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Entertainment
Rock and Roll Party Queen

CD Review by Ernest Barteldes

Party At The Palace, Various Artists, Virgin Records/EMI

A quarter century ago, Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee celebration featured a rock concert which billed some of the biggest names of pop music of that time, such as Paul McCartney (with Wings), Queen (with a Freddie Mercury-designed lavish crown above the stage), Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and other assorted acts. That Royal (am I supposed to use a capital letter here?) occasion, however, is mostly remembered by rock and roll's chronicle for the Sex Pistols' infamous act on the Thames that was raided by the river police as they performed their very own of "God Save The Queen" (note for those not acquainted with the punk era: they were not performing Britain's national anthem).

Come 2002 and there was the Golden Jubilee that is fully celebrated by Her Majesty's subjects despite the scandals that have turned the Royal Family into a tabloid joke in recent years. Once again, there is a rock concert in the program, which again includes most of the hottest stars of... 1977(!) plus a handful of newer artists such as The Corrs, Annie Lennox, Ricky Martin and Bryan Adams.

Now, dear readers, don't get me wrong. The recently released Party at The Palace quite an enjoyable CD, despite some omissions that I can't fathom (and to which I'll return). What really hits yours truly as strange is the why organizers were unable to find contemporary musicians that could fit the bill as appropriately (whatever that might mean) as on the first jubilee. Maybe they couldn't, given the scandal-prone state of pop music today. But then again, the late Freddie Mercury in a Nijinski leotard wasn't any more conservative than say, today's scantily-dressed Britney Spears or Cristina Aguilera. An excuse could be that there aren't enough new British musicians to fit an event of that stature. What about, say, Robbie Williams, Oasis, U2 and Sting, who were apparently snubbed by a commission that should have consulted Prince William in the first place (and don't get me started on the Rolling Stones).

Anyway, let's get to the music.

The CD opens with Brian May (of Queen)'s rooftop performance of God Save The Queen backed by The Royal Academy of Music Symphony plus bandmate Roger Taylor and Ray Cooper on percussion.

That song (then performed in playback) used to be the closing of Queen's live concerts since the track was included in the band's magnum opus, A Night At The Opera. In this performance, the fifty-four year-old guitarist outdoes himself and does full justice to his original multi-tracked version, which makes this track one of the album's greatest moments.

In another good moment of the recording, May is joined by the surviving members of Queen for a short medley that opens with Radio Gaga (with Roger Taylor on vocals and Phil Collins on drums), moves to We Will Rock You (with May on vocals) and ends with a beautiful rendition of We Are The Champions led by Will Young members of the hit West End musical (co-produced by Robert DeNiro's Tribeca Productions) We Will Rock You, which I truly hope will open here in Manhattan sooner or later.

Annie Lennox performs on Party at the Palace Annie Lennox does a very good job on her soulful Why (a hit from her first solo album, Diva), and it is always great to hear Eric Clapton perform Layla, which he does effortlessly. Pay attention to Brian Wilson's set, especially his flawless duet with Baby Spice Emma Bunton and Atomic Kitten on Good Vibrations and of course Sir Paul McCartney's rendition of All You Need is Love with a Dylan-sounding Rod Stewart and Joe Cocker (who also performed his mandatory staple, the Beatles' With a Little Help from My Friends). Elton John sounds quite at home with I Want Love, a track from his latest album, Songs from the West Coast.

There were also some forgettable moments, such as Shirley Bassey's soulless performance of Goldfinger (I mean, she sounds more tired of doing that one than Mick Jagger claimed to be of singing Satisfaction which I almost couldn't endure), a song that was probably included on the setlist as a way to celebrate Great Britain's favorite spy. Couldn't McCartney have played Live and Let Die? Phil Collins is a great musician, but choosing his cover of the Supremes' You Can't Hurry Love was definitely not too clever. Finally, there is "family man" Ozzy Osbourne 's tuneless rendition of Paranoid. Needless to say, he only made the invitation due to the huge, unexpected success of MTV's reality sitcom, which recently began their second season. But at least the backing band (which included Black Sabbath's guitarist, Toni Iommi) sounded great.

Sadly, the album was released in a single package, leaving out contributions by Ricky Martin, Tony Bennett, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Aretha Franklin and Blue. Also left out was Paul McCartney's poignant rendition of George Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps alongside Eric Clapton (a duet they repeated last November during The Harrison tribute at The Royal Albert Hall) Let's hope a Volume 2 of the compilation is made available by Virgin Records' suits. Of course, if you look hard enough, you'll find bootleg editions which feature the concert in its entirety.

Party at The Palace is an enjoyable CD which is worth the price tag even with its bad moments, and it is a good album to have at home both as for a moment of musical pleasure and also as a document of a historical event that probably won't happen again for a good while. I mean, do you actually think there will be a 75th Jubilee?
Ernest Barteldes is an ESL and Portuguese teacher. In addition to that, he is a freelance writer who has regularly been contributing The Greenwich Village Gazette since September 1999. His work has also been published by Brazzil, The Staten Island Advance, The Staten Island Register, GayToday, The Asbury Park Press, The Villager, The Village Voice, GLSSite and other publications. He lives in Staten Island, NY. He can be reached at ebarteldes@yahoo.com.
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