"The Good, the Bad & the Queen" is the perfect "Brit" album, but don't be misleaded: it is the perfect "Brit" album mainly because it eschews all the "Britpop" crap we've grown used to (and disturbed from).
All the laddism, the retro nonsense, the banality of the Brit-pop fashion that has mudded the bright British music legacy is not here.
No echoes of Oasis, of Starsailor, of Cast or Ocean Color Scene or other useless, retro crap.
This is the sound of Britain. Not Modern Britain, but Britain as it is and was. Immutable.
And it must be, if you see the cast: Damon Albarn from Blur (the only band to get out of britpop mud with some kudos), Paul Simonon from Clash (the only band to get out of punk with any relevance), Simon Tong of Verve (well...) and Tony Allen (former Fela Kuti collaborator, to represent the Empire that was).
All the album is dark, rainy, ingrained in that typical relaxed and bittersweet sensation of longing and nostalgia, together with a subtle feeling of pride for what Britain is and always will be.
A very good album, indeed. |
