Queen: The Complete Works (32 page)

Parlophone PCS 7342, March 1990

Parlophone CDPCS 7342, March 1990

‘Top Of The World, Ma’ (3’55), ‘Liar’ (4’35), ‘Closer To You’ (3’18), ‘Breakdown’ (3’56), ‘Penetration Guru’ (3’48), ‘Power To Love’ (4’04), ‘Sister Blue’ (4’17), ‘Foxy Lady (CD only)’ (3’28), ‘Better Things’ (2’48), ‘Passion For Trash’ (2’37), ‘Old Men (Lay Down)’ (4’55), ‘Final Destination’ (3’35)

Musicians
: Roger Taylor (
vocals, guitars
), Spike Edney (
keyboards, vocals, mandolin on ‘Better Things’
), Peter Noone (
bass guitar, vocals
), Clayton Moss (
guitars, vocals, lead vocals on ‘Better Things’
), Josh Macrae (
drums, percussion, vocals
)

Recorded
: Mountain Studios, Montreux, September– November 1989

Producers
: The Cross and Justin Shirley-Smith

With
The Miracle
finally completed and released, and with Brian out doing his own promotional work on the album, Roger took a short break before meeting up with Spike, Peter, Clayton and Josh in Montreux. While Roger had been busy, the others had started work on their own material for a potential second album, invigorated by the live shows and the (relative) success of
Shove It
. Since they hadn’t written anything for the first album, let alone played on it, they were determined to become a more democratic unit.

Fortunately, Roger shared this desire and was eager to hear the demo tapes that the band presented to him. Impressed by what he heard, he started work on his own contributions; surprisingly, only two of his songs, ‘Old Men (Lay Down)’ and ‘Final Destination’, ended up on the album, with the remaining eight songs generated by the others (and with Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Foxy Lady’ added for good measure). With Roger’s songwriting now in the minority, it would be understandable to approach The Cross’ sophomore album with trepidation since none of the other four musicians were well-known songwriters, and it could be argued that Roger’s desire to be only one fifth of a fledgling rock band would affect the music adversely. Thankfully,
Mad: Bad: And Dangerous To Know
– an apt nineteenth century description of the disreputable poet Lord Byron, who had been imprisoned in Chillon Castle in Montreux, near Mountain Studios where the album was recorded – is a decent sophomore effort, and the songwriting is a vast improvement over the debut.

Whereas the production on
Shove It
had been so generically 1980s, the band was given an updated sound for this release, almost entirely eliminating the programming and synthesizers, and The Cross are revealed as what they had been from the beginning as evidenced by their live shows: a good old-fashioned rock band. The opener, ‘Top Of The World, Ma’ is a five-way collaboration that rocks harder than anything Queen had released since
Jazz
, and most of the other songs are either tender ballads or ferocious rockers.

Part of the success of the album’s sound is attributable to Justin Shirley-Smith, an engineer who had cut his teeth working with Chris Rea on his 1987 album,
Dancing With Strangers
, and then progressed to two David Bowie projects:
Never Let Me Down
in 1987 (alongside David Richards), and Tin Machine’s self-titled debut album in 1989.
Mad: Bad: And Dangerous To Know
was the first album he produced himself, and he would go on to become almost exclusively a Queen producer, also working closely with Brian on several of his solo recordings. The production on The Cross’ second album is superb, a contrapuntal masterpiece that sounded as if the band were all playing in the same room together.

The songwriting on the album was surprisingly strong, with almost every track a potential single. Whereas Roger could take credit for only the final two songs, as well as a co-writer’s credit on the opener, Peter Noone wrote three of the tracks (‘Liar’, ‘Breakdown’ and ‘Sister Blue’), Clayton Moss wrote two (‘Penetration Guru’ and ‘Better Things’, the latter a self-sung ballad) and Spike Edney and Joshua J. Macrae wrote one song each (‘Closer To You’ and ‘Passion For Trash’, respectively). The most chart-friendly song, ‘Power To Love’ (written by Joshua, Peter and Clayton), was issued as the first single from the album in April 1990, but peaked at a disappointing No. 83 in the UK. ‘Liar’ was the next single, released only in Germany in August 1990 and deserving to be a hit just as much as the third single, ‘Final Destination’ – but neither charted. The band went on a short German tour in the spring of 1990 and, while sales in that country increased, Britain merely reacted with indifference. It was evident that, despite all the hard work The Cross had poured into their album, no one was paying attention.

