song of the day: april 26/2011

The Good, The Bad & The Queen - Three Changes
Album: The Good, The Bad & The Queen [2007]

around the turn of the millennium - just after the release of blur's moody sixth album, "13" - damon albarn began to quietly back away from the very concept of fronting a rock band, turning his attention to a series of collaborative projects that soon overshadowed his main gig. rirst there was the electro-bubblegum group gorillaz, which afforded albarn the opportunity to masquerade behind a cartoon, a move that allowed him to let his music speak louder than his fame, a method that he found irresistible as he began to do several projects similar to this, including a voyage to africa documented on mali music, along with other less-publicized forays into soundtracks. 2007 saw the release of "the good, the bad & the queen", a quartet comprised of himself, clash bassist paul simonon, verve guitarist simon tong, and drummer tony allen. a flurry of pre-release activity compared "the good, the bad & the queen" to blur's 1994 masterpiece "parklife", as it represents a conscious return to albarn writing songs specifically about london at a particular point in time. thematically accurate though this may be, it is also misleading, suggesting that albarn is also returning to the bright, colorful, clever guitar pop that made his reputation. that couldn't be farther from the truth, as this album is deliberately drained of color and mired in moodiness. if parklife exuberantly captured the giddiness of the mid-'90s, as fashions and politics changed, "the good, the bad & the queen" captures how all that optimism has calcified into weary cynicism, as the endless opportunities of the '90s have given way to a warring world that seems to lack any center or certainty. the album is most certainly its own distinctive thing, the product of five iconic musicians working a theme endlessly, relentlessly, and inventively, producing music that plays more like a movie than an album. early on, as "history song" eases into view on a circular acoustic guitar phrase, it establishes an alluring, dank, and artfully dour mood that the band continually expands and explores without ever letting the gloom lift.

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