Take Cover | 
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| Artist: Queensra Che
Label: Rhino Records
Category: Music
List Price: $13.98
Buy New: $7.25
You Save: $6.73 (48%)
New (36) Used (14) from $6.24
Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 55967
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 334780
UPC: 081227995997
EAN: 0081227995997
ASIN: B000WETHXK
Release Date: November 13, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Welcome To The Machine | | • | Heaven On Their Minds | | • | Almost Cut My Hair | | • | For What It s Worth | | • | For The Love Of Money | | • | Innuendo | | • | Neon Knights | | • | Synchronicity II | | • | Red Rain | | • | Odissea | | • | Bullet The Blue Sky (Live) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
You ve Never Heard Anything Like It.
Queensryche Pays Tribute To A Diverse Collection Of Favorite Songs With An 11-Song Covers Compilation Ranging From Pink Floyd To Black Sabbath and Buffalo Springfield To Broadway And Much More.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Self Indulgent January 3, 2009
Ysidro J. Trujillo
After listening to Mindcrime 2, I was hoping that there was some life left in Queensryche after all...OOPS! The word terrible still seems like a charitable description of this abomination. Oh, where to begin...let's start with the concept. Some cover songs will work if the cover adds a new spin on the original(Nazareth's cover of Roy Orbison's "Love Hurts" jumps to mind) or if a the old sports a new flashier paint job(Guns'n'Roses was very effective at this back in the day), but these remakes on this album do neither.
1. Welcome to the Machine- It's OK, that is, this is the least irritating cover on the whole album. Heck, it's almost good.
2. Heaven On Their Minds- I don't know the original, but Geoff's voice seems to have a lot of distortion and just sounds bland.
3. Almost Cut My Hair- Some decent guitar work, but by the time you reach this song, Geoff's voice starts to get irritating.
4. For What It's Worth- I never even really cared for the original song, but for some reason both Rush and Queensryche felt that a remake was in order...hippie crap.
5. For The Love Of Money- WTF? There's an episode of "Family Guy" where the Griffin family become rich and a very drunken Brian sings the chorus of this song while urinating on a potted plant...that was more entertaining than listening to this.
6. Innuendo- This could've been good back when Queensryche and Geoff's voice were still in their prime, but this version sounds like a watered down Pat Boone cover, both vocally and musically.
7. Neon Knights- It's OK, but it isn't Black Sabbath.
8. Synchronicity II- Once again, another classic given the Pat Boone treatment. Bland cover.
9. Red Rain- OK, not great...Geoff's voice still annoying.
10. Oddissea- I understand this choice of opera to cover, but once again this might have meant something in the band's prime...Manowar's cover is better.
11. Bullet the Blue Sky- This is the worst song on the album. The case can be made that the second half of the original is just one long rant by Bono, but Geoff's long rant in this version is just incoherent and pointless. A maximum of suckage.
Am I just being hard on Queensryche? Maybe, but after I GAVE this album away, the recipient actually wanted to give it back to me...true story...it's that bad. Well Queensryche, thanks for your first six albums and the great memories, but I can honestly say that I am now finished as a fan and that you've sold your last album to me.
 Just Evening the Score - Come on "one star"!!!!!!! December 1, 2008
Phillip A. Anderson (Dallas, Texas)
Yeah - I would give this disc a solid, SOLID, 3 1/2 stars - maybe 4! But to give this disc less than 3 is just hating on Queensryche for stepping out and trying something different. Whoever wrote the review stating "you have to listen to it a few times" - was right. When I first got this I really didn't get it - it's different for sure - but to say they put no effort into this - BULL! I am a musician and know every song on this cd by the original authors like the back of my hand and what Queensryche have done is no easy feat. They re-arranged these songs (some for the better), which like I said was not easy. Most other bands just replay songs like they were written and add a little distortion - believe me - that is not being an artist. This LP took a lot of imagination - and after several spins - I am glad I bought it. Please write of anyone giving this less than a 3 star review. Peace.
 Very Eclectic, for True "Ryche" Fans Only September 18, 2008
Clinton Ervin (Murfreesboro, TN USA)
My "take" on Take Cover is that it is certainly diverse and eclectic, as many have stated, but that is a mixed blessing. The band displays great imagination; this is obviously out of the box thinking (pardon that over-used cliche). Again, as others have bemoaned, I would like to have heard more classic metal. Is this really representative of Queensryche's influences or favorite songs as most cover albums are, or is this a risk-taking experiment purposely designed to be unique and eccentric?
