The Good, The Bad and The Queen: Friday Night In The Kingdom of Doom, All Of The Ravens Fly Across The Moon

The side project disease! Everyone close to Damon Albarn abandon his vicinity immediately. The guy just cannot get enough of making new bands. First it was only Blur, then The Gorillaz, then that Africa 70 thing and now The Good, The Bad & The Queen. Personally I was never a fan of Gorillaz, it was just too commercial for me to take, and only selected songs by Blur could satisfy me (“Song 2”, “Coffee & TV”, “Country Sad Ballad Man”, “Beetlebum”,”Out of Time” and a few others). But then came this marvelous CD. It takes probably more than two or three listens to let it grow on you, but again the simple sound and the cold easy voice of Damon Albarn caused me to immediately fell in love with this album from the start to the end. “Lost In London” was a short phrase I read somewhere that best explains the atmosphere running the disk. The Good The Bad & The Queen, despite its simple sound and easy listening tunes happens to be quite a supergroup: Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon from The Clash (I have no idea how could someone from a punk rebel band like The Clash can be a part of this thing), Toni Allen from another Albarn side project Africa 70 as well as Fela Kuti and Simon Tong from The Verve. This album was nominated for a PMA (haha that’s my own award ceremony) but lost to Arcade Fire, but anyhow Mojo has selected this album as their best album of 2007. Adding quick and simple electronic beats on “Northern Whale” is a cold water spray to your face and the use of pads and guitar echoes are so in place. As a true britpop concept album, The Good, The Bad & The Queen never seems to disappoint the listener through repeated listens. The record has been recorded in 2005 and Damon Albarn has announced that The Good, The Bad & The Queen is the name of the album, so I guess the band is called ….