Roger Taylor of Queen has released his seventh solo album, Violence Insane In a Beautiful World, out Friday, Sept. 18 — five years after his last effort, Outsider, and 45 years after his debut, Fun in Space. The 10-track record was recorded at Taylor's home studio in the U.K. and co-produced with Joshua J. Macrae, with the 77-year-old musician playing all of the instruments himself.
The album's title theme is drawn from the opening track, "A Beautiful World," which celebrates the planet while warning against the state of the world today. "It's about how this is a beautiful world that we live in, and with all this terrible violence and everything let's not screw it up," Taylor told Billboard via Zoom from his studio. "We're in a bad state in most of the world at the moment — more wars, more needless deaths and insane violence. There are times when I despair for what we're leaving our children, our grandchildren, but I hope it gets better."
The track "Spit In His Eye" carries a defiant tone, with Taylor noting "You can never surrender," while "Chump" takes direct aim at a U.S. president whose surname rhymes with the song's title. "'Chump' is fairly self-evident, what it's about," Taylor said. "I mean, I hate to interfere with other countries' politics, but... wow! Without being too rude, what is happening to America? It's such a wonderful country, but it's changing to the worse at the moment. [Trump] seems to be demolishing all the good things about it. The land of the free? Hmm, doesn't seem like it from the outside. And it's such a shame because we love America. It has so much to offer. Let's hope it's reversible."
The Ndlovu Youth Choir, from Limpopo, South Africa, appears on "A Beautiful World," the closing reprise "A Great Big Beautiful World" and the dance-flavored "Come on Summer (It's Party Time)." Taylor said he reached out to the group after seeing a video of their Zulu arrangement of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." "I was very smitten with them," he said, "with these amazing costumes and fantastic choral arrangements and they were very happy to join me. It was really a two-way process; I would tell the choirmaster what I wanted and he almost telepathically provided it. They were very easy to work with, which made my life a lot easier."
Other tracks include the love songs "I See You Now" and a cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy," which Taylor previously performed on the BBC's Later... with Jools Holland, along with the tone poem "Violence Insane" and the self-described "silly" "Don't Photograph Food." The full tracklist is: "A Beautiful World" (feat. Ndlovu Youth Choir), "Violence Insane," "What Really Matters," "Don't Photograph Food," "I See You Now," "Chump," "Spit In His Eye," "Jealous Guy," "Come On Summer (It's Party Time)" (feat. Ndlovu Youth Choir) and "A Great Big Beautiful World (reprise)" (feat. Ndlovu Youth Choir). The cover art features an image of Earth and the moon from the recent Artemis II space mission. "If I just did one style of music all the time I think I would be deathly bored," Taylor said. "I always believed in eclecticism; we grew up listening to those incredible Beatles (albums) and the Beach Boys, where you don't know what's coming next. For me that's what keeps the interest alive."
Taylor and his band, which includes several musicians from the Queen + Adam Lambert lineup, will play six U.K. shows: Sept. 21 in Newcastle at O2 City Hall, Sept. 22 in Edinburgh at Usher Hall, Sept. 24 in Birmingham at The Alexandra, Sept. 25 in Manchester at the Opera House, Sept. 28 in London at the Roundhouse, and Sept. 29 in Swansea at the Building Society Arena. "In Queen I never really wanted to be the frontman — obviously with Freddie [Mercury], I was never going to be better than him, right? I don't really have a hankering to be out front at all," Taylor said. "But I guess if you're writing the songs and singing them and delivering them, you're kind of the frontman, so there it is." He is uncertain about further touring beyond the U.K., saying, "I feel very content to keep it in the U.K. right now."
On the Queen + Adam Lambert front, activity has been quiet since early 2024 dates in Japan. Taylor said guitarist Brian May is "in pretty good shape" following recent health scares but is "not sure he'd be up for doing the whole grueling tour," adding, "I've always loved touring. I think [May] loved it up to a point, and then not, up to a point." The two, who live near each other and "see quite a lot of one another," are discussing alternative ways to present Queen going forward. "We've been thinking about using some kind of technology to present some kind of show, fairly revolutionary," Taylor said, pointing to ABBA Voyage and the Sphere in Las Vegas as inspirations. "It gave us a whole new outlook about what possibly could be achieved, not necessarily involving live playing. We're just banging ideas around at the moment... We talk about it a lot, and we're gonna get there, I hope."
Separately, Queen will release a new concert film, Queen Budapest, in theaters on Oct. 7, documenting the band's July 27, 1986 stadium concert in Hungary — its final filmed performance with Mercury. DVD, Blu-ray and a live album will follow on Oct. 30. The show included an acoustic rendition of the Hungarian folk song "Tavaszi Szel Vizet Araszt." "There were about 80,000 inside and about 45,000 outside, listening," Taylor recalled. "We didn't know how much they knew... then we realized and they told us they had gotten our music on illegal cassettes and the black market, so they knew, and it was very memorable." The original 35mm footage was sent to Peter Jackson's Park Road Post Production in New Zealand for restoration. "They took our 35mm film to Peter Jackson's people who made it look so fresh, bright and clear," Taylor said. "I can't wait to see it in IMAX."
Asked about another solo album, Taylor said he's "absolutely not" thinking about one yet. "I'm 77; maybe there won't be a next one — but I hope there will be," he said. "I just love to work. I think if you're in a creative industry, work is precious, and I think it keeps you going. The idea of retiring and doing nothing is anathema to me. It's nice to think you might be slightly relevant, in a tiny way."
Photo: Mark Kent, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
