Hunting For Buried Treasures

You have to really look for good music sometimes. It is there but often, you have to really look through old boxes and under beds and in the back of closets to find real treasures. Especially when the top song on iTunes right now is “Rumor Has It” by the cast of Glee. The cast of Glee is #1. They are not even a band—they are a television show. But, I digress. The point is, I for one, can get discouraged about the music out there. But then there are those treasures . . .

This band kind of has no name. They only released one album and chose to name themselves after that album. A kind of no-need-for-technicalities attitude, The Good, The Bad and The Queen album was released in January of 2007 and the 4-member group named themselves just that. “The Good” album is unlike any other music you have heard; mostly because of the collection of musical geniuses that differ so immensely, who came together on album.

Lead vocalist and keyboardist is Damon Albern, now currently lead vocalist for the Gorillaz. Bass and backup vocals is Paul Simonon who was the bassist for The Clash. Simon Tong is on guitar who has worked with The Blur and The Verve, and then Tony Allen is on drums; a Nigerian drummer who some consider to be the father of Afrobeat music.

Now after saying all that, a music lover might be inclined to ask, “What the fuck is that going to sound like?” Excellent question and I still don’t know how to answer. I have tried to do so with friends and family but it is difficult. The Good, The Bad and The Queen are the love child of The Beatles (in the 70s), Flock of Seagulls, and Bob Dylan. That is the best I can do.

The single that was first released off the album was “Herculean.” Herculean is a great song, but it is probably #5 on the album, out of 12 songs. The album actually starts with the best song, “History Song.” It is not a dance song by any means but you just feel like you want to move. You want to sway and really get into it. I always find myself rocking my head to this song. You hear it and you say, “oh yah, this is music.” One of the qualities that I love about this song is one of the lyrics: "and if you don’t feel me know, you will do.” I think it is one of the coolest, or rather, “grooviest” expressions to put in a song and the song is so laid back that it just fits to use the line “you feel me?” in lyrics. It is so smooth. That is money.

“80s Life” is the second best song on the album. It is reminiscent of The Beatles circa “Yellow Submarine.” The song is kooky. Yup, that is the word I am going to use, kooky. Other notable songs on the album are “Northern Whale” and “Kingdom of Doom.”

I first got word of this band in Paris reading through a magazine (I forget the title). There was a huge article about them, singing their praise and I decided to take their word for it and download the album. No one I have ever talked to, to this day, knows about this album. See?!?! You got to dig to find the good stuff.

This band randomly performs, mostly in Europe and the UK, but who knows if they are ever going to release another album. It is hard to say if the band will ever get back together because they were never really together to begin with. They just kind of ran into each other, made some music and dispersed. All that is left is this one album.