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This is a really good album and DVD, with a lot of emphasis on the DVD. I have been a Queen fan since day one, they have consistantly blown me away album after album. When Freddie Mercury passed, I figured there would be no more Queen. Then I saw Brian May "live" at a small venue in Atlanta in the mid 90's touring with Cozy Powell on drums. It was an awesome show, Brian not only carried the vocals but proved that he could have been a lead singer in Queen. Don't misunderstand, Freddie was a once in a lifetime singer/showman, but what I mean is that Brian has a voice that can sing the Queen songs. Now let's talk about Paul Rodgers, singer/showman extrordinaire with "Free", "Bad Company" and a host of other projects. Obviously one of the premier rock and blues singers of the past few decades. The resulting marriage of these two powerhouse talents, gives the listener a "best of both worlds" opportunity to enjoy this music all over again with a new slant. It seems that as you hear these songs, you are not compelled to compare, but to enjoy the new influences brought on by the blending of these talents. Wisely, we are not given a "Bohemian Rhapsody" remake, but a tribute and recognition to the great Freddie, it is handled with respect and reverence in a most tasteful manner. The "Free" and "Bad Company" songs are also done in such a way as to pay tribute to the Rock and Roll Gods for giving us these great songs in the first place. In the words of Argent and later Kiss, "God gave Rock and Roll To Us", this album and DVD are a prime example of the longevity of great writing and playing. Some of these songs are over 35 years old and still sound fresh and new, and if we were hearing them anew, undoubtedly, we would make them hits all over again.

Despite the fact that some people didn't like tha fact that QUEEN was with another front man "replacing" Freddie Mercury (what is not really true), I found this union really good. QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS gave us a unique union with quality, performance, stage e a supperb world tour. I had the oportunity to see them alive in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 26 November 2008. A perfect show. You have to know that Paul Rodgers is "simply" a unique singer. Don't try to compare him with Freddie. It is another singer, but a huge voice and talent. This is a great CD/DVD show. I also reccomend THE COSMOS ROCK CD, the QUEEN + PAUL RODGERS studio CD. A unique union, with Queen songs and, also, Free and Bad Company songs by Paul Rodgers. Special. I hope they join again in a short future. God save the Queen + Paul Rodgers!

I kind of avoided this release at first because I was disappointed that there weren't more songs from the Cosmos Rocks album. Why should I get this album which is going to be basically a re-do of the Return of the Champions album from 2005? Well, I decided to get this anyway, and I am so happy that I did. This is almost a totally different listening experience than Return of the Champions was. Even where the setlist was similar, the renditions were changed. I still wished that they would have included some more Cosmos Rocks tunes, but over all I'm very happy with this purchase.

Reviews

The soprano's essays into classical singing were vast and varied, and all represented here; glorious sonic echoes of the "Golden Age of Opera" as presented by one of the finest singers of her time. From Wagner to Verdi to Mozart and back again, Johanna Gadski's voice has been preserved as never before under Ward Marston's remarkably skillful remastering hands. Rare second takes, sometimes third takes, lieder, art songs and oratorio excerpts all ring out with with brilliance. Also included are the fascinating "Mapleson cylinders," maddeningly brief excerpts of actual performances at the Met in 1903, but thrilling just the same. This 3 CD set is a must for all interested in the history of classical singing, generously illustrated with rare photographs and notes.

Reviews

I thought it was a great production and caused me to rethink how the ancients craved stone works with astonding results. The idea is that we could not do as well without using modern ultrasonic tools! This DVD cause me to do more reading. One of which I am reading presently - Chapter 2 Ancient Technology in "Discovering the Mysteries of Ancient America" by Frank Joseph Talking heads? These are real people not toy heads sorry reality can't always be done on a Holywood production set folks. Buy this DVD and see it for yourself!

Most of the movie is either talking heads or irrelevant slide show (of course, Egypt, South America etc.), and sometimes talking heads with irrelevant background. Say, a man walking on some indescriptive street and a voice behind tells who is he or what have he told some time ago. Plenty of accusations to the "official science" that they don't listen to a reason and don't want any proofs. Not much of actual proofs. It reminds me mostly amateurish informercial where participants pitching how great they are before pithing the product (in this case, their books, probably). The only plausible proof of their point that I heard in the movie was that many stones are done with a machinery precision, impossible manually. However, they were too busy complaining about "official science" and pitching how great they are to really demonstrate this machine precision.