Not to say he's up there with either of them, but still.
― Erock Lazron (Erock Zombie), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 04:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 08:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― i'll mitya halfway (mitya), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 08:52 (seventeen years ago) link
I got the first single "Herculean" and quite liked it, but I have to say, the second track on the CD single was very "Damon, I hope you didn't bother Paul Simonon with this rubbish!"
― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 09:44 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tiki Theater Xymposium (Bent Over at the Arclight), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 10:44 (seventeen years ago) link
― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 10:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 12:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― Tiki Theater Xymposium (Bent Over at the Arclight), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 12:32 (seventeen years ago) link
And, what exactly is the symbolism of hiring a string section to play barely audible "sweetener" that is these days always done with a synth?
I am really just flabbergasted that anyone gives stuff like this any time. And the OMM gave it five stars!
― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 12:42 (seventeen years ago) link
― pisces (piscesx), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 12:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 12:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 12:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 13:01 (seventeen years ago) link
I really do think it's deliberately dreary; the lyrics are all about exhaustion and hopelessness. But the melodies creep up on you.
It's very much a singular album - not meant as the mission statement of a new band, but rather as a single piece with a deliberate theme and aesthetic. Which is largely grim, dreary, rainy, and bleak. Dirges is a good way of putting it, I think.
― Tiki Theater Xymposium (Bent Over at the Arclight), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 13:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 13:08 (seventeen years ago) link
Also Marianne Faithfull did "Green Fields" much more justice on her last album.
― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 13:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 13:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 13:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 13:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:02 (seventeen years ago) link
i just read his last blog post and wtf "a great perky 2step remix of [clint eastwood] doing the rounds on the pirates" - yeah the pirates like RADIO ONE
― lex pretend (lex pretend), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:04 (seventeen years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― lex pretend (lex pretend), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:05 (seventeen years ago) link
― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:16 (seventeen years ago) link
Well, it's more they all come from the same base.
Basically, if they'd had an 'urban' award back in the 1977 era, the Clash would have got it. Four years ago, it'd be Dizzy Rascal. It's not actually as mad a change as it seems.
― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:17 (seventeen years ago) link
bloc party are (casually) into grime/dubstep. theres one track on the new BP album that bears some influence of that. albarn must be somewhat familiar with those scenes as well as he likes to keep up to date somewhat with new british/black music. i dont see it as that much of a stretch that they might have concentrated on making all these paens to london from hearing/hearing about burial or whoever.
i might just be biased of course.
― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:23 (seventeen years ago) link
Damon's ALWAYS been about London, or, at least, has been for about 15 years, so this move from him's not a surprise; it's a homecoming after Mali Music and the success of Gorillaz in the US, perhaps.
As for BP, second albums by praised indie bands, especially those from the South East, are always about fame / drugs / London, aren't they?
― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― acrobat (elwisty), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:32 (seventeen years ago) link
Yeah, this is exactly what I took away from that live thing last night. Why do this album?
― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 14:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:11 (seventeen years ago) link
― zeus (zeus), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:53 (seventeen years ago) link
I quite agree with the "dirge" descriptions, and I'm quite happy with dirges, but this stuff seemed wasted on Tony Allen, didn't it?
― i'll mitya halfway (mitya), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 15:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:42 (seventeen years ago) link
*sings* We step through London, the streets holding onto us..
― his sister pam (hissisterpam), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:57 (seventeen years ago) link
crazy talk
― marc h. (marc h.), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:07 (seventeen years ago) link
I also really like Demon Days and TGTBATQ, but I found 13 to be pretty heavy, all in all. Some good tunes though.
― Erock Lazron (Erock Zombie), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 18:56 (seventeen years ago) link
― blotter Budweiser Hackeysadk (nickalicious), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 19:48 (seventeen years ago) link
― blotter Budweiser Hackeysadk (nickalicious), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 19:49 (seventeen years ago) link
― blotter Budweiser Hackeysadk (nickalicious), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 19:50 (seventeen years ago) link
Pros are those (like Ned) who can get the basic gist in a listen or 2.Amateurs are those (like me) who gotta listen a million times to sort things out.
But whatevs.
― french for cane break (Pye Poudre), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 21:10 (seventeen years ago) link
-- marc h. (mar...), January 23rd, 2007.
OK, I was a bit too enthusiastic after one listening, perhaps not better than '13', but 'Think Tank' should have been a laughing stock.
― zeus (zeus), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 22:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 23 January 2007 22:12 (seventeen years ago) link
You mean the notion of the album, based on what you've read here, or the album, having heard it?
― Tiki Theater Xymposium (Bent Over at the Arclight), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 00:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― La Monte (La Monte), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 02:07 (seventeen years ago) link
― M. V. (M.V.), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 02:33 (seventeen years ago) link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/22/AR2007012201393.html
An excerpt
"His songs, reportedly once intended for a solo album, are melancholic and mopey, with the bandleader shrugging his shoulders when he should be getting on the good foot. On "Kingdom of Doom" the singer laments, "I see everything in black and white . . . Drink all day 'cause the country's at war."
"This is dour music for dour times, but no excuse to keep Allen on the sideline. A few of these songs are completely drumless affairs, leaving Simonon and Allen only one chance to connect -- on the fragmented "Three Changes." With a serpentine bass line sliding through Allen's muted rumble, the moment hints at what the Good, the Bad and the Queen should have been: the Great."
