Queensryche - "take cover"
It seems inevitable that if a band is around long enough that eventually they will put out an album of cover tunes. I'm not sure what the impetus for this is, but the result is often a mediocre album. Queensryche however seem to largely avoid this problem by making some interesting choices of songs to cover, and coming up with new arrangements for most of them. Yes there are a few more obvious covers such as their take on Pink Floyd's, "welcome to the machine", and Black Sabbath's, "neon knights" (from the Dio days of Sabbath), but where they really shine is when they take on material from such diverse acts as Buffalo Springfield ("for what it's worth"), The O'Jays ("for the love of money"), Italian pop band Matia Bazar ("odissea"), and even a souped up version of a song from Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar ("heaven on their minds"). As if that weren't enough, the final track on the CD is a 10 minute live cover of U2's, "bullet the blue sky", that is just absolutely amazing. Not only did Queensryche nail this tune, but lead singer Geoff Tate recalls in the liner notes, "I evidently had a lot on my mind that night because I wasn't shy with my social commentary". He certainly did, and his "rant" just adds to the perfectness of this cover, and a wonderful capper to this album.
www.queensryche.com
It seems inevitable that if a band is around long enough that eventually they will put out an album of cover tunes. I'm not sure what the impetus for this is, but the result is often a mediocre album. Queensryche however seem to largely avoid this problem by making some interesting choices of songs to cover, and coming up with new arrangements for most of them. Yes there are a few more obvious covers such as their take on Pink Floyd's, "welcome to the machine", and Black Sabbath's, "neon knights" (from the Dio days of Sabbath), but where they really shine is when they take on material from such diverse acts as Buffalo Springfield ("for what it's worth"), The O'Jays ("for the love of money"), Italian pop band Matia Bazar ("odissea"), and even a souped up version of a song from Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar ("heaven on their minds"). As if that weren't enough, the final track on the CD is a 10 minute live cover of U2's, "bullet the blue sky", that is just absolutely amazing. Not only did Queensryche nail this tune, but lead singer Geoff Tate recalls in the liner notes, "I evidently had a lot on my mind that night because I wasn't shy with my social commentary". He certainly did, and his "rant" just adds to the perfectness of this cover, and a wonderful capper to this album.
www.queensryche.com