Queen have confirmed September 15 as the UK release date for Rock the Cosmos, their first studio album for 13 years – and their first without the vocals of Freddie Mercury.
The new album – released in the United States on October 14 – will feature former Free and Bad Company front man Paul Rodgers on vocals.
With Queen and Paul Rodgers having sold more than 300 million albums between them, their first studio collaboration is seen as one of this year’s most eagerly anticipated new releases.
Queen’s last album, Made in Heaven, came out in 1995 and featured material written and recorded by Freddie Mercury before his death in 1991. The album became the band’s biggest selling studio album, with worldwide sales of more than 20 million CDs.
Guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers wrote and recorded 13 all-new songs for Rock the Cosmos in late 2007 and early 2008. Tracks so far confirmed include the World Aids Day song ‘Say It’s Not True’, plus ‘C-lebrity’, ‘We Believe’, ‘Call Me’, ‘Whole House Rocking’, and the title track.
Other tracks on the new CD will include a ‘first’ for a Queen album – a cover version (rumoured to be Del Shannon’s Sixties classic ‘Runaway’).
The striking ‘cosmic’ cover art for Rock the Cosmos is the work of award-winning photographer Edgar Martins who has been hailed as “one of the most influential artists of his generation working within the medium of photography”.
On the Queen web site (www.queenonline.com), Brian May, Roger Taylor and Paul Rodgers state that the new album will be all about “people really and truly playing together in the studio”.
“You don’t get that much these day,” they say. “But you will get it on the new Queen and Paul Rodgers album.”
Queen and Paul Rodgers will start a 14-nation European tour in Moscow on September 15. It will include UK dates in Nottingham (October 10), Glasgow (October 11), London O2 (October 13), Cardiff (October 14), Birmingham (October 16), Liverpool (October 18), Sheffield (October 19), Newcastle (November 4), Manchester (November 5), London O2 (November 7), and London’s Wembley Arena (November 8).
Tags: Brian May, Del Shannon, Freddie Mercury, music magazine, over-50s, Paul Rodgers, Queen, Rock the Cosmos, Roger Taylor, Sh-Boom