As for the songs themselves, I enjoyed Neon Knights; I'd like to hear them play more like this one. Welcome to the Machine seems an obvious choice, and I liked it. I was not familiar with Heaven on their Minds before, but I thought it worked very well, an unusual but successful choice. Innuendo was interesting; I was familiar with it because I'm a life-long Queen fan. They didn't exactly nail it, but I give them kudos for the effort. Some cuts, like Synchronicity II do not differ too much from the originals, so I don't see the point. Some others, like For What It's Worth, are boring relics of the Woodstock era. I'll admit this arrangement is superior, but why do it? "Bullet" is really too long; is all 10:26 really necessary? As for the "social commentary," Geoff might want to consider shutting up and singing ala the Dixie Chicks.
As for the bottom line: will you enjoy listening? Answer: Only here and there. This is uneven and erratic so only the most ardent Queensryche fan will enjoy every minute of this CD, but any rock fan will enjoy some of it. I think the band peaked artistically with Operation: Mindcrime and commercially with Empire. Since then they've been trying to progress or recreate past performances without much success.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen... August 12, 2008
Matthew Marcy (Portland OR)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have been the biggest Queensryche fan in the world, but in recent years the quality of their music has gotten to the point where I really do think they need to quit and stop beating a dead horse. Since their hit album Empire in 1990 they have rapidly and steadily declined as far as the energy and craftsmanship of thier music. Their highly anticipated release after Empire, Promised Land, was, in my opinion, their last feeble effort at creating anything of quality, with scatterings of good song ideas here and there, but none of them ever really reaching either full potential. The following release, Hear in the Now Frontier, was up till that point their weakest release by far. I understand wanting to experiment and get outside the box, but at the same time... you don't just completely abandone the style and sound that people came to love you for... espeacially when you're trying to do a style that is just not your main forte. Thier released between Hear in the Now Frontier and Operation Mindcrime II were a little better, but that's not saying much. You could count on a couple of good songs on the album, but that was about it. Then they outdid themselves with Operation Mindcrime II, which is in my opinion their worst album to date by far. Take cover sufferst from the same problems as Mindcrime II. I hate the production, everything is extremely dry and up front in the mix... God forbit we have any effects or reverb on anything. The songwriting is not exciting to me either, and the main problem I have with Take cover and Mindcrime II, (which really started with another absolutely horrible release, The are of Live), is Geoff Tate's voice. I don't know what happened over the years, but it seems that he simply cannot do what he used to vocally. He was one of my favorite singers back in the day, but now days his voice actually grates on me to where it's just not pleasant to listen to. His pitch control is horrible all over the album, and again, I hate the way the vocals were recorded. Since their live album, Opereation Livecrime, he sounds like he's struggling for every high note he can get. Anyway, in my opinion Queensryche needs to give it up, they are LONG since past their prime, and Take cover is a perfect example of it. If they didn't have the history that they do this effort would be laughed at as being a very amature effort.
Uninspired July 26, 2008
Justin Gaines (Atlanta, GA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
After Tribe I had decided that I was done with Queensryche. Since Promised Land the once-legendary progressive metal band has issued one lukewarm album after another, and I finally reached my limit. I was able to resist the temptation to check out Operation: Mindcrime II, but I have a weakness for cover songs, so when I ran across Take Cover in a cutout bin, I reluctantly added it to the day's purchases.
The idea of a Queensryche covers album is very intriguing. It would be a great chance to see the kind of music that influenced the band, which in turn was so influential to so many other bands. The problem with Take Cover is that it feels fundamentally dishonest. Oh, I don't doubt that Geoff Tate spends plenty of time listening to opera, Broadway, and Peter Gabriel, but there's no way in hell that stuff influenced Queensryche when they were starting out. Where are the Rush, Kansas, and Led Zeppelin songs? You know that those bands had a bigger influence on the band that released albums like Queensryche and The Warning than Crosby, Stills and Nash ever did. The only songs that felt like they actually deserved to be there are the Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath covers. The rest feel like they were selected to show off just how g*ddamn eclectic Geoff Tate thinks he is.
The band does a decent enough job on these songs, and their interpretations range from "by the book" to moderately interesting. They just don't seem very inspired by these songs, and for a covers album that's a fatal flaw. Compare this to Feedback, Rush's joyful romp through their classic rock roots and Take Cover's lack of energy and enthusiasm is that much more evident.
Ultimately, this wasn't worth making me break my Queensryche boycott. Welcome to the Machine and Neon Knights will be added to my iPod, but the album itself is destined for the trade-in stack.
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