REACHIN' OUT

3 CD 

Label: Project Queen QP 2005 1/ 2/ 3
Country: Japan 
Released: November 2005 
Recorded: Various shows from the European 2005 tour. 
Sound: Excellent soundboard recordings. (All tracks).
Comments:   A complete collection of the officially downloads from www.queenonline.com.      
Actually a nice release. All tracks are professional put together, so it's sounds like a concert. No silent part between the tracks. And again, all tracks professional recorded. This 3CD are factory 'silver' pressed production.
Time:  
Roots: From officially downloads.


Front cover

DISC ONE
01. Intro : Reachin' Out (Firenze April 7)
02. Tie Your Mother Down
(Firenze April 7)
03. I Want To Break Free
(Milan April 5)
04. Fat Bottomed Girls
(Paris March 30)
05. Wishing Well
(Newcastle May 3)
06. Another One Bites The Dust
(Birmingham May 6)
07. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
(Wembley May 11)  
08. Little Bit Of Love
(Barcelona April 2)
09. Say It’s Not True
(Leipzig April 17)
10. '39
(Leipzig April 17)
11. Love Of My Life
(Rome April 4)
12. Hammer To Fall
(Dortmund April 25)
13. Feel Like Makin' Love
(Barcelona April 2)
14. Let There Be Drums
(Newcastle May 3)
15. I'm In Love With My Car
(Newcastle May 3)
16. Guitar Solo
(Vienna April 13)
17. Last Horizon
(Rome April 4)

DISC TWO
01. Seagull (Barcelona April 2)
02. These Are The Days Of Our Lives
(Pesaro April 8)  
03. Radio Ga Ga
(Vienna April 8)
04. Can't Get Enough
(Firenze April 7)
05. A Kind Of Magic
(Antwerpen April 20)
06. I Want It All
(Munich April 14)
07. Bohemian Rhapsody
(Rotterdam April 26)
08. The Show Must Go On
(Basel April 10)
09. All Right Now
(Frankfurt April 19)
10. We Will Rock You
(Prague April 16)
11. We Are The Champions
(Hamburg April 28)
12. God Save The Queen
(Hamburg April 28)
 
- - - - - Bonus tracks - - - - - 
13. Tie Your Mother Down
(Manchester May 4)
14. I Want To Break Free
(Prague April 16)
15. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
(Basel April 10)
16. Guitar Solo
(Firenze April 7)
EXTRA BONUS DISC
01. Intro : Reachin' Out (Frankfurt April 19)
02. Tie Your Mother Down
(Frankfurt April 19)
03. I Want To Break Free
(Madrid April 1)
04. Fat Bottomed Girls
(Hamburg April 28)
05. Wishing Well
(Cardiff May 7)
06. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
(Paris March 30)
07. '39
(Rotterdam April 26)
08. Love Of My Life
(Barcelona April 2)
09. Hammer To Fall
(Antwerpen April 20)
10. I'm In Love With My Car
(Barcelona April 2)
11. These Are The Days Of Our Lives
(Rotterdam April 8)  
12. Radio Ga Ga
(Dortmund April 25)
13. Can't Get Enough
(Madrid April 1)
14. A Kind Of Magic
(Birmingham May 6)
15. All Right Now
(Munich April 14)
16. We Will Rock You
(Pesaro April 8)
17. We Are The Champions
(Cardiff May 7)
18. God Save The Queen...
(Cardiff May 7)

                   

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Back cover


Inside of front cover


Inside of back cover

 
Review by Collectors music reviews
 
Brian May and Roger Taylor's announcement in early 2005 of their reformed Queen with Paul Rodgers on vocals was met with a healthy degree of skepticism.  I honestly thought it wasn't a good idea since Freddie Mercury pretty much defined their sound and image.  I thought, if they wanted to proceed with this project, to at least call themselves something other than Queen.  Jimmy Page and Robert Plant had the prudence to call themselves Page/Plant instead of carrying out the Led Zeppelin name all by themselves.  But they chose their course with the blessings of John Deacon who didn't want to be involved but didn't offer any public complaint either. 

During their tour in Europe this spring it seemed that every show was given a cdr release by a plethora of minor labels in Japan.  Reachin' Out on the previously unknown Project Queen label is the first silver release documenting this project and offers a comprehensive overview of their tour in celebration of their visit to Japan.  For over three hours and close to fifty songs, all in superb soundboard quality downloaded from their official website, it sounds strange at first to hear Paul Rodger's distinctive voice singing "Another One Bites The Dust" and "Bohemian Rhapsody", but he brings his own style to the well known songs and, as much as I didn't want to like it, it was hard to not be won over by his enthusiasm and own talent.

Most of the songs are given straight renditions to their studio and live counterpoints although there is some experimentation with these live arrangements.  The opening to "White Man" is played as an introduction to "Fat Bottom Girls".  "Hammer To Fall" begins in "It's Late" style before taking off in the second verse, and Roger Taylor sings his songs like "These Are The Days Of Our Lives" from Innuendo and "Radio Ga-Ga".   "'39" from Leipzig is included which is, according to May, the first time he sang his song live.  Calling this the first song based upon the theory of general relativity, he does a good job although he flubs the first line of the second verse (and Taylor doesn't sing harmony unfortunately). 

 

There's no doubt that Paul Rodgers has an amazing voice.  May introduces him as the greatest blues singer and they play some old Free songs ("Wishing Well" where Taylor and May add great harmonies and "Alright Now") along with Bad Company material ("Feel Like Making Love").  What he adds to the Queen material is enjoyable.  Freddie said before that the music and concept of Queen transcended the individual members and this is really demonstrated in this set.  The bottom line is Reachin' Out is a great collection to have if you don't want to chase after all the cdr releases flooding the market.  (GS)