Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20636 in Music
• Released on: 2007-01-23
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Standard UK pressing of the debut album from Britpop supergroup The Good, The Bad And The Queen. TGTBTQ is a new album featuring Damon Albarn (Blur/Gorillaz), Paul Simonon (The Clash), Tony Allen (Africa 70/Fela Kuti) and Simon Tong (The Verve). The Good, The Bad and The Queen began life in the Aphrodisia Studios in Nigeria in 2004 and traces a journey from the English music hall tradition, over to West Africa for Afrobeat, zigzagging through the West Indies and its reggae and dub, back to England and London's punk scene, all the while taking in a strand of British beat music from the '50s right through to Britpop. Produced by Brian ‘Danger Mouse’ Burton. EMI. 2007

Amazon.com
To open this oddball supergroup's debut, Paul Simonon hints at "Guns of Brixton," and when Tony Allen's flex rhythms come in, there's a shadow of Fela Kuti, too. Then Damon Albarn's slow grit of a voice enters--framed by Simon Tong's flecked guitar. And collectively, The Good, the Bad, & the Queen is quickly sui generis, adamantly different than anything you think you've heard. A band with this much power has at least two options: to cut loose raucously or to mute their overt power for a more covert, dub-inflected atmospheric potency. Smartly, Albarn and his crew opt for the half-light of elastic bass lines, the clouds between the parentheses of drums--the covert. It's not until "Kingdom of Doom," the erstwhile 'single' of the album, that motion expands beyond the languorous. And even then, Tony Allen largely sits out. You get the full flush of Simonon and Allen on "Three Changes" shuffling time even while holding the tempo to a dubbish gait. It's not Blur, the Clash, Fela, the Verve, or Gorillaz. It's more than just names on albums. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews

Ok..Ok..Ignore the rap sheet.
See. This is a prime example of how we hold artists back with "good ol' days syndrome". I can explain this record in one fell swoop: If this were a debut recording by a unknown band with unknown members, people and press would be gushing all over this.
I didn't care for Blur and Verve was ok in my book, but remained on the periphery due to its short lifespan, and Simonon hasn't done anything since The Clash. Since the preconceptions were subdued, I listened to the record the first time with an open mind. I wasn't waiting for that Blur blitz or that Verve hook or that Clash swagger. As a result, I have a record that is truly engaging and beautiful, especially if you've ever been to London.

A trip down the city
Let's being by saying that this album DOES NOT sound like Blur, Gorillaz, The Clash or The Verve. If you are expecting at least one song to sound like any of the aforementioned, you will be greatly disappointed. That said it is also fair to mention that the talent from those three band members come together in an interesting fusion of skill and concept.

Damon Albarn has said The Good, the bad and the queen is not the name of the band but of the album, and his four piece orchestra is much more difficult to explain that what journalists or even reviewers would like to narrow them down to. And that could well be why this record results so rich in concept and so ethereal in execution.

The somber and at times extremely claustrophobic sound serves to transport the listener to different aspects of London. Just as the lyrics cannot be constricted to either pop or punk, there is a certain mood that prevails all along the album, and it maye be (dare to say) formulated as an electropop-rock-folk allusion to the background of each of the players.
"Kingdom of doom", "Northern Whale" and "80's life" are the standout tracks, but it is in "Herculean" that they summon up all that feeling of overwhelm and almost despair one gets to know while listening to this.
Closing track, which happens to have the same name as the album, is a prolonged exectuion that quite doesn't fit with the rest of tracks but treats us to the showcase of wild drums, exquisite guitars and the omnipresent, yet vague vocals that we have come to indulge in.

If you find this review confusing then you have a leading point to listen to this record. I did not approach it thinking it would remind me of Blur or Verve, but in a way it strives to get past that, and in my opinion it takes it to another level that even they might be wonder about. Call it an acquired taste, The Good, the bad and the queen is an album to savor more than once and discover along with your own secrets.

Albarn does it again
Once again, Damon Albarn has created an amazing band; first with the Gorillaz, now this great new band with Paul Simonon and their drummer, Tony. This first album, which has hit songs (already!) Herculean and Kingdom of Doom. However, listen to the whole album, not just these two songs, 'cause all the songs are great. It's a British album, but it's a hit everywhere. A must-have for Gorillaz and Blur fans.