Press Release pt1

"THE COSMOS ROCKS"
QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS FIRST STUDIO ALBUM
EMI/Parlophone Release September 12

"Our teachers were The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, blues & soul…"
The first thing you notice about The Cosmos Rocks, the much anticipated first album from rock legends Queen + Paul Rodgers is "all tracks written by Queen and Paul Rodgers"…"produced and performed by Brian May, Paul Rodgers and Roger Taylor" (indicating that between them they played all instruments, including bass - Paul and Brian swapping duties - in case you were going to ask).  This is obviously not a case of Rodgers lightly stepping in to fill a vocal gap, as  some might have been drawn to assume would be the case when the three of them got into the studio together.

No, this is a full bodied, group endeavour: May, Rodgers and Taylor in a totally democratic union, even down to equally sharing the credits. The album's dedication to legendary Queen front man 'Freddie Mercury,' (you'll also see thanks credits to John Deacon and Paul Kossoff) shows the band mates still feel his presence strongly enough to dedicate this entirely new work to him, nearly 13 years on from Queen's last studio album.

You also wonder how Rodgers who takes control as main vocalist on all thirteen tracks here feels about his work being dedicated to the man whose fans still worship at the altar of the pre-Mercury demise Queen.

But then thinking about it, it doesn't seem quite so strange.  Brian May and Roger Taylor have, after all, never shied from acknowledging the mighty presence Mercury provided to the band on stage and the wonders of his extraordinary creativity in the studio.  Mostly, they acknowledge how even today, they still miss 'dear Fred'.

In the case of Rodgers, he can stand assured in the fact that Mercury always rated him as one of the best rock voices of his time. It is public record that Mercury would make a point of dropping into the Marquee or any number of other London venues when Rodgers was performing with his band Free. Mercury often in his past acknowledged Free's Fire and Water as one of the albums to most influence Queen. On top of this, Rodgers has now played enough sold-out and wildly received dates as Queen + Paul Rodgers to know that it works, and that the acceptance is there. You only had to be there at last month's Nelson Mandela 90th birthday concert to feel the heat from the audience to the band's blinding set.