2007-03-08
It seems that Damon Albarn is planning to leave his mark on the new millennium as much as he has on the 90's. And if someone is not clear about it yet, then he'll just keep trying to prove it.
After being one of the mid 90's leading symbols of the Britpop culture with Blur, he has entered the 00's with his excellent animation-based band "The Gorillaz" , and rumor the he has also been writing an opera... now adding to his résumé, the closure project The Good, The Bad & The Queen.
The good, the bad & the queen is a project which was in mind already during the Gorillaz' "Demon days" recordings, and some say its origins go even further to Blur's "13".
This is actually an odd supergroup; as mentioned before, Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn, Bass role played by Paul Simonon from well known band The Clash, Verve guitarist Simon Tong, and on the drum set we can find Tony Allen which can be associated with groups like Afrika 70 and Fela kuti.
Albarn, the same guy who at the 90's sang mostly on the joyful life that is Britpop, is making a comeback to the homeland, this time barring darker and apocalyptic messages. One of the things which make this album so interesting to begin with, is what Albarn (I'll spot out blurs "Parklife") and Simonon (if you don't remember "London's Calling" then I can't help you) have to say about the city of London these days.
The feeling carried throughout is much less happy and jolly, as Damon tells about green fields turning to stone in "Green fields" and alienation created by modernization with "A Soldier's tale", as seen in lyrics such as "emptiness in computers bothers me". And so, the popy world of the mid 90's slowly vanishes from our eyes.
In oppose to that stands in the musical section; they succeed with passing on this gloominess feeling with great victory and achievement. Albarn started this project thinking this might turn out as a solo project, but fast enough the music was established as a band effort. Each of the players brings his own thing to the table and together they make an interesting, unique sound moving from electronic and dub hints (songs like "Northern tale" and "Herculean", both could easily fit in a Gorillaz album) to melancholic pop with plenty of climaxes.
The album is shrouded in strange beauty. You can feel the foreignness of the city throughout the songs, and in my opinion it is easy to capture it as an atmospheric concept album, delivered in an authentic mood. The balance between the acting musicians creates textures that it's hard to stay apathic to. Albarn proves that beyond being a pop toy-boy he is a serious and ambitious musician who has no plans to stop any time soon. Long live the queen.
Roy Povarchik
