Hope everyone had a nice and relaxing Christmas and New Year! I'm kicking off 2010 with an album that was actually released way back in January 2007 but I'm giving it a listen anyway. This album was recommended to me by my good friend Ryan Ward, thanks Ryan!
The Good, The Bad & The Queen is the name of the album, but the group itself is unnamed. It's the side project of Damon Albarn, former frontman of the bands Blur and Gorillaz, who has recruited a host of musicians, including Danger Mouse of Gnarls Barkley who handles the production duties on this disc, which is essentially a concept album about modern life in London.
The album retains some of the melodic undertones of Damon's other side project, Gorillaz. Starting off, "History Song" begins off as mostly an acoustic affair, before a faint drum pattern settles in the background, making for an pleasant listen all throughout. "80's Life" is a piano-laden tune with Damon's laid-back vocal talents lending accompaniment all the way through. "Kingdom of Doom" is a melodic and musically diverse tune with a bevy of different instrumental arrangements that allow the song to have a mind of its own and my personal favorite song off the album.
The disc's first single, "Herculean" is a melancholy and mystical tune with Damon's vocals adding an element of dreamlike imagery to every song he sings. "Nature Springs" does a wonderful job of capturing the essence of nature with distinct keyboard effects amongst other arrangements. "A Soldier's Tale" is another simple arrangement with a backing acoustic guitar lending a hand.
Closing out the disc, "The Good, The Bad & The Queen" ties everything together with a 7-minute opus putting together all of the arrangements heard throughout the disc, sort of giving a brief synopsis of the album and all it has to offer.
So, whether this is going to be another side project or a one album affair remains to be seen, but Damon has done what other musicians set out to do in the first place: explore other musical possibilities that have allowed him to think outside the box and put together a cohesive effort that expresses pure musical ambition at its greatest.
Album Score: 3.5/5
Track Listing:
- History Song
- 80's Life
- Northern Whale
- Herculean
- Behind the Sun
- The Bunting Song
- Nature Springs
- A Soldier's Tale
- Three Changes
- Green Fields
- The Good, The Bad & The Queen
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