2007-2008 Tours and Take CoverAfter the success of
Operation: Mindcrime II, Queensryche was hellbent on staying out on the road and touring. The band's popularity enjoyed a nice rise due to the last album, and that meant bigger guarantees from promoters. The first most significant tour was a summer stint opening for Heaven and Hell and Alice Cooper. Queensryche performed a slate of hits and a cover of Pink Floyd's “Welcome to the Machine,” which was announced as the first single off of what would be Queensryche's first album of cover songs, titled
Take Cover.
Before that release however, was a compilation album titled
Sign of the Times: The Best of Queensryche. It was a career-defining retrospective that was put out in 2007. It came in multiple versions. A single CD, a digital release, and a deluxe edition that had demos from Geoff's band prior to Queensryche (MYTH) that had songs with similar titles to Queensryche classics, and a variety of rarities and alternate versions.
The most anticipated track was "Justified," which was written by Chris DeGarmo and included on the deluxe edition. This track (as mentioned earlier) was meant for Tribe, and in the liner notes, you can see the Tribe-era portion of the recording credits, along with the finishing credits of it (I believe it was mixed by Terry Date). The lyrics are an interesting story about a relationship with a person attempting to reconcile with someone. Many fans have speculated that the lyrics are DeGarmo’s public ode to unify Queensryche and settle the differences that drove Chris away from the band. But that speculation has never been confirmed by DeGarmo or the other members of Queensryche.
The digital version of the single CD has an alternate track list, which drops "All the Promises" and includes "You" (if my memory is working) from Hear in the Now Frontier. The artwork was, frankly, beautiful, and done by Hugh Syme. The booklet features many images Syme put together from lyric lines in various Queensryche songs.
Cover art:
Take Cover (2007)Lead vocals - Geoff Tate
Guitars - Michael Wilton
Guitars - Mike Stone
Bass - Eddie Jackson
Drums - Scott Rockenfield
Released on Nov. 13, 2007, the 11-track
Take Cover featured Queensryche's renditions of a number of progressive and hard rock artists, most notably the aforementioned Pink Floyd, Queen, Black Sabbath, Peter Gabriel, and U2, among others.
According to Jason Slater, who would once again helm the project, while a lot of the song choices were picked by the band, many of the arrangements were done by Slater. Unlike the previous record, Queensryche performs most of the material on the record, with some bits and pieces added by Slater and a session player by the name of Leo Larsen.
What was curious about
Take Cover were the song choices. When the project was announced, fans guessed Queensryche would do a record full of its influences. While some were included (Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd), the rest of the heavier acts that inspired Queensryche's creation were not a part of the project, most notably Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Speaking to Slater as the project wrapped up, he indicated to me that Geoff and the band didn't want to cover songs from those they thought were the band's peers, so that's why they didn't cover them.
In what was probably the most eye brow-raising choice, Queensryche did a rendition of the opera song “Odissea,” originally performed by Carlo Marrale and Salvatore Licitra. The band also included a live version of “Bullet the Blue Sky” by U2, which was recorded in 1999.
ReceptionTake Cover was generally viewed as what it was – a stop gap release until a new studio album could be recorded. Fan reaction to the arrangements and performances was mostly positive, although there were some complaints regarding the lack of metal acts (other than Sabbath) on the release. The vocals were also criticized a bit. When asked after the fact about the vocals not sounding as well done as
Operation: Mindcrime II, Slater admitted that Tate opted to record them himself, at his house in just one or two takes per song. (in contrast to recording them with Slater at his studio.)
Musically, Queensryche played very well. Tony Iommi heard Michael Wilton's solo in “Neon Knights” and complimented him on it. Wilton also provided a great solo in “Red Rain,” and a couple of other tracks on the album. Mike Stone was also very involved on the album, playing lead on just as many songs as Wilton, including “Welcome to the Machine.”
Touring
Queensryche embarked on a tour in support of
Take Cover in 2007-2008. The tour was an interesting one, as the band decided to run a contest where they provided fans sections of three songs (“Welcome to the Machine,” “Neon Knights,” and “Synchronicity II”), and told to record their vocals. A winner would be chosen for each of the shows, and the singer would appear on-stage to perform the song with Queensryche. Ultimately, at the end of the U.S. tour, a winner would be selected out of all the performers, and that singer would get a guest role on Queensryche's next studio album. The winner was Vincent Solano (we'll get to his performance on the next record later on).
Queensryche toured throughout 2008 on the album, although it'd be a mistake to say the whole year was touring in support of
Take Cover. It was mostly the early 2008 shows (through the show in Seattle on Mar. 1, 2008) that was really devoted to
Take Cover. After that, Queensryche did a number of fly-in dates at casinos and fairs, and toured Europe again using a “hits” setlist, throwing in a cover tune or two along the way.
Samsara's top-2 on Take Cover: Welcome to the Machine, Red Rain.
Next up:
American Soldier...