You know, for such a big name band, Queen stray from the "Queen sound" on quite a few of their big hits. After all, at their foundation, Queen usually find themselves lumped in with the early progressive hard rock likes of Led Zeppelin, T. Rex, or Rush. Such a description may fit the Queen milieu as a whole, but look at some of their big hits. Crazy Little Thing Called Love - pure retro rockabilly. You're My Best Friend - lighthearted, even sappy, keyboard pop. Killer Queen - vaudevillian power pop. Who Wants To Live Forever - neoclassical pomp, and Bohemian Rhapsody - sheer operatic excess.

Maybe trying to define a "Queen sound" is just an exercise in futility. Maybe there's really no such thing. No disrespect at all to Brian May, John Deacon, and Roger Taylor, but the best Queen songs are really just a blank canvas for Freddie Mercury to project his considerable and ever changing charisma onto. And as blank canvases, those songs have plenty of potential for new interpretation in the hands of other charismatic performers with their own unique style. Maybe that's why the rest of Queen were able to survive the loss of Freddie Mercury by continuing to perform with a continually revolving series of guest singers. George Michael, Dave Grohl, Annie Lennox, Elton John, Robert Plant, James Hetfield, Axl Rose, Liza Minelli, and even Pavaratti are among those who've tackled lead vocals for the band at one time or another, and they've all succeeded by projecting themselves onto that blank canvas the rest of the band provided.

Of course, not everyone can helm a Queen song. It's not that they're spectacularly difficult to perform, but rather that there's so much temptation to try to channel Freddy Mercury himself. Anyone that charismatic is bound to have followers and devotees, but try as they might, nobody can copy Freddy Mercury. The best that can be hoped for is a hollow, fuzzy shell of the original. But the nigh impossibility of the task doesn't stop people from trying, and that's what leads to the handful of weak spots on the recent Queen tribute album, Killer Queen.

Sum 41 are among the offenders with their conservative, note-for-note copy of the album's title track, right down to the identical guitar effects. Shinedown take an equally unambitious turn on Tie Your Mother Down. Perhaps most egregious, though, is American Idol fifth runner-up from earlier this year Constantine (no doubt included on the album in hopes of roping in some of the shows devotees) and his recording of Bohemian Rhapsody. The performance may be skilled and precise in a technical manner, with a rather impressive job on the vocals, but there's no sense of originality, no risk, no innovation. These acts all fall under the misapprehension that the highest form of tribute they can do is their best Freddie Mercury impression. But even if they could manage to capture Mercury's elusive charisma, they'd still be committing the deadliest of cover song sins: making the audience wonder why they didn't just end up listening to the original version instead.

Fortunately for cover song fans, though, the rest of the artists on the collection are wise enough to put an original spin on these songs and make them their own, rather than cleaving tightly to the original. Some of these outings fare better than others, but each one turns out interesting and worth at least a few listens.

To highlight just how disappointing those few tracks that refuse to stray from the original are, The Flaming Lips chime in with their own version of Bohemian Rhapsody. The Lips' take on the operatic tune doesn't play many tricks with the melody or the rhythm, but does take a much more experimental direction with the instrumentals. In addition to the loud, distorted guitar and keyboard effects familiar to Flaming Lips fans, Wayne Coyne's apologetic, regretful tone to the vocals put an intriguing new spin on the song.

Be Your Own Pet puts an even more experimental spin on their offering, Bicycle Race. Loud, fast, and out of control, Be Your Own Pet's re-invention places the song firmly in punk rock territory, complete with sped up, falsetto vocals. Breaking Benjamin redefine Who Wants to Live Forever as a grungey acoustic emo piece, while Eleven amps up the latent goth-rock aggression in Stone Cold Crazy, creating something truly dark.

There's also a softer, gentler side to the cover songs here. Jon Brion's Play the Game strips away the layered pomp of the original and recasts the song as an acoustic Beatles-pop tune, and Jason Mraz injects even more old-timey playfulness into Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy, channeling all the sweet crooner charm of Rudy Vallee without losing any of the song's rich layered harmonies. (And at the same time, he sounds so much less forced and self-absorbed that on any of the recordings on his recent Mr. A-Z.)

Not all of the contributors are content to limit themselves to the obvious song choices. While some listeners might be disappointed that the album's producers chose not to include any covers of We Will Rock You, Radio Ga Ga, Another One Bites the Dust, You're My Best Friend , or even the Flash Gordon theme song (which I would love to hear someone cover). But conversely, it's great to hear some of the deeper cuts from Queen that only the serious fans will recognize. Amongst the lost classics unearthed here are Sleeping on the Sidewalk (Los Lobos), Death on Two Legs (Rooney), and '39 (Ingram Hill). Even if you're unfamiliar with the originals will find enough individual charisma mixed into the music be drawn in.

And while the above songs are all worth at least a few listens, there are still a few tracks left that really make the collection worthwhile. Joss Stone's Under Pressure sharpens and tightens up the original, infusing it with a silky soul flavor that adds a whole new sultry level to the music. Gavin DeGraw's We Are the Champions tones down the defiantly celebratory nature of the source material, focusing instead on DeGraw's smoky blues-rock arrangements. Josh Kelly's Crazy Little Thing Called Love strips away the rootsy shuffle feel of the original, playing it instead as a straight-ahead schmoozey alt-pop number (and in the process, brings the song much closer than the original to the actual "Queen sound," if such a thing does indeed exist). The true high point, though, comes at the very end of the album with Antigone Rising and their take on Fat Bottomed Girls. The solid country rock arrangements and the impeccable layered harmonies set the song off in just the right direction, but the real appeal? Well, let's just say there's something dead sexy when an all female group whenever an all female group takes an unabashedly misogynistic song and rocks the hell out of it.

Queen purists will likely roll their eyes at some of the musical liberties taken on Killer Queen, but I don't think there's anything that any act could possibly do to make the Queen purists happy. As the handful of artists that try to duplicate the original Freddie Mercury sound for this album show, no one can do Freddie like Freddie did, and any attempt to do so is an exercise in second-rate futility. For those able to take their Queen with a grain of sand, especially those with a penchant for a little different flavor in their cover songs, Killer Queen offers enough musical gems to make the whole experience worthwhile.

Recommended: Yes