release date: Jan. 22, 2007
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Danger Mouse
label: Parlophone - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 3. "Northern Whale" - 5. "Herculean" - 6. "Behind the Sun" - 8. "Nature Springs" - 12. "The Good, the Bad & the Queen"
Studio album debut by 'super-group' The Good, The Bad & The Queen - a quartet consisting of Blur and Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn on vocals & keyboards, former The Clash and Havana 3 A.M.-founder Paul Simonon on bass & backing vocals, The Verve member Simon Tong on guitar and with The Africa '70-founding member Tony Allen on drums. Albarn is credited as composer of all songs of what has been described as a conceptual album in the sense that all songs refer to various historical events in and around London. This project-band seems like yet another Albarn invention. The band name has never been declared officially, and is only referred to, to make things much easier - very Albarn-like. He invented the four-piece Gorillaz as the first-ever virtual band around 2002 as an outlet for his musical ideas and that brain-child proved to be a very enduring one. Here, Albarn gets together with real-life musicians, but all songs are credited Albarn, and the whole idea of having a band with no name goes hand in hand with his musical spin.
Musically, this is also much in his understanding of music as the band explores some of the same sources of inspiration that have shaped late Blur albums and the so far two studio albums by Gorillaz. It's a huge melting pot of styles and influences where everything seems likely to happen, which makes it incredibly difficult to narrow in. It's art pop and alt. rock in the soft end of the scale with bits of indie pop, some chamber pop and neo-psychedelia also comes to my mind. But what is clearly evident is the characteristic voice of Albarn himself singing in his usual laid-back and slightly blurred indifferent manner.
Critics were generally positive about The Good, The Bad & The Queen and the album rocketed into top-ten of albums chart lists worldwide without much promotion. I recall, however, in late 2006 how rumours circulated about this new "super-band" about to release a whole album in a near future, which of course had the whole industry on its toes. I also recall that my first impression was rather negative. I didn't like this get-together mix and simply rejected it as anything worthwhile after a few spins. My experience with Damon Albarn has made me revisit the album 'cause fact is, I don't think he ever released anything bad or mediocre. And this is neither. It's definitely better than my initial verdict, although, it's not an absolute favourite. Especially the lyrical aspect of the album is way better than I remember. Once you dig into the aspect of having a bunch of London-characters tell various everyday-life details, it begins to make some sense. The music is experimental but also highly original. "Tight" is, however, not a word that comes to my mind. There's a jazzy feel of fusion all over, which at times makes it a looong experience, but it surely has its moments. Overall, I don't think it reaches the level of the two Gorillaz' albums, and my conclusion is that it's a wee bit unfocused debut if ever it would turn out to be an enduring project.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone, Q Magazine, The Guardian, NME, Spin 4 / 5 stars ]
