published: 18 /
10 /
2021
Label:
Virgin
Format: CD
Reflective and versatile sixth solo album and first in eight years from Queen drummer Roger Taylor
Review
Queen drummer Roger Taylor, composer of classic tracks ‘Radio Ga Ga’ and ‘It’s A Kind Of Magic’, has released his sixth solo album – and the first for eight years.
Pervading ‘Outsider’ is a keen sense of nostalgia, underscored by progressive rock guitars and keyboards, with Taylor demonstrating his usual versatility on his solo albums, providing most of the instrumentation, drums, guitar and keyboards.
A prominent theme is mortality, the focus of several songs including the hypnotic, mournful opener ‘Tides’ and the seven-minute epic ‘Journey’s End.’
Shades of 1970s Queen are evident in the melodramatic soul ballad ‘I Know, I Know, I Know'. In ‘Gangsters Are Running This World’ Taylor castigates authoritarian regimes whilst the prevailing claustrophobic climate of the COVID-era casts its spell in ‘Isolation’:- “So here we sit – in isolation/We calm our fears – we’re marking time’, suspension marked by the chorus: “Strange times indeed/Strange times indeed/Strange times indeed.”
Highlights of this, in Taylor’s words, twelve-track ‘autumnal’, collection include: a collaboration with Scottish singer KT Tunstall on ‘We’re All Just Trying To Get By’, the song accentuated by Tunstall’s mellifluous vocals; the energetic blues-rock stomp ‘More Kicks (Long Day’s Journey Into The Night…Life’; the stripped-back reworking as a bittersweet ballad of the 1994 solo single ‘Foreign Sand’, featuring intricate acoustic guitar; and the contemplative closer ‘Journey’s End.’
With a UK tour starting this month, this lockdown-inspired, reflective album, is one for old fans and new.
Track Listing:-
1
Tides
2
I Know, I Know, I Know
3
More Kicks (Long Day’s Journey Into Night… Life)
4
Absolutely Anything
5
Gangsters Are Running This World
6
We're All Just Trying To Get By [feat. KT Tunstall]
7
Gangsters Are Running This World (Purple Version)
8
Isolation
9
The Clapping Song
10
Outsider
11
Foreign Sand (English Mix)
12
Journey's End
Band Links:-
http://www.rogertaylorofficial.com/
https://www.facebook.com/RogerTaylor
https://twitter.com/OfficialRMT
Label Links:-
http://www.virginrecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/virginrecords
https://twitter.com/virginrecords
https://instagram.com/virginrecords/
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