Roger Taylor finally answers the long-running Queen and Adam Lambert recording question
Roger Taylor says Queen never finished new songs with Adam Lambert, though he still sees a path to future tours.
Fans who kept wondering whether Queen and Adam Lambert might eventually release original music have a much clearer answer now. Roger Taylor says the collaboration never produced finished songs, even as he leaves the possibility of performing together again on the table.
The big update on Queen and Adam Lambert
Taylor's latest comments draw a line under years of speculation about whether Queen's partnership with Lambert would move from the stage into the studio.
According to Taylor, he does not see new Queen material with Lambert happening. He said the singer is following a somewhat different path at the moment, but made clear that he is not ruling out more touring in the future.
That distinction matters to fans of the lineup that spent about a decade on the road together. Taylor described those years as highly successful and personally rewarding, and said he loved working with Lambert. He also praised Lambert as a generous performer with a remarkable natural voice, and singled out one quality longtime Queen listeners often notice: Taylor said Lambert never tried to turn himself into Freddie Mercury.
The comments also settle another long-discussed point. Taylor confirmed that he, Lambert and Brian May did work on songs together, but said nothing was ever completed. He said he regrets that outcome because he is such an admirer of Lambert's voice and believes they could have made strong music together. In the end, though, he said it simply did not come together.
What Taylor says Queen has meant for his solo work
The update arrives as Taylor focuses attention on his own catalog. His seventh solo album, Violence Insane in a Beautiful World, was released in September.
Even with favorable notices for his work outside Queen over the years, Taylor said being in one of rock's biggest bands has not made a solo career easier. His view is that listeners tend to see him first as Queen's drummer and then question what that means for music released under his own name.
He argued that the identity of a famous group can overshadow what its members do separately. As part of that point, he cited the Rolling Stones as another band whose members have struggled to match the weight of the main act on their own. Taylor's conclusion was blunt: he does not think being in Queen ever helped his solo releases, and said it may even have worked against them.
