The Good, the Bad & the Queen
Parlophone Records (released 1/23/07)
Indie/Experimetal
Breaking up with Justine Frischmann seems to be the best career move that Damon Albarn’s ever made, as ever since then (and the subsequent 13) he’s had the cajones to embark on completely new musical adventures. After doing some strange-yet-prolific things with Blur, he vacated that post and picked up two-thirds of Deltron 3030 for the wacky new Gorillaz, later enlisting the help of the now critically-acclaimed producer/Grey Album mastermind Danger Mouse.
Enjoying what Danger Mouse did with Gorillaz’ second album, Albarn retained him for the new band. Although they’ve been billed as The Good, the Bad & the Queen, that’s actually the name of the album, and the band itself is unnamed. With Danger Mouse producing, Albarn brought together Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 drummer Tony Allen, The Only Band That Matters bassist Paul Simonon and The Verve guitarist Simon Tong for one of music’s most unassuming supergroups.
As echoed throughout the album, it’s, according to Albarn himself, “a song cycle that’s also a mystery play about London.” Think concept album in the vein of American Idiot, but for grown-ups. Flagship single “Herculean” is what one would get if 13 and Kid A had a kid and it really liked Warp Records. Simonon gets to flex his dub muscle in “History Song” and “Behind the Sun”—something that Albarn digs, as evidenced by his past collaborations with Spacemonkeyz—though many of the songs have dub undertones. Albarn culls some Afro-beat influences from Allen on “Nature Springs” and “Three Changes”, which actually work incredibly well with the aforementioned dub elements. “’80s Life” sounds like something Richie Valens would’ve sang to his sweetheart (possibly alluding to the 1980s trend of being fixated on the ’50s), and while it stands out from the rest of the album, it gradually gets pulled back into the set as it progresses, thanks to Simonon and Albarn. The title track is an incredibly well-crafted piece (similar to “Herculean”, but with a more prog-rock feel to it) to close out the album.
Don’t be afraid. This album is fantastic. The band members come together to create a great field of tension for the entire set, and Danger Mouse’s smooth production makes it air-tight. This will certainly be an end-of-year list favorite. Get it now so you can be cool before everyone else.
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