Party at the Palace: Queen's Jubilee Concert
If one needed an example of rock's co-optation by the mainstream (or is it the other way around?), this 21-track, all-star live anthology is perfect fodder for the "yes" argument. Recorded at Buckingham Palace during celebrations for the Queen's Jubilee, it's sometimes hard to figure out which royalty is receiving the most honors here, the House of Windsor or the Brit contingent of rock's long-in-the-tooth royalty. Kicking off with a perfectly pompous rendition of "God Save the Queen" (Thomas Arne's, not the Sex Pistols') byQueen's (the band, not the royalty) Brian May and Roger Taylor and peppered with performances by the usual, knighted (some of them) suspectsPhil Collins,Elton John,Eric Clapton, andPaul McCartney, much of this collection could have well served in 1977 during Queen Elizabeth's Silver Anniversary as well. Still, there's fun to be had imagining what must have been going through Liz's mind watchingTom Jones's salaciously swinging take on "You Can Leave Your Hat On" orOzzy/Iommi's metal-manic perennial, "Paranoid." Indeed, it's the kitsch moments--Shirley Bassey's muscular "Goldfinger,"Cliff Richard's raving rockabilly-tinged "Move It,"Atomic Kitten's cover of "Dancing in the Streets"--that seem to be imbued with the most joie de vivre.Brian Wilsoncontinues his remarkable, satisfying career revival with the evergreens "God Only Knows" (with theCorrs) and "Good Vibrations" (backed by Richard, Emma Bunton, and Atomic Kitten), performances that garner some of the evening's biggest ovations, while McCartney trots out "Hey Jude" for the inevitable all-star sing-along finale.--Jerry McCulley