Columbia

Kasabian: Act III [CD]

Violence Insane In A Beautiful World is the brand new studio album from Roger Taylor, legendary Queen songwriter, musician & singer.<br/> <br/>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 the album himself.<br/> <br/>Violence Insane In A Beautiful World is Roger Taylor'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.<br/><br/>TRACK BY TRACK:<br/><br/>A BEAUTIFUL WORLD - FEAT. THE NDLOVU YOUTH CHOIR<br/><br/>It's from the viewpoint of an alien orbiting the earth in a spacecraft, and being blown away by how beautiful the earth is, this green and blue sphere, but on closer inspection, he sees signs of infection, and what's going on there? It's sort of referring to all the bad things that are happening at the moment, and then it lists all the great points about the planet, and in the end, he just sort of goes, 'don't fuck it up'. The lovely Ndlovu choir from South Africa makes it feel more like world music, it's a wider feel than I can pull off by myself.<br/><br/>VIOLENCE INSANE<br/><br/>It started off, I was going to do the music for a video game, and it was really dark, and then that sort of didn't work out, and so Josh (Joshua J. Macrae, co-producer and long-time collaborator) and I just started playing about with it. I wanted it to be really, really dark, you know, brains on the floor, that sort of insane violence in what's going on. It's a dark, atmospheric track, and there are also collective nouns like the unkindness of ravens and murder of crows, which bring it this feeling of darkness and terrible things happening. <br/><br/>WHAT REALLY MATTERS<br/><br/>I suppose it's about the three stages of life. Early on in your life, your first love and you get a bit obsessed, and that's the only thing that really matters at the time, and then middle age, when it's all about you having a great time, and then in your sort of wiser, older years, you realise that kindness is the very important thing. <br/><br/>DON'T PHOTOGRAPH FOOD<br/><br/>This one's daft, really. I just think, oh, for God's sake, don't take photographs of your food, we know what it looks like. We're not all Marcus Wareing! <br/><br/>I SEE YOU NOW<br/><br/>It's a love song, and I suppose it's really about my wife. We've been together for quite some time, and I think when you really get to know someone, at first you really don't see everything about them, but when you really get to know someone, it's 'oh, I see you now, that's it'.<br/><br/>CHUMP<br/><br/>I think it says it all, really. I actually think he's a truly evil and rotten human being, and I think we're all suffering, and I think America's suffering, he's ruining it, he's turning it into a fascist state. It had so many great things going for it, America, for all its violence and faults, and I have no wish to go there anymore. I used to have a house there, which I sold just before he came back, thank God. I just cannot understand why people cannot see how intrinsically rotten he is. Everything he says is a lie or an exaggeration, at the very best, it's terrifying, actually. I can't even remember doing it, it came out very quickly, I just thought, you've got to say something, and now, of course, he's ruining everyone's lives all over the world by making fuel very expensive, and all the repercussions of that, putting up interest rates, making everyone's life more expensive through a war he can't get out of.<br/><br/>SPIT IN HIS EYE<br/><br/>That was the last song we did, actually. I suppose it's just a bit of rebellion, really, don't put up with any shit. I think everyone dreams about the Queen at some point in their lives, she's just there, isn't she? So I just thought it was amusing, I like the idea of her listening to (Bob Dylan's) Blood On The Tracks. <br/><br/>JEALOUS GUY<br/><br/>I find it very moving. I don't think it was ever a single for John, but I remember Bryan Ferry did it when John Lennon was killed, and I thought he just missed what it was about, It was all glossy, but it's just a heartfelt song, but many people liked it, I think it was a number one when that meant something.<br/><br/>COME ON SUMMER (IT'S PARTY TIME) - FEAT. THE NDLOVU YOUTH CHOIR<br/><br/>I just like the idea of the sun is up, I am reborn and having a good time, party time, and it's kind of fun. When we put the choir on it, I asked Ralph, their MD, an idea of what we wanted on it, and he came back with all this fabulous stuff. They were such a joy to work with. I think they transformed it into, you know, something you might hear in a club. I'm not an expert on that kind of music, but they made it into something better, and they really lifted it, I thought.<br/><br/>A GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL WORLD (REPRISE) - FEAT. THE NDLOVU YOUTH CHOIR<br/><br/>A rough reconstruct of the first track, but without all the main verses and stuff, and it's really just affirming that it's a great big, beautiful world. It's a real showpiece for the choir.