10.11.20 Adam and Cynthia's Duet!!
Oct 11, 2020 22:53:40 GMT -5
Post by pi on Oct 11, 2020 22:53:40 GMT -5
BEAT
Live Around the World - Queen + Adam Lambert Album Review
A detailed review of the 1st release from the latest iteration of this iconic megaband
October 2nd brought the long-awaited 1st release from Queen + Adam Lambert, since joining forces a decade ago, the band has been almost entirely focused on playing live shows. They finally broke their silence on April 30th, 2020 when they released a YouTube video titled, You Are the Champions, which was a rendition of “We are the Champions” released as a fundraiser for The Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund for The World Health Organisation. But when their 2020 tour was postponed due to the virus, they got to work compiling a live album to give fans a taste of the arena experience, today we are going to take a closer look at the path that lead to this release as well as the 20 tracks on it.
Seasons Change
On November 24th, 1991 rock and roll lost one of its greatest voices, the passing of Farrokh Bulsara, known professionally as Freddie Mercury, left a hole not just in the music industry but at the head of Queen, the iconic band that he had fronted since 1971. His death left the remaining members of Queen, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon, with a faceless band and some big shoes to fill.
For the next 13 years, May and Taylor (Deacon would officially retire in 1997) would do this using an ever-changing array of guest vocalists including Elton John, Luciano Pavarotti, Wyclef Jean, and George Michael. But in 2004 the band teamed up with former Free and Bad Company frontman Paul Rogers, with whom they would tour and record until 2009 as Queen + Paul Rogers. In this reviewer's humble opinion, these are dark years for the band who otherwise brought a certain irreplaceable and fiery presence to everything they touched. Despite taking the band in a new and unexpected direction that alienated everyone from long time fans to would-be new fans, the teaming of Queen + Paul Rogers would record a double live album along with a 14 song collection of bizarre and tacky tracks called The Cosmos Rocks and let me assure you the cosmos most certainly did not rock.
A New Hope
After parting (bad) company with Paul Rogers in 2009 the band waited just 3 years before bringing in fresh blood, this time it was 30-year-old Adam Lambert, a vocal maniac with a theatrical background who was fresh off of season 11 of American Idol, where he proved to be a show-stopper who was miles above the competition. For reasons unexplained (I have ALOT of conspiracy theories) Lambert came in second, but this twist of fate allowed him something that winning the reality singing competition wouldn't have - complete creative control over his career. To date, Lambert has released 4 solo albums, but he has also played over 215 shows as the electrifying frontman of Queen + Adam Lambert. Despite touring in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, and being in the middle of a Covid-19 - delayed 2020 tour, they had never released an album together. But all of that changed on October 2nd.
Queen + Adam Lambert - Live Around The World
Laying my cards on the table... y’girl didn’t expect to be terribly fond of this album, The thing is….the idea of a Queen with Adam Lambert live compilation sounds like it could be a dead-eyed 60 minutes of Lambert embellishing a childhood dream while May, and Taylor try to relive their glory days and an audience is left unimpressed - Furthermore, the idea of a live compilation gives me an involuntary kegel, where is the continuity? Where is the feeling that you are really there? Where is the setlist that reflects a specific period of time in the artists’ career, where is the authentic connection!? …..to say the least, I wasn’t highly optimistic.
Ice coffee in hand, heart resting nervously in my chest, I press play…
The first thing to note is that this is a noisy live album, and I assure you there is nothing wrong with that, I love a good raw live album (to the extent that one exists), let me hear the venue, let me hear the frontman take an extra breath in place of a word, let me hear a real live album with spectacular moments and humble concessions, let me hear anything but an overproduced, indulgent, sterile, collection of tracks.
Highlights and lowlights
Live Around The World opens with the 1984 track “Tear it Up” taken from Queen + Adam Lambert's 2018 show at the O2 in London, immediately we get a vibe for the overall tone of this album: fast, heavy, and indisputably Queen.
The 3rd track is “Another One Bites The Dust”, a song with quite a storied history, the song was written by, then bassist, John Deacon, in response to Michael Jackson telling the band that they needed a more danceable track. Since only half the band actually liked the tune (Deacon and Mercury) it was also at MJ’s insistence that they released it as a single for the album, The Game. This is just a small piece of the song's history, and it is definitely worth looking into if you are a nerd for music like me. That said, Lambert delivers a faithful interpretation that proves why he is a great fit at the front of this band.
Next, we get Fat Bottom Girls, a song that feels cringier with every year that passes, yet somehow Lambert delivers it in a way that not only feels fresh but as unsleazy as possible.
It opens with a notably heavy guitar sting before Lambert counts in the harmony, and then it’s on. The performance, taken from the band’s 2019 show at American Airlines Center in Dallas is accompanied by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders who join the band at the start of the 2nd verse and continue to “dance?” ..well... stomp and wiggle at least… for the next 4 straight minutes. An interesting lyrical change occurs entering the 3rd verse when Lambert seems to throw a little playful shade towards Brian May - the moment plays out like this…at the onset of the verse, Lambert makes eye contact with Taylor before pointing directly at May and singing "he's got stiffness in his bones'' as opposed to the May penned line "I've got stiffness in my bones'' whether this was a reference to May being the eldest member of the band at age 72, or whether it was a reminder that girly cheerleaders will never give Lambert any kind of “stiffness”, we can really never know for sure.
Overall a pretty solid rendition of this track, best reserved for an audio medium as watching it raises alot of questions including, why are the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders making an appearance when there's nary a “fat bottom” in the whole lot, the incredibly ironic choreography ensures that this is basically the only thing I can think about while watching this….does anybody on stage recognize the irony? And if not, HOW???? Anyways, I digress.
