Customer Reviews

Dragon Attack: Tribute to Queen

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I see these stuck up snobbish fans denounce any tribute to Queen stating that it is no where as good as the original. Well duh! If you want the original buy the original! Of course no one is better than Queen, or even as good, at doing their own songs. But take a tribute for what it is: A Tribute! These people love Queen, they acknowledge that Queen is an incredible inspiration and they wish to show their love and admiration by covering a song, or making a cover CD. I like hearing different interpretations of Queen songs. How would other people have done it? This CD is amazing in my eyes. Hearing the different styles mixed together. Not just different bands, but different members of various bands coming together to pay homage to the most wonderful band, Queen. I give it a 4 though for two reasons. Lemmy should not sing in the first place, let alone attempt a QUeen song. His gutteral moanings of Tie Your Mother Down makes a person cringe. No matter the song, Lemmy should be mute! And then there is Yngwie Malmsteen...His is not an homage or tribute, but just another chance to try to emphasize that he is a god of guitar...in his own mind anyway. To me a cover song should at least still be recognizable, but when Yngwie does his solo on his song he twists it into something that is not QUeen at all. Otherwise, my most favorable impression of the album is James LaBrie of Dream theatre. A truely remarkable singer in his own right, highly influenced by Queen himself. This album is worth getting, just keep in mind that it is a tribute, and it is not Queen. :)

This collection feature some metal and rock masters, like Doors' Robbie Krieger, Ted Nugent, Glenn Hughes, Marty Friedman, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci, Chris Impelliteri, Eric Singer, Bruce Kulick.... The first track, I want it all, sound much heavier that the original. Robin Mc Auley doesn't sound like Freddie (of course no one does), but his voice works good with the song. Impelliteri overplays a little. For "Sheer Heart Attack" we have Dream Theater's James Labrie on vocals and Marty Friedman on guitar. They sound good, but this is not the song for them. Another one bites the dust sounds like a metal tune instead of the funky sound of the original, the guitar fills of Petrucci are worthless for the song. He's a fantastic guitarist, but he screws up the song. The bass tone is also inapropiate. Save me is by far the best track of this tribute. Bruce Kulick does a fantastic job with both acoustic (with the great extended acoustic solo) and electric guitar. Jeff Scott Soto's vocals sound too raspy for this particular song, but still the song sounds great. We will rock you and We are the champions are ruined by Paul Shortino's vocals. His voice is not for covering Queen. Robbie Krieger's solo in We are the champions is really good, but his guitar doesn't have a natural sound. You may like or not Tie your mother down. If you like Motorhead's Lemmy vocals you'll love the song. If you don't like Motorhead at all, you may not be fascinated with the track. Nugent's guitar gives some power to the song. Get down make love lost most of it's psychedelic feeling here. Yngwie Malmsteen seems like he is making fun of Queen covering Keep Yourself Alive. His guitar sound very out of place. He doesn't show his unique sweet guitar sound. If you don't know Yngwie, you may think he plays bad thrash metal. If you happen to know his work, you'll be dissapointed, because it is for sure that he can do a lot better that what he did with Keep Yourself Alive. One vision is well covered, with LaBrie in vocals again. He does a great job here. It's late sounds too heavy, and John Bush's vocals sound like someone singing in the shower (he may be good for thrash, but singing a ballad type song he sucks). The guitar sound is too heavy for the song too.

Some of the tracks that should have been covered are of course Stone Cold Crazy (Metallica did a good job covering it in 1991), Modern Times Rock and roll, I'm in love with my car, Death on two legs, Hammer to fall and maybe Spread your wings (Bling Guardian has a good cover of this one)

As a tribute, it works good, nothing spectacular, but still good and enjoyable.

Cover albums are always a risky bet. It seems like the same dozen or so out of work hair metallers keep getting called on to pay tribute to classic rock icons, and the results are never pretty. Every once in a while a real gem emerges, such as Magna Carta's Rush and ELP tributes and this album, which pays homage to the legendary progressive/art/glam rock band Queen.

