The Good, The Bad and the Queen

i grew up on Blur. One of the first things i remember when I moved to Vancouver in the early 90's was walking into a club called Luv Affair. I heard this song There's no other way just wash over me.

It was a defining moment. I knew I wanted to find out who that band was and be a part of what that music represented. It must of had something to do with just moving from Edmonton, knowing I didn't want to be a part of what that city had to offer and looking for a place I could fit in.

I had wanted to break away from tradition and with a band like Blur I found they could open me up to another way of living. People would say if you like Blur, you'll like so and so. A few years later I quit my restaurant job of 4 years and started working at a record store. Modern Life is Rubbish came out and further solidified my love of these wacky Britons. I worked with a British guy who helped me understand all the UK-centric references on this album. He claimed it was album of the year and I couln't argue with him. It was a great antedote for the glut of grunge music that was surrounding us at the music store.

Later when I was in Thailand (around 1994) a British girl gave me the Parklife tape and that became the soundtrack for most of my trip. Cocky and cockney, this was not an album for North Americans who couldn't handle a little accent in their vocal delivery. This didn't stop Boys and Girls from being a huge international hit. Aside from that one track, though, the rest of the album was mostly ignored on this side of the pond. Once I got to Korea and started teaching English The Great Escape came out and I mostly kept that in my walkman and used it as a shield as I took the subway to my next teaching gig. This was the height of their slickness and they needed to change or they would become too mainstream for their own good. I guess they knew it, too, as seen from what they did on their next album when they went all lo-fi on our asses. When I started The Hive the S/T Blur album came out and we found ourselves disecting and trying to reverse engineer those sloppy sounds they were offering up.

Now comes The Good the Bad and the Queen. This album is the first thing I've liked from Mr. Albarn since that self titled Blur masterpiece. I've only had a few listens but this album has the makings of a Rube Lubener approved classic. A darker dubbier and more soulful version of Blur. With the help of Paul Simonon (the Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve) and Tony Allen (Africa 70 and Brian Eno's choice for one of the most important musicians of the last 50 years)they conjure up some of the bleakest pop you're likely to hear. I thought intially this effort would ram your head with noise but it's far more restrained and sparse (and all the better for it).

The confluence of ideas that brought about this album also gave us Children of Men. The world sucks and the future is not friendly. I think this as I write Dr. Tomorrow's treatment and think technology only allows us to spread our pain around in quicker and more mobile ways. There is no centre therefore we are clinging to the edges. There is no middle so we are slipping to left and right. A album like this helps me to focus on my creativity. I like to listen to it as I write and wash the dishes.

The sound of the album has touches of Air, The Clash and the British ska from the early eighties. There is still Damon's barhouse piano and Carnival keyboards but they are so depressingly drenched in post-apocolytic studio tweeking that it comes across as ancient and modern. It's very much a product of him being fed up with the perfection of modern music. The songs don't end as much as fade off into the abyss.

If you're looking for something to compliment your gorrilaz album, this aint it. I like my stuff depressingly anti-mass-consumerist; it makes me happy. Hopefully it will do the same for you.