Queen were one of the greatest rock bands ever. Not just in the UK but in the whole wide world. With Freddie Mercury as their front man, Queen had very few bands that could beat them for style, songwriting, and sheer spectacle.

Unfortunately, Freddie Mercury died in 1991 at the tender age of just 45 after a protracted battle with AIDS. The band then naturally disbanded until 2004 when Brian May and Roger Taylor teamed up with Paul Rodgers, formerly of Free and Bad Company.

Queen + Paul Rodgers, as they chose to be called, have toured extensively and even released a studio album in 2008. However, the collaboration was only mildly successful and it’s clear to most people that this new iteration of a classic band were relying on the old material too heavily.

Which is why I’m neither surprised or that bothered to hear that Queen and Paul Rodgers have ended their extended collaboration.

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Lily Allen has never been one of those artists who has struggled to come to terms with new technology or the way the music business is evolving. In fact, you could argue that MySpace made Allen famous. The social networking site at least helped her build a massive fan base.

Now, a week before it’s released in the UK, Allen has put her new album, It’s Not Me, It’s You, on MySpace. Anyone visiting her profile page can stream the full album, made up of 12 tracks, completely for free.

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Paul McCartney has had a mixed last few years, having been married to Heather Mills, and then going through a very messy, very public divorce.

While all of this was going on, he was still writing and recording music, and released Memory Almost Full in 2007.

The album has already sold 100,000 copies in the UK, but now everyone who wants a copy can do so for free, as it’s being given away with every copy of The Mail On Sunday tomorrow, May 18th.

The give-away was announced a couple of weeks ago, and I first read the news on fellow b5 blog The Beatles Invasion. I decided to wait until now to tell of my readers so that they wouldn’t forget about it and miss out on their copy.

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Supergrass are giving away a live version of a new track from their new as yet unnamed album. The track is called ‘Diamond Hoo Ha Man’ and this free live version was recorded at Guilfest, a music festival in Guildford, Surrey which the lads played earlier this year.

The band are fresh from supporting the Arctic Monkeys at their Old Trafford gigs over the weekend. To get your hands on the track, all you need to do is visit their official website, click on the shiny button and sign up for the site. You will then be able to download this free and exclusive track.

Their last album titled ‘The Road To Rouen’ was released in 2005 and reached number 9 in the UK albums chart. The band heavily toured in support of the last album, and they are likely to do the same for this new one. Go and grab yourself a preview slice and let me know what you think of it!

As I mentioned yesterday, Prince took the controversial decision to give his new album ‘Planet Earth’ away with a Sunday newspaper in the UK. I of course picked up a copy, and I have it here waiting for one of readers to win.

Whether you live in the UK and missed out on the Mail On Sunday, or found it sold out, or whether you are from a country where the album isn’t available for another week, here is your chance to get your hands on the album before most of the rest of the world.

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