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The Good, the Bad & the Queen (album)

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The Good, the Bad & the Queen
Studio album by
the Good, the Bad & the Queen
Released22 January 2007
Recorded2005–2006
Studio
GenreArt rock[1]
Length42:58
LabelParlophone, Honest Jon's, EMI, Virgin
ProducerDanger Mouse
The Good, the Bad & the Queen chronology
The Good, the Bad & the Queen
(2007) 		Merrie Land
(2018)
Damon Albarn chronology
Demon Days
(2005) 		The Good, the Bad & the Queen
(2007) 		D-Sides
(2007)
Tony Allen chronology
Lagos No Shaking
(2006) 		The Good, the Bad & the Queen
(2007) 		Rocket Juice & the Moon
(2012)
Paul Simonon chronology
Havana 3 am
(1991) 		The Good, the Bad & the Queen
(2007) 		Plastic Beach
(2010)
Simon Tong chronology
True Skies
(2002) 		The Good, the Bad & the Queen
(2007) 		Was You Ever See – EP
(2009)
Singles from The Good, the Bad & the Queen
  1. "Herculean"
    Released: 30 October 2006
  2. "Kingdom of Doom"
    Released: 15 January 2007
  3. "Green Fields"
    Released: 2 April 2007
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic76/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
The A.V. ClubC[4]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[5]
The Guardian[6]
Los Angeles Times[1]
NME8/10[7]
Pitchfork6.8/10[8]
Q[9]
Rolling Stone[10]
Spin[11]

The Good, the Bad & the Queen is the debut studio album by the English supergroup the Good, the Bad & the Queen, comprising Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Simon Tong and Tony Allen, and produced by Danger Mouse. The album was released in January 2007.[12][13] The album debuted at number two in the UK Albums Chart and was certified Gold in the UK within days of its release despite little media recognition and airplay.[14] In the United States, the album entered the Billboard 200 at No. 49.

It is stated that the record is, in a sense, a concept album, as its songs are all themed around modern life in London.[15] It was described by Albarn as "a song cycle that's also a mystery play about London" in an interview with Mojo.

History

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Although The Good, The Bad & The Queen was first reported as a solo album by Albarn with Danger Mouse producing, NME revealed in late July 2006 that the solo project had been switched to a new group formed by Albarn.[16] The band, which formed in 2006, released their first single, "Herculean" on 30 October 2006. The single followed the band's appearance at the BBC's Electric Proms season at the redeveloped Roundhouse in Camden on 26 October, during which they performed the entire album.[16] Three warm-up gigs in East Prawle at the Pig's Nose Inn,[17] Ilfracombes Marlboro Club and The Exeter Cavern Club preceded their gig on the BBC's Electric Proms, where the album was performed in order with two other songs inserted, "Intermission Jam" and "Mr. Whippy"; the latter was a B-side for "Herculean". The band performed four tracks from the album at Abbey Road Studios on 13 December 2006, during a recording session for Live from Abbey Road.[citation needed]

For the first few months, Allen would travel from Paris (where he has a permanent home) to London to work in Albarn's Studio 13 for 3 days a week, writing, rehearsing and recording. At the same time as the initial recordings in the UK, Albarn had begun demoing for the second Gorillaz record and by early spring had invited in producer Danger Mouse to oversee the album. Albarn was keen to work in Africa with local musicians again after his work on the album Mali Music (released 2002) so Tony Allen suggested that the four of them (including Danger Mouse) decamp to his home country of Nigeria to continue the sessions. There they recorded at Afrodisia Studios, once used by Fela Kuti, with a huge variety of local musicians, committing huge numbers of songs and ideas to tape before returning to England once more.[18]

The track listing was originally unveiled and commented upon by Damon Albarn and Paul Simonon in an interview in the November 2006 issue of Uncut.[19] The second major gig of the band's career took place on 12 December 2006, at Wilton's Music Hall in East London. It was watched by 300 specially selected fans, as the launch gig of MySpace's The List. The band released their first Top 20 single, "Kingdom of Doom", a week prior to the release of the album.[20] In April, "Green Fields" was released as the third single from the album and debuted at No. 51 in its first week.[21]

On 4 April 2007, The Good, the Bad & the Queen became the first EMI album to be made available for download in the new DRM-free, high quality MP3 format (256 kbit/s).[22]

The Good, The Bad and the Queen was voted the Best Album of 2007 by the Observer Music Magazine. Paul Simonon told the magazine how the record came about: "It's not a commercial record, so OMM's award shows that you can make music that moves people without going down the obvious route. I hadn't been in a band for 17 or 18 years, and then Damon asked me to listen to some tracks he'd recorded in Nigeria. I'd met him once before, at Joe Strummer's wedding reception. We shared ideas about people, musical styles and where we live. With the music, I wanted to complement Tony's drums. I'm not into over-complication – I'm not capable of it, to be honest. The lyrics, the London atmosphere, all that evolved as we played. There's a lot of craftsmanship on the record, and Damon has a vision for arrangements, and everyone slotted in around them. But it's all done now. We won't make another record, and we didn't properly name the band, because a name is for a marriage."[23]

