QueensrA¿che - Take Cover

You ve Never Heard Anything Like It.
Queensrÿche Pays Tribute To A Diverse Collection Of Favorite Songs With An 11-Song Covers Compilation Ranging From Pink Floyd To Black Sabbath and Buffalo Springfield To Broadway And Much More. Product Description

Very Eclectic, for True "Ryche" Fans Only

My "take" on Take Cover is that it is certainly diverse and eclectic, as many have stated, but that is a mixed blessing. The band displays great imagination; this is obviously out of the box thinking (pardon that over-used cliché). Again, as others have bemoaned, I would like to have heard more classic metal. Is this really representative of Queensryche's influences or favorite songs as most cover albums are, or is this a risk-taking experiment purposely designed to be unique and eccentric?

As for the songs themselves, I enjoyed Neon Knights; I'd like to hear them play more like this one. Welcome to the Machine seems an obvious choice, and I liked it. I was not familiar with Heaven on their Minds before, but I thought it worked very well, an unusual but successful choice. Innuendo was interesting; I was familiar with it because I'm a life-long Queen fan. They didn't exactly nail it, but I give them kudos for the effort. Some cuts, like Synchronicity II do not differ too much from the originals, so I don't see the point. Some others, like For What It's Worth, are boring relics of the Woodstock era. I'll admit this arrangement is superior, but why do it? "Bullet" is really too long; is all 10:26 really necessary? As for the "social commentary," Geoff might want to consider shutting up and singing ala the Dixie Chicks.

As for the bottom line: will you enjoy listening? Answer: Only here and there. This is uneven and erratic so only the most ardent Queensryche fan will enjoy every minute of this CD, but any rock fan will enjoy some of it. I think the band peaked artistically with Operation: Mindcrime and commercially with Empire. Since then they've been trying to progress or recreate past performances without much success.
September 18, 2008

Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

I have been the biggest Queensryche fan in the world, but in recent years the quality of their music has gotten to the point where I really do think they need to quit and stop beating a dead horse. Since their hit album Empire in 1990 they have rapidly and steadily declined as far as the energy and craftsmanship of thier music. Their highly anticipated release after Empire, Promised Land, was, in my opinion, their last feeble effort at creating anything of quality, with scatterings of good song ideas here and there, but none of them ever really reaching either full potential. The following release, Hear in the Now Frontier, was up till that point their weakest release by far. I understand wanting to experiment and get outside the box, but at the same time... you don't just completely abandone the style and sound that people came to love you for... espeacially when you're trying to do a style that is just not your main forte. Thier released between Hear in the Now Frontier and Operation Mindcrime II were a little better, but that's not saying much. You could count on a couple of good songs on the album, but that was about it. Then they outdid themselves with Operation Mindcrime II, which is in my opinion their worst album to date by far. Take cover sufferst from the same problems as Mindcrime II. I hate the production, everything is extremely dry and up front in the mix... God forbit we have any effects or reverb on anything. The songwriting is not exciting to me either, and the main problem I have with Take cover and Mindcrime II, (which really started with another absolutely horrible release, The are of Live), is Geoff Tate's voice. I don't know what happened over the years, but it seems that he simply cannot do what he used to vocally. He was one of my favorite singers back in the day, but now days his voice actually grates on me to where it's just not pleasant to listen to. His pitch control is horrible all over the album, and again, I hate the way the vocals were recorded. Since their live album, Opereation Livecrime, he sounds like he's struggling for every high note he can get. Anyway, in my opinion Queensryche needs to give it up, they are LONG since past their prime, and Take cover is a perfect example of it. If they didn't have the history that they do this effort would be laughed at as being a very amature effort. August 12, 2008

Uninspired

After Tribe I had decided that I was done with Queensryche. Since Promised Land the once-legendary progressive metal band has issued one lukewarm album after another, and I finally reached my limit. I was able to resist the temptation to check out Operation: Mindcrime II, but I have a weakness for cover songs, so when I ran across Take Cover in a cutout bin, I reluctantly added it to the day's purchases.

The idea of a Queensryche covers album is very intriguing. It would be a great chance to see the kind of music that influenced the band, which in turn was so influential to so many other bands. The problem with Take Cover is that it feels fundamentally dishonest. Oh, I don't doubt that Geoff Tate spends plenty of time listening to opera, Broadway, and Peter Gabriel, but there's no way in hell that stuff influenced Queensryche when they were starting out. Where are the Rush, Kansas, and Led Zeppelin songs? You know that those bands had a bigger influence on the band that released albums like Queensryche and The Warning than Crosby, Stills and Nash ever did. The only songs that felt like they actually deserved to be there are the Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath covers. The rest feel like they were selected to show off just how g*ddamn eclectic Geoff Tate thinks he is.

The band does a decent enough job on these songs, and their interpretations range from "by the book" to moderately interesting. They just don't seem very inspired by these songs, and for a covers album that's a fatal flaw. Compare this to Feedback, Rush's joyful romp through their classic rock roots and Take Cover's lack of energy and enthusiasm is that much more evident.

Ultimately, this wasn't worth making me break my Queensryche boycott. Welcome to the Machine and Neon Knights will be added to my iPod, but the album itself is destined for the trade-in stack.
July 26, 2008

Sad.

It's sad to me that a gifted band such as Queensryche had to resort to re-doing COVER SONGS to release an album. I do own the album, as well as ALL of Queensryche's CDs, but this attempt to put out a CD has faltered. Do NOT purchase this album.........make one of my favorite bands of all time make THEIR OWN MUSIC. It's a sad day for this Queensryche fan!!! May 13, 2008

Benefits from repeated listening

Okay, I will admit, the first time I heard this the phrase, WTF?, went through my head. The first track, a cover of Pink Floyd's Welcome to the Machine, was brilliant. There is a lot of similarity between Queensryche's sound and Pink Floyd's sound, so this transition was pretty smooth. Then came Jesus Christ Superstar!?!? Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Peter Gabriel, Sting????

This was daring, to say the least. However, the band did make the songs their own. It still sounds like Queensryche. So what happened was I kept going back to hear a particular song over again, and then let the CD play as I got involved in other things. After hearing the tracks a few times, they started to grow on me, to the point that this was the only CD I listened to for the next few days. Moral: don't be to quick to push this disc aside. Give it time.

I debated between giving this three stars and four stars, but given the general lackluster reviews, I thought I would give them the fourth star for daring to step outside their musical comfort zone. If you are a Queensryche fan, this is a must have. April 1, 2008

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