Then in the summer of '79 he discovered a copy of Kiss Alive II amongst his sister’s record collection, which literally blew him away! He then quickly found Van Halen I and Rainbow's Down To Earth, and he was well on the way to being rescued from Top 40 radio hell! He first fell in love with music after hearing Jeff Wayne's spectacular The War of the Worlds in the cold winter of 1978. Mick is a reviewer and photographer here at Metal Express Radio, based in the North-East of England. Neat covers of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” and “Heroes” by David Bowie rounded off a 2 hour show in party style showing that Taylor is more than just the drummer in Queen and can stand as an artist in his own right. The hulking riff and punchy Rock of “More Kicks”, featuring some fine interplay between Edney on Hammond organ and Honky Tonk piano and Keys on violin, preceded a fun drum duel between Taylor and Warren before “Radio Ga Ga” caused a spontaneous raising and clapping of every single pair of hands in the hall. With an impressive band featuring long time Queen keyboardist, Spike Edney and Christian Mendoza on guitar with bassist Neil Fairclough with all contributing to the stunning, layered, harmony vocals, this was a band who could do more than justice to Taylor’s legacy past and present.Īs Taylor only occasionally took his traditional seat behind the drums, it was left to Tyler Warren to lay down the groove and at one point take the lead vocals on Queen’s ‘(Rock It) Prime Jive’ from The Game album to give Taylor a brief breather before returning for a sublime “Say It’s Not True” and his ode to his beloved motor vehicle, “I’m In Love With My Car”. “Gangsters Are Running This World” an ode to a troubled world and “Surrender”, a song about domestic violence where Taylor duetted with keyboardist/violinist Tina Keys, showed a more serious side to Taylor while “A Nation Of Haircuts” was altogether more tongue in cheek and “Man On Fire’s” driving Rock hit home with confidence. This wasn’t all about Queen though as Taylor took us through his impressive solo catalogue. Of course, a generous helping of Queen was served up including “Under Pressure”, a beautiful “These Are The Days Of Our Lives” and “A Kind Of Magic” and the crowd responded accordingly. Opening with the title track from his 1984 solo release Strange Frontier, it was immediately clear what a strong voice Taylor still possessed compared to many of his peers with his trademark gritty rasp sounding every bit as potent as back in his Queen heyday.ĭipping deep into the Queen catalogue “Tenement Funster”, from the Sheer Heart Attack album received a very warm welcome but the plaintive “We’re All Just Going To Get By” from his current album, with its heartfelt melody and poignant lyric, stood proudly alongside the Queen material. Tonight was the opening night of Roger Taylor’s biggest solo UK tour in over two decades and with a new album, Outsider, nestling in the Top 3, this was one unmissable show.ĭressed in a smart black suit and shades, Taylor cut a dashing figure, looking much younger and fitter than his 72 years would suggest. Whether it was the Baroque, operatic vocals of front man Freddie Mercury the smoother, melodic tones of guitarist, Brian May or the husky, powerful voice of drummer Roger Taylor, their opportunities to innovate were endless. Having three lead vocalists in a band opened up a whole world of creativity for Queen allowing them to venture into genres no other band could enter.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |