Return of the Champions

Queen + Paul Rodgers Album

Return of the Champions is the live album from Queen+ Paul Rodgers

Paul Rodgers (vocals, guitar)
Brian May (vocals, guitar)
Roger Taylor (vocals, drums).

Additional personnel: Spike Edney (vocals, keyboards); Danny Miranda (vocals, bass guitar); Jamie Moses (guitar).
Recording information: Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield, England (9th May, 2005).

Two Disk CD;
CD1 : Running Time – 1:14:42
CD2 : Running Time – 0:52:43

Recommended Songs : 

Reaching Out, Tie Your Mother Down, Say It’s Not True, ‘39, Love Of My Life, Hammer To Fall, Last Horizon, The Show Must Go On, All Right Now

Review

I was actually at the Queen+ Paul Rodgers concert at Le Zenith in Paris (2005). So, I had an idea of what to expect from Return of the Champions. In most respects this live album very much lives up to my expectations, however, being a live album, I thought the mix between the audience and the live sound was a bit unbalanced in places.

Paul, Roger and Brian do an excellent job in getting through 27 Queen / Free classics. But for anyone expecting a Freddie type performance, you must remember that Paul Rodgers never wanted to portray that style of front-man.
You get to hear some Queens songs which were never performed on the road from the Miracle and Innuendo albums. There are also some interesting performances on the album, including a brand-new version of Hammer to Fall from Brian, Roger singing These are the Days of our Lives and Freddie singing Bohemian Rhapsody … no thats what really happened !

There is a lot of varied opinion on whether this is a good album or not, but I think the album is a real rock-fest ; a collaboration of Rock-Genuis. There should be songs on the album which everyone should recognise and rock along to.

Review Rating : 8

Some parts of the DVD / Album have been overdubbed, edited or omitted. There were some funny moments during concerts, these are omitted from this release, giving a perfect yet less-live resulting album.