THE CROSS

THE OFFICIAL BOOTLEG

Fan Club-only release, early 1991

‘Piano Introduction’ (2’19), ‘Top Of The World, Ma’ (4’16), ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ (4’38), ‘Breakdown’ (4’09), ‘Penetration Guru’ (4’09), ‘Tear It Up (or “Bad Attitude”)’ (4’11), ‘Liar’ (5’24), ‘Man On Fire’ (4’59), ‘Sister Blue’ (4’28), ‘Final Destination’ (4’37), ‘Foxy Lady’ (5’22), ‘I’m In Love With My Car’ (3’09), ‘Let Me Out’ (7’54), ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ (3’55), ‘Lucille’ (6’29)

Musicians
: Roger Taylor (
vocals, guitar, drums on ‘Tie Your Mother Down’
), Peter Noone (
bass guitar, backing vocals
), Clayton Moss (
guitar, backing vocals
), Josh Macrae (
drums, backing vocals
), Mike Moran (
piano, keyboards
), Brian May (
guitar on ‘I’m In Love With My Car’, ‘Let Me Out’, ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ and ‘Lucille’, lead vocals on ‘Let Me Out’ and ‘Tie Your Mother Down’
)

Recorded
: The Astoria Theatre, London, 7 December 1990

Producers
: The Cross

Performed exclusively for The Official International Queen Fan Club Christmas Show in December 1990 at The Astoria Theatre,
The Official Bootleg
became the first exclusive release offered to Fan Club members and is an exciting and interesting insight into a much neglected area of Roger’s solo career.

The recording is famous for featuring a guest appearance by Brian May, who joined The Cross on their encore (starting with ‘I’m In Love With My Car’) and even brought a few rarities with him. ‘Let Me Out’ was premiered for the first time and Little Richard’s ‘Lucille’ was also given a run-through, while ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ featured Brian on lead vocals for the first time – which was obvious, as he both forgot crucial lines and simply focused more on his guitar work than singing. Only six of the twelve tracks from
Mad: Bad: And Dangerous To Know
were performed, a drastic reduction from the eleven usually featured, but the band did introduce ‘Bad Attitude’, which at this point was called ‘Tear It Up’, and would be recorded for the band’s next album,
Blue Rock
.

Considering that this was The Cross’ first (and only) concert on their home ground since 1988, some surprises were expected, but the biggest surprise was Mike Moran substituting for Spike Edney. Roger explained that the keyboardist was “playing with Bob Geldof in Warsaw,” and Mike proved to be a worthy replacement for the time being.

Unfortunately, this rare insight into The Cross’ strengths as a live band has slim to no chance of being released commercially. In early 2010, Roger revealed his intentions to compile a comprehensive box set of his solo career, but it’s unlikely that
The Official Bootleg
or its follow-up,
Live In Germany
, will be included.

THE CROSS

BLUE ROCK

EMI 1C 064 8 97624 1 (Germany only), September 1991

EMI 1C 064 8 97624 2 (Germany only), September 1991

‘Bad Attitude’ (4’45), ‘New Dark Ages’ (4’58), ‘Dirty Mind’ (3’30), ‘Baby, It’s Alright’ (4’05), ‘Ain’t Put Nothin’ Down’ (4’30), ‘The Also Rans’ (5’27), ‘Millionaire’ (3’43), ‘Put It All Down To Love’ (3’34), ‘Hand Of Fools (Out Of Control)’ (4’30), ‘Life Changes’ (5’55)

Musicians
: Roger Taylor (
vocals
), Spike Edney (
keyboards, backing vocals
), Peter Noone (
bass guitar, backing vocals
), Clayton Moss (
guitars, backing vocals
), Josh Macrae (
drums, percussion, backing vocals
), Geoffrey Richardson (
violin and viola on ‘Baby, It’s Alright’ and ‘Life Changes’
), Helen Liebman (
cello on ‘Baby, It’s Alright’ and ‘Life Changes’
), Candy and Clare Yates (
backing vocals on ‘Baby, It’s Alright’ and ‘The Also Rans’
)

Recorded
: Real World Studios, Box and Roundhouse Studios, London, February-August 1991

Producer: Mark Wallis

The time following the release of
Mad: Bad: And Dangerous To Know
was well spent by The Cross. They had toured most of Europe during 1990 but realized they were losing popularity in their home country. The second album didn’t even chart, and Parlophone remained adamant in their refusal to finance a tour that was certain to lose money. Dismayed but not defeated, the band promptly dropped Parlophone, signed with German record company Electrola and flew to Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Box, Wiltshire, renowned for its eclectic world music recordings. In a 1991 interview, Roger placated fans who were worried that The Cross would be travelling in a drastically different musical direction. “We picked [the studio] because we liked the look of it,” he maintained. “Our music is like classic hard rock, and I like the idea of the world music thing, but no, that had nothing to do with
it. It was a good studio, a good location, and a nice place and we liked it very much indeed.”

