QUEEN's ROGER TAYLOR Announces New Solo Album 'Violence Insane In A Beautiful World', Releases 'Come On Summer (It's Party Time)' Single
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Legendary QUEEN songwriter, musician and singer Roger Taylor has announced his new album, "Violence Insane In A Beautiful World", due out September 18 via Columbia Records.
The LP is preceded by the exuberant single "Come On Summer (It's Party Time)", featuring a stunning performance by The Ndlovu Youth Choir from Limpopo, South Africa, who first came to prominence for their incredible Zulu-language translation of "Bohemian Rhapsody". Listen to the song here.
"Violence Insane In A Beautiful World" is Roger's seventh album in a solo career stretching back to 1977 and is his first since 2021's critically and fan-acclaimed Top 3 album "Outsider".
To celebrate the release of the new record, Roger will be going on the road in the U.K., and fans who pre-order the album will have exclusive first access to tickets for the shows.
While not a concept record, "Violence Insane In A Beautiful World" does have an overarching theme, as Roger explains: "There is a theme, you know, it's in the title really, what a beautiful world we live in, don't fuck it up. There seems to be all this insanity at the moment. The violence in the world seems to be as bad as it ever was, at any point, and certainly in my lifetime. It's just horrific, a lot of insane violence. And we do seem to be fucking up the world, plastics in the sea, you know, and all these awful wars everywhere and hatred born of different religions."
However, the tone of the album is hopeful, as Roger says: "It's a beautiful world, you know. And kindness is very important, I think, it seems to be forgotten quite a lot. So, that is basically the sort of underlying theme."
Roger wrote — with the exception of an exquisite cover of "Jealous Guy" which he describes as "one of the greatest, ballads ever written" — produced, sang and performed all the songs on "Violence Insane In A Beautiful World" himself, with help from long-time collaborator Joshua J.Macrae, members of his live band and on three extraordinary tracks, The Ndlovu Youth Choir from Limpopo, South Africa. Speaking about their contributions, Roger says: "I was really happy when I became aware of this amazing South African choir, who sing in Zulu. They're just wonderful. They did the most incredible cover version of 'Bohemian Rhapsody', and it's fabulous. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. So we suddenly had the bright idea of asking them to sing on some of the tracks, which they did, and I think it's transformed those songs. It gives them a whole new dimension. I'm really thrilled with their work on that."
While Roger was finishing the artwork for the album, there was a cosmic coincidence: Artemis II, on its mission to the dark side of the Moon, also photographed Earth from a distance. The report from the QUEEN fans at NASA in Houston about the sleeve is that "everyone liked it and thought it was definitely kismet." Of the cover, Roger comments: "Well, the cover is really the story of the lead song, which is 'A Beautiful World', and it's really an old idea, but in a way, it's just written from the view of an alien in a spacecraft literally orbiting the world and thinking how beautiful it is. On close observation, he sees there's problems, there's infection, all the violence and horrors that occur, and then there's a list of all the great things about the earth. It's really rather strange because it was done before we got those wonderful pictures from Artemis II." He continues: "NASA approves! They're very nice people. We've been there. Obviously. Brian knows them very well. We went whilst we were on tour in Houston. We had a fantastic tour of the whole NASA site. It's quite something just to be sitting in the control room with all these guys and screens, and they're actually talking to the space station, controlling it. Yeah, hell of a thing."
Roger's solo work never shied away from political statements and tracks on the album, such as "Chump", speak for themselves. Does he feel optimistic about the state of the world? "To be honest, no, with Nigel Garage (sic) looming, no," he says. "My wife says she's leaving the country if he gets in, and I don't blame her. It's like Trump, really. You can't believe how popular he was. I'm not sure he's quite as popular now, people are finally coming to their senses, but I can't believe how popular Farage, who is intrinsically a horrible man, is, but he's a populist, demagogue, politician appealing to the lowest sort of ideals."
As throughout his solo career, "Violence Insane In A Beautiful World" embraces a multitude of styles and sounds.
"I like the idea of eclecticism," Roger says. "I like the idea of different things, you know? I mean, the great example being THE BEATLES. I always thought that their albums were very eclectic, especially the later albums from 'Revolver' onwards. You never knew what the next track was going to be, and it was totally different to the track before it. We always tried to do that in QUEEN. We tried to make a lot of different things and fearlessly tread where no sane man would. Yeah, I think people are really going to like the surreal stuff."
The "Violence Insane In A Beautiful World" tour opens in Newcastle on September 21, and fans who pre-order the album will receive exclusive first access to tickets. Roger's extraordinary band will feature keyboardist Spike Edney, supporting drummer Tyler Warren, multi-instrumentalist Tina Keys, Neil Fairclough on bass, and Christian Mendoza on guitar. The tour will then visit Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester, Swansea, and the legendary Roundhouse in London, where Roger has performed before, as a guest of FOO FIGHTERS, back in 2011.
"Violence Insane In A Beautiful World" track listing:
01. A Beautiful World (feat. The Ndlovu Youth Choir)
02. Violence Insane
03. What Really Matters
04. Don't Photograph Food
05. I See You Now
06. Chump
07. Spit In His Eye
08. Jealous Guy *
09. Come On Summer (It's Party Time) (feat. The Ndlovu Youth Choir)
10. A Great Big Beautiful World (reprise) (feat. The Ndlovu Youth Choir)
Produced by Roger Taylor and Joshua J. Macrae
All songs written by Roger Taylor except * by John Lennon
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
