Wow. I picked up this assemblage of Queen tribute songs at our local second-hand record story over this past summer. I couldn’t play it, though, because I haven’t had a turntable for nearly 20 years when I threw out my parents’ old hand-me-down Sears stereo from the mid-70s — which had an 8-track player on it, I might add.
Not to be outdone, however, I purchased the songs from iTunes a little while later and gave them a listen, which was painful. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because it says right on the sleeve that the cover tunes get run through a meat grinder over at Three One G, which specializes in grind core and hardcore punk. Doesn’t exactly conjure up notions of a symphonic orchestra, right?
From what I could decipher, Ogre Battle and Death on Two Legs are probably the closest to the original, but even that’s probably stretching things a bit. And then there is Who Needs You and Vutan’s Theme (sic), which sound like a radio out of tune. Nothing more. Some songs would be better described as spoken-word songs or performance poetry. Calling it “music” could be debated.
In its defence, however, I did feel that Death on Two Legs actually sounds like it would be right at home in a Rodriguez or Tarantino exploitation flick shot in Mexico. Hey, maybe that should be the name of their next movie.
I also like the album packaging. Early 80s Freddie rendered as a gestural drawing is pretty cool. The all-pink vinyl is a nice touch, and the liner notes and photos are intriguing. Here are some shots I took of my copy:
Not to be outdone, however, I purchased the songs from iTunes a little while later and gave them a listen, which was painful. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because it says right on the sleeve that the cover tunes get run through a meat grinder over at Three One G, which specializes in grind core and hardcore punk. Doesn’t exactly conjure up notions of a symphonic orchestra, right?
From what I could decipher, Ogre Battle and Death on Two Legs are probably the closest to the original, but even that’s probably stretching things a bit. And then there is Who Needs You and Vutan’s Theme (sic), which sound like a radio out of tune. Nothing more. Some songs would be better described as spoken-word songs or performance poetry. Calling it “music” could be debated.
In its defence, however, I did feel that Death on Two Legs actually sounds like it would be right at home in a Rodriguez or Tarantino exploitation flick shot in Mexico. Hey, maybe that should be the name of their next movie.
I also like the album packaging. Early 80s Freddie rendered as a gestural drawing is pretty cool. The all-pink vinyl is a nice touch, and the liner notes and photos are intriguing. Here are some shots I took of my copy:
I wonder if the inset photo of dude holding the 8-track of News of the World was Photoshopped or from someone’s family album?
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