The sessions started in February 1991, again without Roger, who was in Montreux recording new material for another Queen album. When Roger finally joined the others, the sessions were moved to the more central location of Roundhouse Studios, closer to Roger’s home in Surrey; his girlfriend, Debbie Leng, was pregnant and he wanted to be near home when she went into labour. On 8 March 1991, she gave birth to a boy whom they named Rufus Tiger. After celebrating, the proud new father returned to the studios to continue work on The Cross’ third album.

Blue Rock
was released in September 1991, after nearly six months of sessions that produced (arguably) the best album recorded by The Cross. As with its predecessor, the album is democratic in its songwriting credits. Roger again wrote only two songs (‘New Dark Ages’, first submitted to Queen during the
Innuendo
sessions, and ‘The Also Rans’), while Spike Edney wrote the bulk of the material single-handedly – ‘Dirty Mind’, ‘Baby, It’s Alright’ and ‘Put It All Down To Love’ – and in collaboration – ‘Millionaire’ and ‘Life Changes’, both with everyone but Roger; ‘Bad Attitude’, with everyone including Roger; and ‘Hand Of Fools (Out Of Control)’, with Peter Noone. Clayton Moss wrote only one song, ‘Ain’t Put Nothin’ Down’, while Peter Noone’s ‘Heartland’ was relegated to B-side status.

The album is nicely unified and shows the band expanding upon the previous album, with even better results. When asked his opinion of the end product, Roger said, “If you want me to be honest, I think it’s quite good. We have a producer this time,” he added, referring to Mark Wallis, who began his career on the Starfighters’ 1982 album
In-Flight Movie
, before working with such notables as Roger Daltrey, Tom Verlaine and Kirsty MacColl.

The songwriting on the album was even more mature than the previous one, with the exception of ‘Bad Attitude’ and ‘Dirty Mind’, which dealt with sex and lust in a callow manner, unrepresentative of Roger’s normally subtle handling of these subjects. However, Roger’s mind wasn’t entirely focused on the album since 1991 would mark the final year of Queen as an active band, though no one (except Freddie) knew that for certain. Roger’s preoccupation with Queen-related matters was inevitable; the brunt of the work was delegated to him and Brian. Freddie’s worsening condition and John Deacon’s reclusive nature kept both vocalist and bassist out of the spotlight and forced Brian and Roger to become the spokesmen for the group again. As a result, most of the backing tracks for
Blue Rock
were recorded without Roger, and he came in only to record his lead vocals (he didn’t play any guitar on the album, his only solo album not featuring any of his own guitar work) and to arrange his two songs.

The album was released only in Germany in September 1991, a fortnight after ‘New Dark Ages’ hit the stores, and although heralded by limited promotion except for the odd television appearance, the album performed moderately well. Rumours circulated that it was to be released in the UK in November 1991, an event cancelled due to Freddie’s death. Two singles – Roger’s sublime ‘New Dark Ages’ and the gorgeous ‘Life Changes’ – were released to support the album, shortly before the band embarked on a brief tour in support of Magnum. Unfortunately,
Blue Rock
remains a rarity, available only to those lucky enough to find it, and repeated demands for a reissue of The Cross’ entire back catalogue have fallen on deaf ears.

After the release of
Blue Rock
, Roger’s attention returned to Queen, and with the death of Freddie, his energies were suddenly directed into organizing his tribute concert. On the first anniversary of Freddie’s passing, in a letter to Queen Fan Club members, Roger wrote, “I would also like to point out that The Cross do not exist anymore, as it seems there is a little confusion about this. We are, however, still great friends and will be playing together – strictly for fun – in London at the Marquee Club on December 21st and 22nd. Could be good – will be fun!” Indeed, with
Blue Rock
remaining their swan song, and only a handful of gigs remaining, the chapter on The Cross was closed – prematurely, perhaps, but Roger’s insistence that he was “just part of the band” was growing tiring. Almost immediately following the tribute concert in April, he went back to work on writing songs – this time as a solo artist for the first time since 1984.

THE CROSS

LIVE IN GERMANY

Fan Club-only release, early 1992

‘Bad Attitude’ (5’06), ‘Millionaire’ (3’20), ‘Ain’t Put Nothin’ Down’ (5’37), ‘New Dark Ages’ (6’01), ‘Baby, It’s Alright’ (3’43), ‘Dirty Mind’ (3’26), ‘Man On Fire’ (5’33), ‘Power To Love’ (5’50), ‘The Also Rans’ (6’19), ‘Top Of The World, Ma’ (5’58)