe worthy remakes that never should have been released; this album is only getting 1 star because i dont think it will let me give it 0 and Constantines version of bohemian rhapsody is awesome! it the only song worth listening and you can probably download it some where or get it from your dumb friend who bought the disc and then relized it what a piece of crap... Rating: - Some really AWESOME, some really not.I was blown away by Constantine Maroulis and WWRY cast version of Bo Rhap. They stayed true to the original which could not have been easy to do, considering the footsteps they had to follow. Constantine continues to amaze me. I get goosebumps when I hear it. In this house, we hunger for anything he is involved in and are anxiously awaiting his future endeavors. I thoroughly enjoyed Sum41's version of Killer Queen -- fanastic job. Fat Bottom girls was GREAT - alot of fun. The rest of the tracks annoyed me like nails on a chalkboard. As I heard each one, the thought "How dare you" kept coming to me over and over until I was almost angry. The audasity of taking legendary Queen songs and warping them so much that they were virtually unrecognizable was too much for me. I skip from Connie's Bo Rhap, then Killer Queen, then FBG -- and will never listen to the rest again.
|
