I do. It's still an ill-fitting mix IMHO. The fact that they actually call themselves Queen + Paul Rodgers is telling.
Bad Co sometimes sounded dumb, but they also sounded like
they didn't notice that they were. When Queen pretends to be Bad Co it's so gayly tongue in cheek (and probably other assorted body parts) that you immediately expect Freddie Mercury prancing out of the speakers shouting "Yes, I'm ready for love, oooh baby I'm a-ready for love, my dear, aren't you too?". But then he doesn't and we're left with Paul Rodgers who within Queen reminds me of Eddie Murphy at a KKK Konvention telling racist jokes. You sort of feel uncomfortable with it.
At least I would, not to mention the Grand Wizard and his hooded entourage.
Queen have a signature sound in everything they do and it is more pop than rock in the studio at least (live they were a different proposition, I know). And Paul Rodgers is just too serious and pour-your-heart-out for pop. There is a reason why Bob Dylan never fronted the Beach Boys with his voice.
The production sounds dated btw. More dated than the posthumous Mercury album they did, Made in Heaven or whatever it was. Quite a few songs try to echo old days. There is a "Crazy little thing called love"-song etc. One song is sung by Taylor and that sounds most natural. (None by May though his signature backing vocals are all over the place - again an ill fit with Rodgers who sounds best by himself and sparsely arranged rather than embedded in a Queen backing vox wall of sound).
The anti-war and -soldiers lyrics (could be either Rodgers or May who were responsible for this, both have similar criminal records) that permeate the CD are mindbendingly cringeworthy. Soldiers "dressed to kill". Ouch. Freddie would have spanked them for that. With a naughty smile.
Buy the Metallica album, it's the more credible effort. Or imagine the Metallica album with Freddy Mercury singing like he actually means all that stuff Hetfield conjures lyrically. And if that seems strange to you, you know what the Queen + Paul Rodgers outing feels like too.
Uwe