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The Good, The Bad and the Queen – No Ugly

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By: Alibastard | in: Music |

A somewhat subdued effort from past Gorillaz collaborators Damon Albarn and Danger Mouse, The Good, The Bad and the Queen extends Albarn’s more low-key, atmospheric groove logic from Blur’s Albarn-helmed 2002 Think Tank.

Damon Albarn

A “supergroup” of wayward musicians, The Good, The Bad and the Queen somehow congeals without seeming scattered (in other words, too many chefs do not spoil this broth), and still yields something that builds on itself – is solid.
The line-up consists of Blur veteran Albarn, ex-Clash bassist Paul Simonon, ex-Verve guitarist Simon Tong and (here’s the curve ball) Fela Kuti and Africa 70 afro-beat pioneer Tony Allen.
Okay, the names may not be as impressive as, say, The Traveling Wilburys, but they put forth a far more effective sound than that iconic collaboration (disappointing considering they were Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and George Harrison. )
Strangely these largely Brit-rock members have that same “knock-off” quality between each other that the Wilbury’s had (Petty the mediocre Dylan, Lynn the less noteworthy Orbison/Harrison)  - The Clash informed Blur (who Albarn says greatly influenced his collaboration with Fatboy Slim during the production of Think Tank). And Blur were contemporaries of Verve, owning some measure of influence as one of the largest British rock groups of the time I’m sure. The only wild card here is Tony Allen who’s drumming displaces these droning, lonely anthems of modern London into an international context that pops and kicks back. 
The title track is the most significant example of the group’s most noticeable collaboration – fuzzbox rock and roll with a backbeat drum line that sounds like it shuffled its way out of Kuti’s “Zombie”. But even the more grooving “Nature Springs” cleanly presses onward just outside Albarn’s typical songwriting realm really because of Allen’s expert beats,  past incarnations of which garnered James Brown’s reported ‘discovery of funk’ (god rest his soul). 

The Good The Bad The Ugly

As a whole the album tends toward melodic compositions, with these sparking percussive adages coming only in perfect moments, and in specific songs. This re-enforces the restraint of Danger Mouse as producer – relying on the resonant, tinny plucking of guitar strings and Albarn’s just slightly strange pop chords to fully lead even those less afro-infused moments of this deceptively simple-sounding album.  
Overall, this is restrained pomp enviable to the highly unstable, hit-and-miss sounds of Danger Mouse’s last collaborative effort, Gnarls Barkley. Some Elvis Costello moments, with more strictly bubble gum Brit pop offshoots, The Good, The Bad and the Queen fuses pared-down 50’s rock longing with electronic drone, bursts almost fully into Jerry Lee Lewis and ends up in Nigeria in order to talk about modern Imperialism.
And it’s worth the trip.

The Good The Bad And The Queen - History Song

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Posted on February 21, 2007

Comments

One Response to “The Good, The Bad and the Queen – No Ugly”

  1. kikoy on April 10th, 2007 5:39 pm

    i heard their firts single and it rocks!


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