Customer Reviews

C-Lebrity

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This is a terrific and fun single release that harkens back to the pop success Queen specialized in during the 80s with songs like "I Want to Break Free" and "A Kind of Magic". Fun lyrics, great guitar and percussion, and some sweet vocals by Paul Rodgers. Little wonder it was #1 on the UK rock single charts!

A fantastic new song from the legendary Queen. Tight rhythm section. Sharp guitars. A wonderfully catchy refrain. Brian May and Roger Taylor are in top form as usual. Paul Rodger's voice sounds better than it has in years. This track is definitely one of the highlights on the new album, The Cosmos Rocks.

C-lebrity is a fun, rocking track from the new debut album by Queen + Paul Rodgers. Lots of classic Queen trademarks, from May's instantly identifiable guitar and a hooky riff, a catchy chorus, and some trademark Queen backing vocals - plus the added power of the voice of the always excellent Mr. Paul Rodgers. Some great, biting lyrics, too, all classic Roger Taylor stuff, with equal parts with the humor and the sarcasm. This is a fun track. A good mix of rock and pop with a nice to-the-point guitar solo. "I want to be a star in a Broadway musical - they're gonna love me - I can't sing or dance at all" is a great lyric. Roger Taylor, as always, really nails it with some powerful percussion. A song I could hear Freddie Mercury really sinking his teeth into. And I imagine the video would have been hilarious. Well worth a listen or twelve.

There's an annoying breed of "fan" that will write off new material from any artist with a certain amount of, er, miles on the clock, as "not as good as their old stuff." It happens with Bowie. It happens with Prince. It would probably happen with Michael Jackson if he ever actually recorded new songs instead of re-releasing the same 15 hits twice a year.

And, so, inevitably it happens with Queen. But when your frontman, (possibly the greatest frontman ever), dies and you end up replacing him with Paul Rogers, a guy who sounds like he's summoning the ghost of a Freddie Mercury karaoke impersonator, when your own bass guitarist quits after seeing the soulless parody his band turned into, and especially when your musical output consists of horrific Queen-lite drivel like "C-Lebrity", then we can all safely say that Queen's old stuff is better than their new stuff.

Even though their songs have been diluted by overexposure (at least in the UK; seems that any tv show or advert over here has the rights to Queen's back catalogue), it's easy to say that Queen were one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Full of pomp and posture, easily capturing and mirroring the sheer PRESENCE of Mercury, their music was everything you could ever want from a rock band; both clever and willfully stupid, with songs you could bang your head or break your heart to - Queen were a one of a kind.

Which makes "C-Lebrity" a fairly tragic addition to the Queen canon. A witless chunder aimed at reality show contestants (something I wouldn't normally mind) that sees Rogers try to shoe-horn some personality into the boring lyrics but ends up sounding like a pub singer that would have you finishing your pint and heading for the nearest exit. Normally bands try NOT to sound like themselves - here it seems the number one mission. Mission failed.

The Curmudgeon has no problem with older bands and artists recording new material and not resting on old glories. But Queen's day has well and truly passed, and this humourless, depressing charade won't change anything. Note to May and Taylor; give it up and go away.