Rating: 4.0 stars (out of 5)
It was back around early 2007 that iTunes had “Herculean” as its single of the week. When I downloaded it and listened to it, I had no idea that this song was part of a project that two years later, would have me completely hypnotized and dumbfounded. I liked the song, and later on decided to download the whole album. It was a good listen, but I don’t think at the time I knew the extent of the beauty of this record. I left it to “gather dust” in the memory of music library.
Fast forward to this month, and the project found me again thanks to my growing obsession with everything that has to do with Damon Albarn. This time around though, I took notice. The Good, The Bad & The Queen is essentially a musical “project”, fronted by a kind of British rock super-group that includes Damon Albarn (of Blur, Gorillaz), Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve), and Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen (a man who Brian Eno once described as, “perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived”).
On the first listen, it’s rather hard to assess what The Good, The Bad, & The Queen is. It seems like a rather repetitive, strange, organ and piano driven sound that initially seems quite unremarkable. However, further listening of the album reveals a common thread, an incredibly beautiful and complex musical composition where the different styles of all four individuals combine into a undeniably fresh sound, unlike anything Damon Albarn, the mastermind of this whole project, has ever done. Songs like “The Bunting Song” and “Three Changes” are good examples of each musician’s unique musical strength being incorporated into the final composition. In “Green Fields” particularly, you can enjoy the strange combination that is Paul Simonon’s signature hard-edge bass against Albarn’s tender and melancholic vocals and Simon Tong’s guitar.
In spite of all this, the project still sounds more like Damon Albarn than any of the other members. Because of this, I felt tempted to look at Albarn’s background as a musician aside from what I already knew, but I held myself back because I’m sure, his intention and all artists’ intentions when making a musical project such as this, is for it to be looked at individually, not comparatively. Being a tabula rasa in that respect, I think, might have helped me enjoy and appreciate this venture a little bit more. And it is with this appreciation, that I can now view Damon Albarn as a composer rather than just a former Britpop icon. While the lyrics are very characteristic of his previous work with Blur and Gorillaz, (at times highly metaphoric and maybe even confusing), it’s his use of impressive use of melodies and composition that impresses me the most.
One of the most impressive tracks is “Nature Springs”, the 8th track off the album. Here, we hear a completely different Albarn on vocals. Subdued, melancholic, increasingly expressive, and at times sounding very much unlike himself; more like what I would call an old Cuban singer, a voice very dissimilar to the one we hear in Blur, and closer to the one you hear in more of his post-Blur solo work like Gorillaz (think one time collaborator Ibrahim Ferrer). Maybe it is his voice’s natural aging, but the Damon we hear in this record is definitely more expressive, definitely capitalizing this new quality his voice has acquired. While many listeners may have a different favorite, my favorite is “Kingdom of Doom” simply because with all the previously mentioned are present in this track, lyrically, the theme of post-apocalypse London comes through, and the image on the album cover seems to be much more relevant.
All in all, The Good, The Bad & The Queen is a very thought out, beautiful record and a complete masterpiece, keeping with the idea of a concept album. Having said that, it’s only flaw may very well be its strength: the clear creative grip that Damon Albarn has on the record. Personally, I feel that the three other individuals’ abilities might have not been taken advantage of to the fullest extent during the recording of this album, and at times it can seem as though Simonon, Allen, and Tong are just random musicians Damon was able to pick up off the street to play his music, rather than his collaborators and musical equals. This fact might very well haunt the future of this project for another occurrence if conditions are not right.
‘Kingdom Of Doom’ – The Good, The Bad & The Queen (download)
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‘Nature Springs’ – The Good, The Bad & The Queen (download)
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Comments ( 2 )
I’m glad you posted this because I’d forgotten how lovely it was. We get so overwhelmed by The Next Big Thing™ that we end up cycling albums out of rotation too quickly. Especially if you write a blog.
sean added these pithy words on
Dec 13 09 at
1:10 pm
I was at Coachella in 2007, and saw this entire album performed from beginning to end. I hadn’t heard any of it prior to that, but a friend who was with me dragged me over to the outdoor theater stage. They were the last band of the night on that stage, while the headliner (Red Hot Chili Peppers, I think) was on the main stage. It was a like a private performance for a few hundred people. When they got partway through “Nature Spring”, the wind picked up, and the flags onstage flew out in the breeze. It was quite amazing. I bought the album as soon as I got back to SLC and listened to it more than any other in 2007. It was an epic experience.
Justin added these pithy words on
Dec 24 09 at
6:15 am
