Customer Reviews

Stone Cold Queen: Tribute

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After dealing with various Queen tribute albums, one becomes rather weary when a new CD is released. Afterall, how many... Queen covers can a fan bear? Luckily "Stone Cold Queen" is an honest surprise.The album starts off with several dreary tracks. "Stone Cold Crazy" is no longer the frantic, thrashing metal song it was. Robin Zander's vocals are so out of place here as they're somewhat wimpy. The song is extended for no apparent reason other than to give Steve Stevens a freehand to widdle about on his guitar."Play the Game" is a poor sound-a-like to the original. Nothing remarkable about it."Fat Bottomed Girls" is straight from the wastebasket. Disappointing weak drumming from Brian May's former bandmate Eric Singer which is up to speed with the lifeless harmonies and arrangement.Perhaps the song I looked forward to the most was "Somebody To Love" as sung by Geoff Tate. I generally like Geoff's voice but here it just reminds you how poorly he compares to Freddie Mercury. Again the harmonizing is another huge let down however it makes you appreciate Queen's skills that much more.Rounding out the poor first half of the album is "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". Sung by the Nelson brothers (yes, the guys with the long, pretty blond hair) lacks all of the fun and flair of the original. The snappy bassline which was so danceable in the original is mixed so low in the cover that it's barely noticable.A ripping "Fight From the Inside" finds the perfect vocalist in Jack Blades. The roughness of his voice matches well with the pointed lyrics. The guitar work of Jake E. Lee is sharp and vicious. A good start to the album's second half.Kip Winger is an easily forgettable icon of the 80's but on "I'm In Love With My Car" he is resurrected as he glides along Roger Taylor's lyrics. The riffs from Steve Lukather's guitar soars. Roger should be happy with these two versions of his songs.An unfortunate cover of "Killer Queen" sees Glenn Hughes doing his best impression of what a drag queen sounds like singing. His whispered vocals are laughably bad.Jack Russell and the Kulick boys decided (thankfully) to do the fast version of "We Will Rock You" which roars through your speakers. Fast, fun and rocking.I'll skip past "You're My Best Friend" since I cannot stand the song, period.Finally, the best cover is "Spread Your Wings" which brings about a certain sadness from the song, the likes of which I have not felt since hearing Queen's version on the "Live Killers" album. Tommy Shaw somehow tackles the feelings with quiet desperation, slowly painting a mental picture of a man who dreams of something more. The Beatles-like ending is a nice, warm touch.Though there are several awful covers here, the few top tracks truly save the CD and when it comes to tribute albums, that's saying a lot.

I bought this as I am a hardcore fan of both Steve Stevens and Jake E. Lee, two artists who are not overly prolific. They, the various singers and other guitar players lend their unique styles to the respective tracks. Production and mix values are high, especially by Shrapnel Records standards. The two disapointments IMHO are the vocal performances by Joe Lynn Turner and Geoff Tate. The bass playing on the original versions of these songs was subdued, and so it is here as well. The virtuosos playing bass are somewhat irrelevant, being low in the mix. Drumming is also somewhat standard, although it is easier to pick out the little nuances each of those skin pounders are known for.
As with many tribute album "reviews" here on Amazon, the others on this page miss the fact that these are NOT supposed to sound like the originals. Of course they don't. If you would rather listen to the classic versions by Queen, by all means do so. If you are a big fan of one or more of the artists on this CD, then it is worth the money.

Ive been rocking out to this tribute album for years by the pool as back yard party music. All the classic songs rocked out to the max. Love this album.

The reviews I've read here are mostly complaining on how it doesn't compare to Queen. People be smart, give your money to charity. At least that's a more rewarding expend of it. I guess it serves the artists who want to pay tribute to the ones that inspired them and influenced them just to hear a bunch of people who can't perform half of what these artists do complain about it. If you don't like it go ahead and do it yourself. All I've heard about this record is Somebody to Love. First thing I thought was, What is the date of this? 2001..No wonder why Geoff performance is so lame here as he was struggling with a smoking habit. Is actually very good if you compare it with what he did with Queensryche by that period. Had he sung it by the 1990s another story would had been sung.

This disc has a very impressive line-up of great musicians including some of the greatest session players of all time (Steve Lukather, Tony Franklin, Tony Levin) but unfortunately it doesn't stack up against the original Queen recordings at all. In fact no one really gets anywhere near to nailing their track. You might find this disc interesting if you want to hear how some of your favourite musicians tackle some Queen classics but don't expect too much. Queen recordings are just too good to be compared to any other versions, no matter how talented the line-up.

With all this talent, this album could/should have been a lot better.

"Stone Cold Crazy" and "Play the Game" are just too close to the originals, only the originals were better. "Fat Bottom Girls" isn't bad, but I think Antigone Rising do a better version. "somebody to Love" one of my personal favs, is laughable. And speaking of laughable, why am I listening to the Nelson Bros.sing "Crazy Little Thing Called Love?"

"Fight from the Inside" is the only song that really kicks it right. A very good version here w/ Tonys Levin and Thompson as a rythym section. Jason Scheff singing "Your'e My Best Friend" is awesome too. It's like he wrote tthe song. Kuddos!! "I'm in love with my Car" is no big deal and Glen Hughes' "Killer Queen" is back to laughable.

"Spread your Wings" and "We Will Rock You" almost end on a good note but all in all the album falls way short. Too bad too, because there's some really great players on this project.