Back in 1990, Queensryche was facing a bit of a dilemma. Two years earlier they'd released the phenomally successful Operation: Mindcrime
and the question was on everyone's lips "How are they gonna follow this up?". Immediately releasing another concept would have resulted in cries of "sellout!" and so the band made a daring move by releasing the very accessible "Empire ". With short, catchy songs well suited to commercial radio, the band sidestepped the problem and soared to even greater heights.
When Queensryche finally got around to releasing Operation: Mindcrime II
in 2006, the problem was compounded. because the band had to both prove that the new release was not a cynical attempt to cash in on past glories and record a kick-ass album that lived up to the brilliance of the original. And they did it!
But now the dilemma rears its head again, if anything bigger than before. Buying some time with the live release Mindcrime at the Moore
, Queensryche has now again sidestepped the problem by recording the third CD on my wishlist:
Queensryche: Take Cover
Okay, anyone who listens to the show on a regular basis knows I'm a sucker for a good cover tune, and now one of my favourite bands is about to release an entire CD of them. Does life get any better?
Other than a downright creepy cover of Dalbello's "Gonna Get Close To You" (from Rage for Order
), Queensryche hasn't released any cover tunes on a studio album (there were a couple of excellent ones on The Art of Live
) so Take Cover represents something relatively new in the Queensryche universe.
Just because they are recording other people's material, Queensryche is by no means playing it safe with this CD. Not only are they recording songs by Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and Queen, but also songs by The Police, Peter Gabriel, Buffalo Springfield and the O'Jays. There's even an opera track and a song from Jesus Christ Superstar in the mix.
What few covers Queensryche have recorded in the past have managed to do the original justice while still sounding like Queensryche, so I'm confident that they will pull this release off nicely. Keep an eye out for Take Cover, due out November 13th.
and the question was on everyone's lips "How are they gonna follow this up?". Immediately releasing another concept would have resulted in cries of "sellout!" and so the band made a daring move by releasing the very accessible "Empire ". With short, catchy songs well suited to commercial radio, the band sidestepped the problem and soared to even greater heights.When Queensryche finally got around to releasing Operation: Mindcrime II
in 2006, the problem was compounded. because the band had to both prove that the new release was not a cynical attempt to cash in on past glories and record a kick-ass album that lived up to the brilliance of the original. And they did it!But now the dilemma rears its head again, if anything bigger than before. Buying some time with the live release Mindcrime at the Moore
, Queensryche has now again sidestepped the problem by recording the third CD on my wishlist:Queensryche: Take Cover
Okay, anyone who listens to the show on a regular basis knows I'm a sucker for a good cover tune, and now one of my favourite bands is about to release an entire CD of them. Does life get any better?Other than a downright creepy cover of Dalbello's "Gonna Get Close To You" (from Rage for Order
), Queensryche hasn't released any cover tunes on a studio album (there were a couple of excellent ones on The Art of Live) so Take Cover represents something relatively new in the Queensryche universe.Just because they are recording other people's material, Queensryche is by no means playing it safe with this CD. Not only are they recording songs by Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and Queen, but also songs by The Police, Peter Gabriel, Buffalo Springfield and the O'Jays. There's even an opera track and a song from Jesus Christ Superstar in the mix.
What few covers Queensryche have recorded in the past have managed to do the original justice while still sounding like Queensryche, so I'm confident that they will pull this release off nicely. Keep an eye out for Take Cover, due out November 13th.
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