QUEENSRYCHE "Take Cover".

On TAKE COVER, Queensrÿche - who rarely perform anything besides their distinctive original material - pays tribute to some of their musical idols and favorite songs with a diverse 11-song covers compilation. On selections mining tracks from Pink Floyd to Black Sabbath, Buffalo Springfield to Broadway and more, the collection offers a new perspective on a band best known for the intense creative theatricality of their thinking man's hard rock/metal. Acclaimed lead singer Geoff Tate says the project gave them a chance to kick back and have some fun. “During sound checks, Stone and Michael like to play 'name that riff,' and sometimes the whole band joins in. That's really the way this album came together too. We got together and started playing songs to each other, and then we picked our favorites,” he says, adding, "We'll never top the originals; they're classics for a reason…We were more focused on finding different approaches that took the songs in unexpected directions.” The disc shows Queensrÿche mastering the unexpected by putting their sonic stamp on songs demonstrating their far-reaching tastes and inspirations. Highlights include renditions of Pink Floyd's “Welcome To The Machine,” an acoustic take on Buffalo Springfield's “For What It's Worth” and an electrifying live version of U2's “Bullet The Blue Sky.” They take on Black Sabbath with “Neon Knights,” Broadway with “Heaven On Their Minds” from Jesus Christ Superstar and venture into opera with “Odissea,” originally made famous by the Italian duo Carlo Marrale & Cheope. With TAKE COVER, Queensrÿche - singer/chief songwriter Geoff Tate, guitarists Michael Wilton and Mike Stone, bassist Eddie Jackson, and drummer Scott Rockenfield - uniquely cut loose following the critical and popular success of Operation Mindcrime II and Mindcrime At The Moore.