1016. The Good, The Bad and the Queen - The Good, the Bad and the Queen (2007)

Track Listing

1. History Song
2. 80s Life
3. Northern Whale
4. Kingdom Of Doom
5. Herculean
6. Behind The Sun
7. The Bunting Song
8. Nature Springs
9. A Soldier's Tale
10. Three Changes
11. Green Fields
12. The Good, The Bad And The Queen

Review

Damon Albarn is a Jack of All Trades and master of some. This project is not, however, one of the most masterful that he has been in. It owes too much to past artists such as The Specials to be truly original and doesn't really astound like that band did.

The music is expertly done as are the bleak lyrics, and it is very good indeed, but not particularly astounding. This might have something to do with a big level of expectation not only from Albarn but also from his collaborators in this project, coming from such diverse backgrounds as Suede, Fela Kuti's band or The Clash.

So again the album is very good, but it is nowhere near as good as could be expected from this set-up. It ends up being not particularly original or exciting while being definitely more than competent and actually quite good.

Track Highlights

1. Herculean
2. Nature Springs
3. The Good, the Bad and the Queen
4. History Song

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Damon Albarn talked to NME in early March 2007 and discussed the band's future plans, which included a recording session in early September intended to produce a release not long after that: "We're going to do another whole recording session in early September. It will be totally different, more funky. We'll try to get it out in early autumn."

Herculean (someone needs to tell Simonon that he's no longer in the Clash and can therefore jump about a bit less):