More.. vocal.media/beat/live-around-the-world-queen-adam-lambert-album-review
Live Around the World - Queen + Adam Lambert Album Review
A detailed review of the 1st release from the latest iteration of this iconic megaband
October 2nd brought the long-awaited 1st release from Queen + Adam Lambert, since joining forces a decade ago, the band has been almost entirely focused on playing live shows. They finally broke their silence on April 30th, 2020 when they released a YouTube video titled, You Are the Champions, which was a rendition of “We are the Champions” released as a fundraiser for The Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund for The World Health Organisation. But when their 2020 tour was postponed due to the virus, they got to work compiling a live album to give fans a taste of the arena experience, today we are going to take a closer look at the path that lead to this release as well as the 20 tracks on it.
Seasons Change
On November 24th, 1991 rock and roll lost one of its greatest voices, the passing of Farrokh Bulsara, known professionally as Freddie Mercury, left a hole not just in the music industry but at the head of Queen, the iconic band that he had fronted since 1971. His death left the remaining members of Queen, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon, with a faceless band and some big shoes to fill.
For the next 13 years, May and Taylor (Deacon would officially retire in 1997) would do this using an ever-changing array of guest vocalists including Elton John, Luciano Pavarotti, Wyclef Jean, and George Michael. But in 2004 the band teamed up with former Free and Bad Company frontman Paul Rogers, with whom they would tour and record until 2009 as Queen + Paul Rogers. In this reviewer's humble opinion, these are dark years for the band who otherwise brought a certain irreplaceable and fiery presence to everything they touched. Despite taking the band in a new and unexpected direction that alienated everyone from long time fans to would-be new fans, the teaming of Queen + Paul Rogers would record a double live album along with a 14 song collection of bizarre and tacky tracks called The Cosmos Rocks and let me assure you the cosmos most certainly did not rock.
A New Hope
After parting (bad) company with Paul Rogers in 2009 the band waited just 3 years before bringing in fresh blood, this time it was 30-year-old Adam Lambert, a vocal maniac with a theatrical background who was fresh off of season 11 of American Idol, where he proved to be a show-stopper who was miles above the competition. For reasons unexplained (I have ALOT of conspiracy theories) Lambert came in second, but this twist of fate allowed him something that winning the reality singing competition wouldn't have - complete creative control over his career. To date, Lambert has released 4 solo albums, but he has also played over 215 shows as the electrifying frontman of Queen + Adam Lambert. Despite touring in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, and being in the middle of a Covid-19 - delayed 2020 tour, they had never released an album together. But all of that changed on October 2nd.
Queen + Adam Lambert - Live Around The World
Laying my cards on the table... y’girl didn’t expect to be terribly fond of this album, The thing is….the idea of a Queen with Adam Lambert live compilation sounds like it could be a dead-eyed 60 minutes of Lambert embellishing a childhood dream while May, and Taylor try to relive their glory days and an audience is left unimpressed - Furthermore, the idea of a live compilation gives me an involuntary kegel, where is the continuity? Where is the feeling that you are really there? Where is the setlist that reflects a specific period of time in the artists’ career, where is the authentic connection!? …..to say the least, I wasn’t highly optimistic.
Ice coffee in hand, heart resting nervously in my chest, I press play…
The first thing to note is that this is a noisy live album, and I assure you there is nothing wrong with that, I love a good raw live album (to the extent that one exists), let me hear the venue, let me hear the frontman take an extra breath in place of a word, let me hear a real live album with spectacular moments and humble concessions, let me hear anything but an overproduced, indulgent, sterile, collection of tracks.
Highlights and lowlights
Live Around The World opens with the 1984 track “Tear it Up” taken from Queen + Adam Lambert's 2018 show at the O2 in London, immediately we get a vibe for the overall tone of this album: fast, heavy, and indisputably Queen.
The 3rd track is “Another One Bites The Dust”, a song with quite a storied history, the song was written by, then bassist, John Deacon, in response to Michael Jackson telling the band that they needed a more danceable track. Since only half the band actually liked the tune (Deacon and Mercury) it was also at MJ’s insistence that they released it as a single for the album, The Game. This is just a small piece of the song's history, and it is definitely worth looking into if you are a nerd for music like me. That said, Lambert delivers a faithful interpretation that proves why he is a great fit at the front of this band.
Next, we get Fat Bottom Girls, a song that feels cringier with every year that passes, yet somehow Lambert delivers it in a way that not only feels fresh but as unsleazy as possible.
It opens with a notably heavy guitar sting before Lambert counts in the harmony, and then it’s on. The performance, taken from the band’s 2019 show at American Airlines Center in Dallas is accompanied by the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders who join the band at the start of the 2nd verse and continue to “dance?” ..well... stomp and wiggle at least… for the next 4 straight minutes. An interesting lyrical change occurs entering the 3rd verse when Lambert seems to throw a little playful shade towards Brian May - the moment plays out like this…at the onset of the verse, Lambert makes eye contact with Taylor before pointing directly at May and singing "he's got stiffness in his bones'' as opposed to the May penned line "I've got stiffness in my bones'' whether this was a reference to May being the eldest member of the band at age 72, or whether it was a reminder that girly cheerleaders will never give Lambert any kind of “stiffness”, we can really never know for sure.
Overall a pretty solid rendition of this track, best reserved for an audio medium as watching it raises alot of questions including, why are the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders making an appearance when there's nary a “fat bottom” in the whole lot, the incredibly ironic choreography ensures that this is basically the only thing I can think about while watching this….does anybody on stage recognize the irony? And if not, HOW???? Anyways, I digress.
More.. vocal.media/beat/live-around-the-world-queen-adam-lambert-album-review