Rating My CD's: Northern-ness

23. The Good, The Bad & the Queeen -- The Good, The Bad & the Queen


English music is known for two things: mirroring back American Rock n' Roll louder and harder, and expressing a profound romantic bleakness. Sometimes, instead of sucking deep of Yankee rhythm, the Pommies take the same instruments and play a raw yet gentle music full of the kind of un-nameable yearning that C.S. Lewis called Northern-ness, or Joy: a grey savoring of all the cold truths of the world. The Kinks, after the initial ramalama of their early songs, did this kind of music best, and you can also hear it in later songs of Kinks-revivalists the Jam (check out "English Rose" for an example).


This particular example of such Little-Englandism garnered quite a stir in 2007. Fans of Blur and Gorillaz on either side of the Pond knew how to respond when Damon Albarn announced he was playing with Paul Simonon (the Clash's bassist), Simon Tong (the Verve's guitarist), and Tony Allen (drummer for Fela Kuti and Africa 70). Supergroups never fail to raise eyebrows from a wary critics and dollars from everyone else; this one sold rather well.

I am greyly, Englishly neutral about it. The album's opener, "History Song," sat well with me, as did the eponymous closer (And now, here's that hep new band, The Good, the Bad & the Queen, with "The Good, the Bad & The Queen," from their forthcoming album The Good, the Bad & the Queen). The rest, however, streamed through my ears leaving little impression despite repeated listenings. I hear tell that "Kingdom of Doom" is sort of the kinda "single" of the ablum, but I'll be damned if I can remember what "Kingdom of Doom" sounds like. Like everything else on this dreary mewl, probably: thick finger-picked guitar lines sharing the track with punchy bass, sedated percussion, and Albarn whimpering in that way that only English boys can whimper.

I'm really not mocking the effort. These are all strong musicians, and there's nothing specific I can complain about. It's just really hard to find good things to say. There are times when the mood strikes me to gin it up, and "History Song" is pretty damn hummable. But over the long haul, everything just mixes together in a mishmash of music that somehow fails to connect with me. I don't understand it. Perhaps I'm just not English enough.

Grade: OK