|
Review Navigator   FeaturesContestsReviews
| The Good, The Bad and The QueenThe Good, The Bad and The Queen2007 Parlophone 
 Review by: Adam See others by this writer ![[staff]](/images/icons/staffsticker.gif){kind=icon}
The Good, The Bad & The Queen (link) Only registered users can post comments 
 
Published on January 30th 2007
Call it the effect of an ocean between us, but the work of Damon Albarn has been fairly inconsequential in my life. In North America it's easy to see Blur and Gorillaz as just two more imported mainstream rock acts, just as easy to avoid as they are to discover. Of course that's not at all true in the UK, where I suspect for many Albarn's profile is the sole reason the Good, The Bad & The Queen are so high on the radar. Around here, or more specifically within the confines of these four walls, it's exclusively due to the participation of one Paul Simonon. This is the Clash bassist's return to music, and that's going to bring a whole lot of attention from certain quarters that wouldn't give a new Albarn project a second thought. What can I say? They were the only band that mattered.
People who liked this also liked:           Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
"Herculean" and "Green Fields" are two of the greatest songs I've heard in recent months. Wow... They do more than compensate for the less memorable tracks. I also really like "Kingdom of Doom". Good album, overall. how can you say that you can't call soemthing bad and then proceed to call something great? sounds a touch hypocritical to me I have NEVER seen Adam this pissed. I can't believe people are saying "this is bad"; stop being so subjective. Good Charlotte is bad, Billy Talent is bad, objectively speaking. This is different music, you like it or you don't, that doesn't mean its bad. On a completly unrelated note, The latest Thermals album is great; it's refreshing to hear some diginity in pop-punk. one of the worst band names i've ever heard; one of the most boring albums i've ever heard why must people hate Gorlliaz suck, and it has nothing to do with them being on the radio. Besides 1 or 2 good songs, they aren't good at all. Blur is good though. Thanks for providing a rousing distraction this afternoon TOBB. I often don't let anonymous voices on the internet get under my skin but you managed to do it. Not that a single thing you've said makes me want to change one word of my review, but congratulations regardless. google what you'd like. if the bassist of the band says they have no name, who am i to argue. instead write some stuffy, overly-wordy review that sounds like a bad press-release, slap your name on in and wait for the internet masses to soak it up and move along. You're not proving me wrong TOBB. The Clash have been referred to as "The Only Band That Matters" since the 70s, and I have every right to call them that as GQ does. Not particularly interesting. I gave it a chance because of Paul Simonon. Within the various post-Clash bands, for this kind of mood I'd go for the Mescalero's "Global A Go Go" instead. Or even some of Big Audio Dynamite. once again, the org is throwing those yellow staff tags out to any kid with a functionally retarded vocabulary and a collection of rare 7-inch punk records. The Good, the Bad & the Queen is an album by men with credentials. The singer (Damon Albarn) founded Blur and cartoon hip-hop collective Gorillaz; the drummer (Tony Allen) led Fela Kuti’s legendary band, the Afrika 70; the guitarist (Simon Tong) was in the Verve; and the bassist (Paul Simonon) is a painter of London cityscapes who used to play in the only band that mattered (The Clash). Likewise, his musical output makes him the most prolific man in pop. In the past five years he's released music with Blur, Gorillaz, his world-music project Mali Music, an album of unreleased demos and a new project, The Good, the Bad and the Queen. joeg: That's nice, but for all realistic purposes the name of the band is "The Good, the Bad & the Queen." If that was meant to solely be the name of this specific record then why was it on all the singles and why is it all over their press releases? Damon and Paul can come up with all sorts of high art concepts for what the band is, but the public knows them as "The Good, the Bad & the Queen" and that's what promoters, record companies and publications are calling them. Of course the Clash were a British band, but in terms of celebrity Albarn's got Simonon beat in the mainstream UK press. If it was just Paul's band I'm quite confident that they'd be getting a bit less attention. "Of course that's not at all true in the UK, where I suspect for many Albarn's profile is the sole reason the Good, The Bad & The Queen are so high on the radar." hey adam, you're half right. for all obvious intents and purposes, this "group" is referred to as the good, the bad, and the queen. but Damon and Paul themselves have said in interviews they have no official band name. bizarre i know. at least they can give themselves a symbol or something. TOBB: What article are you talking about? The Clash have been referred to as "The only band that mattered" by a zillion sources for, oh I don't know, something like 25 YEARS now. I didn't just crib that out of the latest issue of Cosmo or whatever you've been reading. Jesus. how's this for pretentious horse shit, they don't have a name. the good, the bad and the queen is the title of the record. did this reviewer do any homework whatsoever? "they were the only band that mattered" "This band is only getting press because of Simonon" Gorillaz fuckin' rules. I don't give a shit if you guys get all "omg its radio you unpunx nub" that doesn't mean I shouldn't listen to good music. u just gave it 4 stars bcuz teh guy 4rm teh crash iz in it. I'd rather have another blur album PIL ???????ummmm, no-oldpunker Damon Albarn does some weird world music stuff too. Not that I particularly enjoy it but he's definitely not a one-trick pop pony. Really? I didn't get PiL at all from it. It's too calm. this reminds me of Public Image, LTD where is teh revolt review? i'm really diggin this record. can't wait to catch this live. poor choice of band name. i'd probably like this a lot more if damon albarn wasnt singing. he's just a twat. score is for the incoherent review. i've really enjoyed this album, its an excellent roadtrip cd This band is only getting press because of Simonon. The only reason I gave them a chance is because of Simonon. This is album is boring - they should have let Simonon do some lead vocals. haven't been able to get into this yet...just kinda felt like nothing grabbed me first comment said it best, very boring. Not terrible, just with all that talent it just seems to go nowhere-oldpunker- It's good stuff, but i don't really like the music. It's just not for me. A bit too down. I'm liking this. The album strikes a very consistant mood throughout; it's filled with just the right amount of melancholy without crossing over into any kind of depressing "Smiths-esque" territory. Right now, the standout track for me seems to be "80s Life." The rhythm and tempo of this song reminds me of "In The Still of the Night" (especially at the beginning). I can see this song popping up in the future on movie/tv soundtracks (most likely at a time when the protagonist is sad about something). I've read this described as neo-psychadellia. I think that's pretty apt. Pretty laid back, but it's layered and hypnotic. There's a few songs on here that don't gell at all, but for the most part I really like this album. awesome, awesome project. can't wait for whatever albarn has next. How does one "suck a fuck"? Britpop with a little electronic edge. That's about it. After one listen, some of the songs were kinda boring, others had a touch of dub that I found very appealing and dare I say "bad ass". Wish I could get into this, but I just can't. So boring. |