― curmudgeon (DC Steve), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 12:14 (seventeen years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 12:25 (seventeen years ago) link
Okay, this is the last time I try to defend a project I don't even have THAT big of a boner about, but it should be pointed out (for better or for worse) that Albarn has repeatedly said that The Good, The Bad & the Queen is the title of the album and the band has no name. (A statement that should only be further fuel for the haterfire).
― Tiki Theater Xymposium (Bent Over at the Arclight), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:42 (seventeen years ago) link
The notion. I don't go out of my way to hear Damon Albarn projects.
― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 24 January 2007 16:23 (seventeen years ago) link
(Runs away from molotov cocktails.)
― brightscreamer (brightscreamer), Saturday, 10 February 2007 15:39 (seventeen years ago) link
No.
― Turangalila (Salvador), Saturday, 10 February 2007 17:11 (seventeen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 10 February 2007 18:03 (seventeen years ago) link
Don't care much for the rest of the album, but 'Herculean' is utterly, utterly beautiful. Especially those jaw-dropping first 30 seconds.
― Just got offed, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 20:00 (sixteen years ago) link
Another album is on the cards. I presume the band name will remain as <______________>.
― Autumn Almanac, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 23:38 (sixteen years ago) link
I found it rather tedious on first listen. Haven't attempted a second listen as a result. Might have to go back now and re-check it out.
― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 25 October 2007 16:58 (sixteen years ago) link
I liked the album kind of but it was very background-musicky, not a lot of bright moments. Tony Allen is mixed really shittily, I think the album would've been better with the drums on every track turned up like 2 notches. Damon Albarn sounds like an old fart on this album; my roommate said he's doing his Lyrics Born impression.
― nickalicious, Thursday, 25 October 2007 17:02 (sixteen years ago) link
He looks like an old fart too now.
The album's a grower. There's some real beauty in there if you've the patience to let it unfold.
― Autumn Almanac, Thursday, 25 October 2007 22:45 (sixteen years ago) link
They made a new album.
This is the lead single, a very sad thing about brexit, it's sort of nothing special and sort of amazing at the same time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p1mq19htTc
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 12 November 2018 23:23 (five years ago) link
...PARKLIFE
Nah, just kidding, it's very good
― sbahnhof, Sunday, 18 November 2018 04:11 (five years ago) link
Okay, so this is pretty much the best album Damon's been involved with this decade. I'm really surprised by how much I love this, given that I found the first LP a bit of a snooze.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Sunday, 25 November 2018 21:06 (five years ago) link
Yeah, it really feels like he's put his heart into it in a way he hasn't done in ages.
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 25 November 2018 21:31 (five years ago) link
I agree! As much as I like The Now Now and The Magic Whip (which has grown on me a great deal over the last couple of years), there's a spark on this record that I haven't felt from a Damon project in a long time.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Sunday, 25 November 2018 21:35 (five years ago) link
I want to hate this because of general Albarn-aversion and the strong whiff of whimsy (that bloody cover; the nods to hauntology) but I ended up liking the first record despite myself and this is sounding very good.
― Have the Rams stopped screaming yet, Lloris? (Chinaski), Monday, 26 November 2018 10:18 (five years ago) link
Now I've annoyed myself with an imaginary review titled: 'anthems for a post-Brexit Britain?'
― Have the Rams stopped screaming yet, Lloris? (Chinaski), Monday, 26 November 2018 10:20 (five years ago) link
Yeah I was liking this as well when I listened earlier. It has literally everything going against it except the fact it's quite good
― imago, Monday, 26 November 2018 10:22 (five years ago) link
Willing to call this the best Damon thing since 13. Admittedly there's not really any competition for that (except arguably Demon Days)
― imago, Monday, 26 November 2018 12:34 (five years ago) link
maybe i'll have to give it another listen. it certainly sounded like damon's best album since plastic beach when i listened (not that anything he's done since then has been much good) but it didn't really stick with me. "best since 13" seems impossible though when there's think tank and demon days
― ufo, Monday, 26 November 2018 12:36 (five years ago) link
i'm a think tank denialist
― imago, Monday, 26 November 2018 12:53 (five years ago) link
unless you want to consider it the 'out of time ep', tracklist ambulance/out of time/on the way to the club/caravan/battery in your leg there that's acceptable. both the songs with 'song' in the name are overrated imo
― imago, Monday, 26 November 2018 13:06 (five years ago) link
One of them is "good"
― Mark G, Monday, 26 November 2018 14:20 (five years ago) link
those 5 + the two 'song's + gene by gene are all great
i also need to revisit the tgb&tq debut i guess because i barely remember it at all
― ufo, Monday, 26 November 2018 14:24 (five years ago) link
Think Tank only has like 2 bad songs wtf
afraid to listen to this tbh
― resident hack (Simon H.), Monday, 26 November 2018 14:30 (five years ago) link
the debut has 'herculean' which is, to harp on a theme, albarn's best song since the last millennium imo
― imago, Monday, 26 November 2018 14:31 (five years ago) link
that's all i remember from it and i do love it
― ufo, Monday, 26 November 2018 14:32 (five years ago) link
title track is a nice little rave-up
― imago, Monday, 26 November 2018 14:34 (five years ago) link
Merrie Land is really excellent
― The Poppy Bush AutoZone (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 6 December 2018 19:05 (five years ago) link
God I love these records.
― assert (MatthewK), Monday, 15 June 2020 12:17 (four years ago) link