In an interview with Pitchfork about Danger Mouse's involvement in this album, Albarn states: "He was quite adamant that we don't do any kind of harmony and that I kept it a single voice. I thought, "Well that's great." That's how I kind of start the songs in the first place: I get a very basic arrangement and texture them. His attention to that detail was important. And it helped me write the lyrics. It cleared the way for it just having to be a single voice. He's an exceptional talent. With Brian [Danger Mouse] being a kind of third party so to speak, it helps to have someone there. You want a band to work itself, but at the same time you want it to be the best that it can be. I tried it the other way, with Tony leading the tracks when I went to Lagos, and it was great but I didn't fit into that. That is why I scrapped the whole record, because I thought I should be involved at least."[24]

Albarn wrote the original version of the song "Green Fields" following a night out with Blur bassist Alex James and Marianne Faithfull. That demo was recorded in a studio on Goldhawk Road, Hammersmith and Albarn gave the tape to Faithfull.[citation needed] It was later recorded by the singer/actress with different lyrics in the verses and released on her 2005 album Before the Poison as "Last Song."[25]

Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by Damon Albarn

No.TitleLength
1."History Song"3:05
2."80's Life"3:28
3."Northern Whale"3:54
4."Kingdom of Doom"2:42
5."Herculean" (featuring The Sixteen)3:59
6."Behind the Sun"2:38
7."The Bunting Song"3:47
8."Nature Springs"3:10
9."A Soldier's Tale"2:30
10."Three Changes"4:15
11."Green Fields"2:26
12."The Good, the Bad & the Queen"7:00
Total length:42:58
Limited edition bonus DVD
No.TitleLength
1."Nature Springs" (live at The Tabernacle)3:16
2."The Bunting Song" (live at The Tabernacle)4:01
3."The Good, the Bad & the Queen" (live at The Tabernacle)4:36
4."A Soldier's Tale" (rehearsal footage)2:22
5."Interview" (rehearsal footage)20:43
Sample credits
Unreleased tracks and B-sides

Personnel

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Chart performance

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Weekly charts

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Chart (2007) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA Charts)[26] 36
UK Albums (The Official Charts Company) 2
US Billboard 200 49

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
France (SNEP)[27] Silver 35,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[28] Gold 100,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ a b Cromelin, Richard (17 January 2007). "The Good, the Bad & the Queen 'The Good, the Bad & the Queen' Virgin". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  2. ^ "Reviews for The Good, The Bad & The Queen by The Good, The Bad & The Queen". Metacritic. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
  3. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Good, the Bad & the Queen – The Good, the Bad & the Queen". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
  4. ^ Phipps, Keith (23 January 2007). "The Good, The Bad & The Queen: The Good, The Bad & The Queen". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  5. ^ Endelman, Michael (22 January 2007). "The Good, the Bad & the Queen". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  6. ^ Petridis, Alexis (19 January 2007). "The Good, the Bad and the Queen". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  7. ^ MacBain, Hamish (12 January 2007). "The Good, The Bad & The Queen: The Good, The Bad & The Queen". NME. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  8. ^ Klein, Joshua (15 January 2007). "The Good, the Bad & the Queen: The Good, the Bad & the Queen". Pitchfork. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  9. ^ "The Good, the Bad & the Queen: The Good, the Bad & the Queen". Q (247): 94. February 2007.
  10. ^ Sheffield, Rob (10 January 2007). "The Good, The Bad and the Queen: The Good, The Bad And The Queen". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 1 February 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  11. ^ Young, Jon (January 2007). "Zen Gorillaz". Spin. 23 (1): 92. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  12. ^ "It's all a bit of a blur for Damon". Daily Record. Scotland. 2 February 2007. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
  13. ^ "The band with no name". Time Out. New York. 31 January 2007. Archived from the original on 14 November 2007. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
  14. ^ "Album Goes Gold in UK". The Good, the Bad and the Queen – official website. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2007.
  15. ^ "Damon Albarn starts new band". 30 July 2006. Retrieved 30 July 2006.
  16. ^ a b "Damon Albarn forms new band". NME. 28 July 2006. Retrieved 28 July 2006.
  17. ^ "The Good, the Bad and the Queen: Gigography". blur studio. Archived from the original on 4 December 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  18. ^ "The Band". Goodbadqueen.com. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  19. ^ Uncut (Nov. 2006, pp. 86–88)
  20. ^ "Damon Albarn's new band announce new single". NME. 28 November 2006. Retrieved 28 November 2006.
  21. ^ "The Good, The Bad & The Queen announce new single". NME. 20 February 2007. Retrieved 20 February 2007.
  22. ^ "EMI press release". Archived from the original on 18 May 2007. Retrieved 4 April 2007.
  23. ^ "Kingdom of Doom by The Good, the Bad & the Queen Songfacts". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  24. ^ "Interviews: The Good, the Bad and the Queen | Features". Pitchfork. 19 March 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  25. ^ Troussé, Stephen. "Damon Albarn – The Good, The Bad and The Queen – The Good, The Bad and The Queen – Review". Uncut. Retrieved 20 February 2007.
  26. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 117.
  27. ^ "French album certifications – The Good the Bad & the Queen" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
  28. ^ "British album certifications – The Good, the Bad & the Queen – The Good, the Bad & the Queen". British Phonographic Industry.
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