Even avowed Queenophobes would have to concede that the band's 1985 appearance at Live Aid, with Freddie Mercury in his pomp, remains of one rock's all-time live triumphs. No one then could have predicted that 23 years later those anthems would be powered by what the Trades Descriptions Act may require be called Half-of-Queen-Plus-a-Bloke-from-Bad-Company-and-Free. In fact, the absence ...

The so-called festive season is the time of year all serious drinkers dread. Their favourite pubs are filled with amateurs, largely consisting of braying office parties. It takes for ever to get served at the bar, and there is the ever-present danger of being sicked over by some daffy young secretary who has been overdoing the alcopops. Then when you ...

The news that Brian May and Roger Taylor were to record an album as Queen, with Free and Bad Company's Paul Rodgers on vocals, was met with consternation. What harm, it was asked, might such a venture wreak on Queen's artistic legacy? But, really, what damage is there left to do? Unfairly critically reviled in their heyday - their ...