Well, I don't know what to tell you. Queen is going on the road in early 2005. Did I say Queen? I meant "Queen." I'm feeling indifferent because I've already used up all of my outrage on other things fifty-percent-of-Queen-related. I found out about this new development on Monday thanks to an email from CEB. It was almost noon and I still happened to be awake, because I like to destroy my schedule on the weekends. Instead of following the third shift lifestyle I just take naps now and then. Of course the naps last up to four hours each and that is why I have trouble getting to sleep on Monday mornings.
I was about to go to bed when I checked my email. CEB had sent me a news story from some rock and roll news site, and the story claimed that Queen would be going out on tour with Paul Rodgers. Paul Rodgers? I decided this was a good enough reason to call CEB even though he was at work.
CEB: Hello?
Me: Paul Rodgers has a range of about four notes! He can't tour with Queen!
CEB: Why are you still up?
Me: Four! Notes! I have to like Paul Rodgers because I love Free but come on. I fell asleep on LCG's couch last night during the Aqua Teen Hunger Force and didn't wake up for three hours. That is why I am still awake now. Paul Rodgers? If he really wants to work can't he grab Simon Kirke and have his own tour?
CEB: The guitarist retired.
Me: Wait. Paul Kossoff is dead.
CEB: The guitarist from Bad Company.
Me: Yeah, I realized that as soon as I said Paul Kossoff. I think that if Paul Rodgers is going to do a reunion it should be a Free reunion.
CEB: They would do a Bad Company tour before they would ever do a Free tour.
Me: But I like Free better!
CEB: They were touring for a while as Bad Company with the blessing of the other two members.
Me: Well, maybe the bass player from Free hasn't retired! What was his name? (flip, flip, flip through The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll. Hate the magazine but the book seems pretty good about getting the facts right. I've found it to be most useful.) Andy Fraser! Is he still alive?
CEB: I don't know.
Me: (skim, skim, skim through the Free entry) Oh! He was in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers before he was in Free.
CEB: Okay.
Me: But...I don't know if he is retired or what. Now I really want to see a Free tour except I should be opposed to that since they wouldn't have Paul Kossoff.
CEB: Oh, hey, not to change the subject but you're gonna have to update your Koskie news. He's going to the Blue Jays.
Me: No.
CEB: It just came out this morning.
Me: When I posted the newsflash he wasn't a Blue Jay! (Frantic visit to local paper's web site for baseball news. I've been doing that a lot lately, waiting for word on Koskie.) Nooooooooooooooo!
CEB: It's pretty much a done deal.
Sometimes I feel bad for CEB because he always seems to be the bearer of bad tidings, and the other day's phone call turned into a 2-for-1. Oh, well. At least he was kind enough to let me grouse about both Queen and Koskie before he decided he should get back to doing actual work. As long as I was in an uproar I visited the dreaded Brian May web site. Brian May said that this time it's not a rumor and they plan to be playing live by April. Boooo!
I read his explanation of how his collaboration with Paul Rodgers came to be. He and Paul were both at the Fender 50th Anniversary shindig and they played All Right Now and at first I thought, well, good, at least it wasn't a Queen tune. Paul does not have a vocal style that would suit many Queen tunes. Then I started thinking about Brian May playing All Right Now and I got all annoyed.
I love Brian May's sound and he is certainly capable of producing many tones on the Red Special, but can he create that fat blues-based sound that Paul Kossoff had? Well, maybe. He can do some pretty neat things with his playing. Still...I'm imagining Brian May's classic razor-sharp tone and I don't see how that would work in a Free tune. Couldn't Paul Rodgers rustle up Peter Frampton or Ronnie Wood? They would much better candidates to play Paul Kossoff's parts. I have no doubt that Brian May can play anything, and I don't blame Paul Rodgers for wanting to work with him. However, I do think that instrumental break must have suffered without a warm guitar tone.
And now...all of Free's best songs will have a chance to suffer because Paul Rodgers is going out on tour with Brian and Roger! Apparently they are talking about how to deal with their collective material. (Insert despair here. Choose from howl, wail, or look of disbelief.) The only thing worse than wondering which Queen songs they will attempt is wondering which Free songs will make the set list. That is, if any Free songs make the set list. Is it possible that they will dip into the Bad Company catalog for the Paul Rodgers material? Is it necessary, at this point in their lives, for Brian May and Roger Taylor to be part of a Bad Company cover band? I don't think so.
LCG doesn't think so either, and he has a much better solution for everyone involved. He thinks they should go out on the road with Ringo Starr. Under normal fifty-percent-of-Queen-news related circumstances I am the irate one and LCG is not because he's not a Queen fan. He is also the one to point out that the rumors never get beyond being rumors. I think the fact that a tour is in the planning stages is what annoyed him this time.
Me: So, Queen's going out on tour.
LCG: No they are not!
Me: They have dates booked.
LCG: They do not. Are they coming here?
Me: I don't think so. I read one thing that said they had a show scheduled in, I think March, for Paris. I think they are only going to do dates in Europe. Paul Rodgers is singing.
LCG: Who?
Me: He's the singer from Free.
LCG: Umm.....
Me: And Bad Company.
LCG: That guy?
Me: Yep.
LCG: Is, uhhh...
Me: John Deacon?
LCG: Yeah. Is he involved?
Me: They don't know yet but I would be very surprised if he joined them.
LCG: So two guys from Queen and a guy from Bad Company are going out as Queen?
Me: They are billing it as Queen and Paul Rodgers but Brian actually said that "the Queen Phoenix is rising from the ashes."
LCG: Did they even try to do other things after Freddie died? Maybe go out on their own?
Me: Roger made a couple of terrible solo albums, I have them, and Brian did a couple of solo records too. He was here in 1993 and I should have gone. I believe he had his pick of musicians for his band too. I mean, he is Brian May.
LCG: I understand that they want to go on the road, but why as Queen? McCartney is touring this year and he plays Beatles songs, why can't they go out on their own? They can still play Queen songs. Just don't call it Queen! Ringo tours too. Hey! You know what they should do?
Me: Join the All-Starr Band?
LCG: YES! They can go out and play Queen songs with Ringo.
Me: Hey! They could bring Paul Rodgers too! Ringo can always use fresh members in the All-Starr Band! And since Ringo is sort of the bandleader Roger could be the drummer!
LCG: Exactly.
I wish. Instead of joining what would easily be the greatest All-Starr Band lineup ever (even better than the one with Jack Bruce, Peter Frampton, and...wait for it...Simon Kirke!) they will continue to dilute the legacy of Queen.