The debut album from Damon Albarn's latest project incorporates bass playing from Paul Simonon of The Clash, drumming from the talented and revered Afro-beat star, Tony Allen and guitar work from former Verve man, Simon Tong. Production comes from Danger Mouse of Gnarls Barkley fame, while Albarn focuses on defining 21st Century London life across the album's twelve tracks. The singles 'Herculean' and 'Kingdom Of Doom' are included.

Oct 2006

The Good, The Bad and The Queen is a new band 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. Damon Albarn and guitarist Simon Tong had travelled to Lagos to record with veteran drummer and Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen. Working with local musicians, the trio recorded an album's worth of material.

Back in England, Damon gave the recordings to producer Brian 'Danger Mouse' Burton and the result is a record specific to a place and a time but with a background that is geographically wide-ranging and stretches far back into a glittering musical past. 'The Good, The Bad And The Queen' 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.

• Spin (p.92) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[Albarn's] told a powerful tale of darkness endured and hope regained, outshining almost everything he's done before."

The Good The Bad & The Queen: Damon Albarn (vocals, keyboards); Simon Tong (guitar); Paul Simonon (bass guitar, background vocals); Tony Allen (drums).
Additional personnel include: Danger Mouse (synthesizer, percussion).
Expectations run supremely high for a group like The Good, The Bad & The Queen. In addition to being Damon Albarn's first project since the Gorillaz, the GB&Q are also quite the super group, with Clash bassist Paul Simonon, Verve guitarist Simon Tong, and legendary drummer Tony Allen--the man who put the beat in Afrobeat--rounding out the line-up. Adding to this stellar cast is producer/DJ Danger Mouse, who mans the boards and twists the knobs.
The group's 2007 self-titled debut is supremely well-crafted, featuring deeply layered electronic textures that recall the Gorillaz at their most atmospheric and warp the propulsive piano and guitar lines in a playfully foreboding manner. And while Allen doesn't exactly open up the way fans of his work with Fela Kuti might hope, he expertly anchors the whole affair, gently shifting the rhythms and pacing of the tracks without disrupting Albarn's expansive, slightly noir-ish new approach to Britpop.

Formed by Blur frontman Damon Albarn, The Good, the Bad & the Queen is the musical Renaissance man's second post-Blur project (the "cartoon pop" outfit Gorillaz being the other). The band is something of a supergroup, boasting Paul Simonon of the Clash on bass, ex-Verve guitarist Simon Tong, and Fela Kuti's long-serving drummer, Tony Allen, with production duties from Danger Mouse. The group's debut single, "Herculean"--a murky, subterranean tune--was available for only a day in late October of 2006. The self-titled debut album, released in January 2007, was heralded as a 21st-century sequel to the Clash's masterpiece, LONDON CALLING.