The Good The Bad & The Queen - Aylesbury Civic Centre - 4/2/07
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
What makes The Good The Bad & The Queen work is the effort this bunch (legendary Afrobeat percussionist Tony Allen, legendary Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn, legendary Clash bassist Paul Simonon and, erm, The Verve's Simon Tong) have put in to convincing us that this really is a proper band. They certainly feel it is. Far too often, supergroups are bloated concerns, groups of already famous people who feel that their career under a new collective name will soar simply because of the prior success individuals behind it. 'How dare you not buy our records, do you not know how we are?!', their very presence seems to say. Yet so regularly, they've forgotten to write any tunes, let alone to look or sound like a proper band.
But The Good The Bad & The Queen have not only made an excellent record, and not only do they look like they've been playing music together since before Simonon smashed his first bass against the floor, they're also incredibly dedicated and precious about their new shared vocation. Simonon, for example, has done all the artwork - the record sleeves, the live backdrops... you even get the distinct impression that Albarn's decision to wear a top hat throughout the tour might have been an attempt to out-cool Paul's own effortlessly stylish trilby.
Furthermore, these songs flow brilliantly - a thick sonic fog seems to sit atop everything, so much so that getting in to the album feels like a process of wafting away bits of it from your ears each time you listen to it until you uncover the simple, strong, delightfully constructed melodies over which that glittering hum lies. It ties everything together very neatly, and - crucially - in a way that rewards persistent listening and exploration of their sound. It really is like listening to a proper band.
And going to watch them generates that feeling of giddy excitement you get from going to see your favourite artists, even though you're well aware these are brand new songs, the products of a brand new mindset, and that you're in for something far removed from a Blur, Clash or even Verve gig. Attention to detail is evident perhaps more so even in the live arena - the choice of venues on the tour reflects places either the Clash or Blur played whilst struggling young bands, the place is decked out in bunting and Jamaican flags (thankfully taking away from the somewhat sterile surroundings of Aylesbury Civic Centre somewhat), and the support bill is made up of country artists, comedians, contortionists and magicians. Before they've even made any music, The Good The Bad & The Queen have put on a fine show.
Then they actually begin, and deliver a superb show. They play their eponymous debut LP from beginning to end, true, but it feels like anything but going through the motions. For evidence of their being 'for real', look at Tony Allen for starters - despite his never really unleashing anything like even mild fury on the drumkit, the attention with which he leads every track is painstaking, stroking high hats, ticking toms in a way conventional rock musicians would be dumfounded by, holding back the whole thing from slipping in to clamorous mess by peppering the rhythms with the odd flourish the mere adding of which is enough to drag the attention away from the hammering of the piano or bass and make you look at the drummer, pondering 'just what is it that man's doing, and how is he doing it whilst moving so little?'.
Where Tony Allen is the calm at the centre of the storm, Paul Simonon is the showman he always was. Most of what's so enjoyable about seeing this album performed this album live is watching this fellow - the fact that he still uses that bass with 'PAUL' sloppily scratched on it, how he can't physically stand still (nobody has ever lurched quite this well, surely), the way that, mid riff, he'll lift his bass up to his chin, eye someone in the audience and pretend to shoot 'em down with his four-string. You get the feeling, despite there being a microphone in front of him which he'll sporadically mumble something in to, that he doesn't actually know all of the words to Damon's songs - yet he himself is such a fan of this band and these tunes that if he remembers a piece of prose, much like an audience member, he's compelled to shout it out. Of course, it just adds to the feeling behind the whole project.
Simon Tong stands there, looking moody.
Damon mostly remains remarkably, uncharacteristically humble about the whole thing - strange, seeing as these are some of the best songs he's written in a while. He says very little bar the odd thank you, and if he's behind an instrument at all, it's the piano set toward the back of the stage, leaving all the posing up to Simonon who, frankly, is by far the coolest member of this band (or perhaps any band). Yet in this understated though vital role, Albarn shines - his voice is on remarkable form, and his piano playing more intricate than we've been privileged to hear as the work of those fingers in many, many records now.
Of course, it's Damon Albarn, so flourishes of that vital ego that generates all of his best work rear their head from time to time. When for example Simonon looks as if he's just about to steal the heart of every member of the crowd with another cutting stare and wry grin, Damon reminds him of his own status by slipping in a segment of Blur's obscure 'Modern Life is Rubbish' album track 'Intermission' and basking in the cheers and applause it generates. For the encore too, he attempts a segue on the melodica from the intro to Gorillaz' 'Clint Eastwood' in to the band's own 'Mr. Whippy', before realising that they were in completely different keys and admitting that he was, as the crowd pointed out, 'being a wanker'.
Funny, because the rest of the time he's being a genius. These songs are huge - 'History Song' and 'The Good the Bad & the Queen' have bass lines so playful they could fit alongside first rate Clash material like 'The Guns of Brixton' (which, sadly, they didn't play tonight despite airing it on previous dates) or 'The Magnificent Seven'. 'Kingdom of Doom' takes on an eerie beauty, the kind that hangs in the air like Blur's 'Strange News From Another Star', but it's probably 'Herculean' that's best, a song for which it's difficult to pin down any distinct melody until you realise that every band member and partaker in the string quartet is playing a different one, and they're all superb. It's thick, seductive, hazy stuff, every note of it.
All great supergroups are self destroying, not in that they all eventually split up and attempt to revisit pastures old, but in that the few good ones obliterate the very idea of their being anything other than a proper, credible band. And tonight proved that's what The Good, The Bad & The Queen really are.
To view more photos from the evening, head to the exhibition here.
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