This 1997 tribute album features some true heavy metal heavyweights offering up versions of songs that truly inspired them. It's definitely not your run of the mill Cleopatra Records tribute. Any album that boasts Dream Theater's James LaBrie and John Petrucci, Anthrax's Scott Ian and John Bush, as well as Jeff Scott Soto, Glenn Hughes, Yngwie Malmsteen, Lemmy and Ted Nugent (among others) has to be taken seriously. These first rate musicians and powerful vocalists may not match Queen's unique energy, but they give strong performances and renditions of Queen classics that should please all but the most jaded Queen fans. It helps that you get the impression that these musicians participated out of a true appreciation for Queen's music, not just because the rent was due.

Given its relatively low price tag, Dragon Attack is a good pick for classic rock fans as well as fans of the various artists featured on this album. I tend to obsessively collect any CD that features someone from Dream Theater, so this was a definite winner for me.

NOTE: This album should not be confused with the absolutely dreadful Tie Your Mix Down: Tribute to Queen album. That waste of plastic is just a bunch of techno remixes of the songs on Dragon Attack, and should be avoided at all costs.

An interesting compilation here, and surprisingly one of the only tribute albums to date about the legendary 'Queen'
The record itself is a compilation of Queen tracks (mostly B-sides it has to be said - not that that makes them bad of course!) by various induviduals rather than a specific band. Many of the artists are playing evidently here for the first time together and some times it comes off and sometimes it does not. One thing to state before even thinking of this CD, is that it is NOT a Queen CD - not stating the obvious here, but dont expect to here songs in the style of Queen, this is more the songs in the style of the respective artist... and again, this sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't.
Firstly the good - by far the best track on the album is the final one - a version of 'Its Late' by what effectivley is the band Anthrax, this is a really, really superb track and is severley kick [...] in every way - dare i even say it, but it may even be better than the original....certainly much more heavier. Also very notable is Lemmy (from Motorhead) singing again a hard metal version of 'Tie your Mother Down' - really good here to here a classic metal singer in Lemmy belt out a Queen classic in his own unique style.
As far as the bad side goes, there are no particularly 'bad' performances from any artists but more just a feeling of anti climax on songs that could have been done much better - such as 'Another One Bites the Dust' which all in all was a bit of a let down. It also really frustrated me that in the actual track listing for the CD it does not detail the actuall origin of the artist, rather just there unrecognisable name, but upon research you find this compilation has tracks performed by members of The Doors, Kiss, Whitesnake, The Who, Megadeath and Black Sabbath.
But despite this name list I wont lie to you - the odd hairspray band sneaks into this album and some performances sound like they real 80's tracks and in honest a bit cringworthy..... but the big name list mentioned above more than makes up for this.

Over all this album is good, and I would recomend it to any Queen fan, but would suggest it is purchased by fans who like there music nosiey and loud and in general this album is for metal fans rather than the housewives and trainspotters who know the words to Bohemian Rhapsody (incedently NOT featured on this album).

For those who love Queen, and like there music kick [...], buy this album!!

...this isn't a bad tribute. I bought this because there are some recognisable musicians here who have done their best to sing and play Queen. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Great songs are great songs even if these guys don't sound like Freddy. I didn't buy it expecting they would. What captures the Queen spirit though is Lemmy's version of Tie Your Mother Down. Most people don't get it, but Lemmy personifies the song. And Ted Nugent blazes on the guitar. Here's to Queen anyways....

Fourty three miniuts of classic; definately British Rock, with a mild Blues riff thrown at "We Will Rock You /We Are The Champions" breaking the monotony. As a true blue Queen fan, I find each of the 11 recordings would stand alone as excellent works as single releases; collectively however they are boreing. No suprises, little improvisation and damn little imagination. A quick look at the list of performers tells the whole story.These guys play it one way and only one way. The only real credit in the recording goes to some of the best lead guitar work I have heard in a long time. Chris Impellitteri, John Petrucci, Bruce Kulick and Ted Nugent will wear you out. Most remarkable, is the final revelation after you complete the marithon thru these eleven tracks, is appreicating how extraordinary Queen really was...

One word: TRIBUTE! This album is a dedication to Queen, the heroes of the glam-rock scene. I mean, come on! I thought these songs were terribly recreated. If you're gonna do something, do it right! The original was perfection, why mess with it? I did see good in what they were TRYING to do. Queen was, and is, the best band ever. I'm glad people have seen what they've done is really great, and have given them some recognition for it. But with this, they may as well not have!

Listen to Jeff Scott Soto's Save Me!! Freddie who?

Buy it because the world's best rock stars are on it: Ted Nugent & Lemmy. Disagree? You're stupid.