''The Cosmos Rocks'' is the only studio album by

Queen + Paul Rodgers Queen + Paul Rodgers (sometimes referred to as Q+PR or QPR) was a collaboration between Queen ( Brian May and Roger Taylor) and Paul Rodgers; formerly of Bad Company, Free, The Firm and The Law. Guitarist May had previously performed with ...

(and

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

's sixteenth studio album overall), released on 15 September 2008. It contains 14 new tracks written by Brian May, Roger Taylor, and

Paul Rodgers Paul Rodgers (born 17 December 1949) is a British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead vocalist of numerous bands, including Free, Bad Company, The Firm, and The Law. He has also performed as a solo artist, and co ...

. This is the first studio album of new material from the two remaining members of Queen since 1995′s '' Made in Heaven''.

History

The band entered Roger Taylor's Priory studio in late 2006, having completed the American leg of a world tour. Sessions were initially scheduled around Rodgers' other touring commitments. On tour, the band had debuted a new song, "Take Love", which did not make the album. On his solo tour, Rodgers debuted songs such as "Warboys" and "Voodoo".

John Deacon John Richard Deacon (born 19 August 1951) is an English retired musician, best known for being the bass guitarist for the rock band Queen. He wrote several songs for the group, including Top 10 hits " You're My Best Friend", "Another One Bit ...

's retirement meant that bass duties were shared between Rodgers and May. The first single, "

Say It's Not True "Say It's Not True" is a song by Queen + Paul Rodgers, released on World AIDS Day, 1 December 2007 as the lead single from the supergroup's sole album, '' The Cosmos Rocks''. The song was written by drummer Roger Taylor and features all three ...

" was released nine months before the album. The second, " C-lebrity" was previewed on '' Al Murray's Happy Hour'' in April, five months before the album. The album's release came 17 years after the death in 1991 of former Queen singer

Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...

. "It had some great stuff on it," Taylor recalled. "I just think that Paul's more blues and soul – one of our favourite singers, ever, but, when it boils down to it, he wasn't the perfect frontman for us. I felt the album was badly promoted by EMI, who were falling to bits at the time. We were on tour in Europe, and I went into record stores and we weren't in them. And I remember being furious, thinking, 'Why did we make this fucking record?'"

Singles

Three singles were released from the album: * "Say It's Not True" was the lead single from the album, released in the UK on 31 December 2007; it reached #90 in the British charts although had been available as free download for some time. Its video features many clips of the suffering in South Africa as well as clips from

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

46664 46664 was a series of AIDS benefit concerts played in honour of Nelson Mandela by South African and foreign musicians between 2003 and 2008. Origin The second time that Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island was in 1964, and he was the 466th pr ...

concerts. The single was released for the 46664 charity, with all proceeds being donated there. * "C-lebrity" was released as the album's second single on 8 September 2008, reaching number 33 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Its B-side was a recording of "Fire and Water" live in Japan. * "We Believe" was released as a

promo single A promotional recording, or promo, or plug copy, is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as ...

in Italy, and reached number 4 in the Virgin radio charts. It was edited down from its original 6-minute album version to less than 4 minutes.

Critical reaction

''The Cosmos Rocks'' received mixed reviews. According to critic review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the album received an average review score of 42/100, indicating "Mixed or average reviews".

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis ( el, Αλέξης Πετρίδης; born 13 September 1971) is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', as well as a regular contributor to the magazine '' GQ''. In addition to his mus ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' gave it two out of five stars, stating, "the lyrics were stupid, trite, a bit offensive and bound to have an undermining effect on whatever musical efforts they put behind it". Conversely, ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television ...

'' gave it a 7/10 review, stating, "Paul Rodgers breathes new life into Queen, while still keeping the band's tremendous legacy intact as they soldier forth with new material into the 21st century". ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...

'' gave it three stars, stating, "Occasionally they stumble, as on the clunky 'Warboys.' But with Rodgers imperious, Queen's second coming is vindicated".

Tour

The "Rock the Cosmos Tour" began in September 2008 to promote the release of this album. The opening date was recorded for a DVD release, and was broadcast across digital video theatres across the United States on 6 November 2008 under the title "Let the Cosmos Rock". The tour included one of the largest open-air concerts in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

, which garnered 350,000 people. Over the course of the tour, Queen played to just short of a million viewers.

Track listing

Original release

All regular tracks credited to

Limited edition bonus DVD (Super Live in Japan – Highlights)

# "Reaching Out" (Hill, Black) # " Tie Your Mother Down" (May) # " Fat Bottomed Girls" (May) # "

Another One Bites the Dust "Another One Bites the Dust" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Written by bassist John Deacon, the song was featured on the group's eighth studio album '' The Game'' (1980). It was a worldwide hit, charting number one on the US ''Bil ...

" (Deacon) # " Fire and Water" (Rodgers, Andy Fraser) # " Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (Mercury) # "

Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) "Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)" (Japanese title: , ) is a song by Queen from their 1976 album '' A Day at the Races''. Written by guitarist Brian May, it is the closing track on the album. The song is notable for having two choruses s ...

" (May) # " These Are the Days of Our Lives" (Queen) # " Radio Ga Ga" (Taylor) # " Can’t Get Enough" (

Mick Ralphs Michael Geoffrey Ralphs (born 31 March 1944, Herefordshire) is an English musician, vocalist and songwriter, who was a founding member of rock bands Mott the Hoople and Bad Company. Career Ralphs began his career as a teenager, playing with b ...

) # " I Was Born to Love You" (Mercury) # " All Right Now" (Rodgers, Fraser) # " We Will Rock You" (May) # " We Are the Champions" (Mercury) # " God Save the Queen" (Traditional; arranged by May) Note: The Japanese edition includes a CD audio version instead of the DVD.

Personnel

* Brian May – guitar, backing and lead vocals, bass, keyboards, piano * Roger Taylor – drums, backing and lead vocals, percussion, keyboards *

– lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, piano, harmonica *

Taylor Hawkins Oliver Taylor Hawkins (February 17, 1972 – March 25, 2022) was an American musician, best known as the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters, with whom he recorded eight studio albums between 1999 and 2021. Before joining the band in 1997, he ...

– backing vocals on "C-lebrity""Foo Fighters Taylor Hawkins Guests On Upcoming Queen + Paul Rodgers Album." Komodo Rock, 3 September 2008
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Charts

Certifications

Formats

* Standard CD * Special edition CD and DVD * Tour edition (Queen Online only) * Gatefold vinyl * iTunes Music Store edition

References

External links

*
Queen official website: Discography: ''The Cosmos Rocks''
includes lyrics of all non-bonus tracks. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cosmos Rocks 2008 debut albums Hollywood Records albums Parlophone albums Queen + Paul Rodgers albums