The Good, the Bad & the Queen

I'd listen to this again on a sunny afternoon.

I’d never heard this before which is kind of surprising - I’ve listened to so much of Damon Albarn’s output (Blur, Gorillaz, his solo albums, the Africa Express stuff) so not entirely sure why I decided The Good, The Bad & The Queen was the one I could skip. Anyway, it’s maybe not top tier Albarn but I still really liked it.

You get a bit of everything on this album, and I think it greatly showcases the strengths of all its collaborators. The slower, atmospheric/psychedelic feel they're going for is not 100% my cup of tea, but it's never bad and they do keep it interesting with incredible highs here and there.

The climactic title track more than makes up for every underwhelming part of the album.

Standouts: Northern Whale • Herculean • Nature Springs • The Good, The Bad And The Queen

There’s a ton of super groups on this list. But I don’t think any Traveling Wilburys?

Anyway, I kind of did not like this.

sounds like gorillaz somehow

checks wikipedia

oh

i like gorillaz!

Bo-ring

Meh.

Not bad, but completely inconsequential, so no idea why it’s on the list. I’d never heard of this despite being a fan of danger mouse and the Gorillaz at the time this came out.

I can’t imagine there a single person in the world who thinks this is ‘must hear’

Nice side project

Just okay. Fav track: “80’s life”

Ok, this band is a supergroup. But this album is far from super.

I really didn't enjoyed it.

2/5

I thought I was being clever with my review of “This is a long lost Blur album and no one can convince me otherwise “ not knowing this was a Albarn side project.

So glad I did not post that

ovo mi se dosta dopalo! album mi je na neki način poznat odavno, ali samo činjenicom da na njemu svira paul simonon iz clasha te omotom te me nije nešto privlačio, no drago mi je da sam ga ipak evo preslušao. sigurno ću još slušati, ali nije vrh vrhova, tako da jedna lijepa četvorka

Dit album klinkt (expres) hopeloos verouderd. Ik krijg echt jeuk van stukjes als het "pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom, pom pom, pom, pom, pom" van het tweede nummer. Verder vermaakt de band zich met spacy geluiden, of het geluid van tegen een glas aan tikken. En als je dan toch aan het klooien bent is het ook fijn om de zanger weg te drukken. Ach, dat laatste snap ik eigenlijk wel...

The Good, the Bad & the Queen was a supergroup that I'm not sure I've heard of before, but I'm guessing they were in the 1001 Albums books for a brief time because of the band members' pedigrees. Damon Albarn is well known for his time in Blur and Gorillaz. Paul Simonon was the bassist for The Clash. Simon Tong was the guitarist for The Verve during their Urban Hymns album cycle. Finally, Tony Allen served as drummer and musical director for Fela Kuti's Afrika '70 group. It seemed that the latter three had all come into contact with Damon at one point or another, and the group started to form naturally from there. So with such an eclectic group of musicians coming together for an album, produced by Danger Mouse no less, surely the results would be amazing, right? Well...

I'll be honest, I had the hardest time connecting with this record, and I can accept that it's just not for me. This is an art rock album conceptually themed around modern life in London, complete with references to the locale, political parties, and industrialization that took place there. I'm sure that for Damon, a lot of the changes that happened in his hometown had a profound impact on him and led to some earnest songwriting that needed an outlet separate from Blur and Gorillaz. But I'll admit, as someone who lives across the Atlantic and has never once been to London, it's hard for me to fully grasp his perspective outside of some painfully broad strokes. The tracks that resonated probably the closest were the doom of repeating mistakes on "History Song" and the environmental destruction outlined in "Green Fields," and that's largely it for me.

As for the actual music, it's fine enough around Damon's wispy vocal delivery, if not playing to the strengths of its individual members, given their previous projects. I can still pick out a few good basslines from Simonon, and Tony Allen's drumming is still solid, like with the shuffle beat on "Three Changes", and there's some nice subtle keyboard work from Damon and neat electronic flourishes from Danger Mouse. There's an overall laidback, folk-adjacent feel to a lot of these tracks in contrast with the more confrontational lyrics. I just can't help but look at what each of these gents had previously done and wish I were listening to their better output instead.

At the end of the day, The Good, the Bad & the Queen put out a fine enough record that probably resonated more with British music critics who were already into the group's individual members. They would put out one more record before disbanding in 2019, and I'm left feeling that I did not miss out on much.

I don’t know what to do with this album. There are some interesting ideas here and there, but the vocals seem to turn every song into a sort of depressing malaise. I thought it was a good effort, just didn’t click with me.

Average

I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll bump down to a 3.

I’ll try to keep this one short, because I don’t want to come across too negatively to an album that I ultimately liked, but… damn, I just could not latch onto a single track here from a lyrical standpoint, save for “Green Fields”, if only because the imagery was that apparent. The rest of these tracks are all very Britishly written, and while I’m not opposed to Damon Albarn’s use of the language to make broad societal complaints, I am a little bit opposed to making them as broad as they are. I can capture the air of each critique & I think the instrumental atmosphere enhances that air in a way that ultimately gives each track enough substance to work. However, without being able to contextualize them in a way that gives the album a bigger purpose past loose bitching & moaning about the ‘state of the world’, no matter how warranted it may be, it just never gives the album enough of an overall form.

The substance is there, but it’s not shaped into something concrete enough to flow together as a cohesive album. These are enjoyable tracks, yes, but they’re not memorable once you move past them, in part because of rather similar soundscapes / vocal tones on a lot of the tracks, & in part because of the lyricism here; however inventive & evocative it usually tries to be, it’s usually just a little too flowery for its own good. It’s an album with a lot to say & not enough of a concise structure in how it says it, leading to an overall disconnect that leaves the listener out of Damon Albarn & friends’ loop. Damon knows what these all mean. It’s hard for the listener to grasp, and that disconnect is just biting at me in a way that goes against my tastes.

I know I’m complaining, but I did enjoy this album. I might’ve just caught it on a more distracted day for me, and maybe on any future relistens, it’ll click a little better across the board. For now, I just can’t shake the non-cohesive vibe, and I’m not one to reward an album on “great atmosphere but with no clue what they mean” unless the atmosphere is that unbelievably strong. It is strong, but it’s not THAT strong. Hence, a 3.5 bumped down to a 3, but I’m glad it’s on the list.

Poor man's Radiohead. Radiohead themselves are bad enough.