If Damon Albarn has the one talent worth recognising, it's that he knows to surround himself with the right people. In his continued quest to shed the redundant image of Damo The Britpop Clown for something more serious, eclectic and influential, the danger that there isn't really enough of him to go around his various projects is constantly present. But in a masterstroke of staging that's never the primary concern. In Gorillaz he aligned himself with the cutting edge, wrapped himself in crayoned-on clothing and took the plaudits as his collaborators made the star turns. But he remained the natural and necessary constant. The Good, The Bad & The Queen (a one-off production rather a proper band, apparently) is an extension of that template, but feels more like Damon's show.

The distractions this time are Clash legend Paul Simonon, who prowls the shadows watching Damon's back, building a strong dub bass back-bone, and Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen whose contributions are subtle but efficient. Oh, and Damon's session player of choice Simon Tong, formerly of The Verve. Together they weave a diverse, often beguiling and generally sombre strand of London-based woe, occasionally lifted by the intrinsic hope of the music like on the swelling sun-rise anthem "Herculean". The songs rarely kick through as with Blur and Gorillaz, instead retaining a steady quality and ambience, lead by Albarn's Small Faces-esque piano foundation, but "80s Life" and "Behind The Sun" are real highlights. --James Berry.

The music on this cd is as good as any I have heard in years, the lyrics - whilst being unremarkable on paper - come across well in context. Full marks for production by Dangermouse, this is a wonderful aural treat on a good stereo. Good to hear Paul Simonon working the low end magic once again.

The Good, The Bad & The Queen is an intriguing concept album about modern-day life in London which started life as a Dangermouse-produced solo album by Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), but later evolved into a group effort when Damon was joined by Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong (The Verve) and Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen.

This isn't an easy listen, by any means. It is a bleak, stripped down album with many of the tracks, whilst featuring often-delicate piano and some electronic sounds, have a slight reggae influence. There are, however, so many moments of beauty when the melody lifts and the music soars, representing the rare moments in everyday life when the mundane can turn into something special and for us to all recognise and treasure.

Whilst very consistent, there is nothing on this album that particularly stands head-and-shoulders above anything else, although - once you have listened to it from start to finish - you almost feel as if you have sat through a dramatic representation of what it means to be a cynical, slightly world-weary Londoner in the 21st Century. The sum of the album is certainly greater than it's parts and sometimes, whilst listening to this piece of work, you feel as if you are listening to something rather great and yet you can't exactly put your finger on why you feel that way. Understated magnificence.

This is without doubt one of the highlights of 2007.

Most reviews of this album seem to focus on the input of Damon Albarn, however the entire musicianship on this album is all top notch. Whilst this may not be the cup of tea for fans of Gorillaz, Blur fans (especially those who prefer 'Blur' or 'Modern Life is Rubbish' will relish this album.

It's one of those rare albums which sounds great on the first listen, but is also a real grower too. Make a purchase and you'll be happy!

I just don't know how he gets away with it. This music has no spark, no passion, and he has nothing to say. However, he has a new (second hand)hat, Camden shabby chic suit and "credible" musicians surround him. This simple marketing strategy easily fools the London media types who gush over this instantly forgettable offering.

As if it were nothing more than another management-tasked, business-speak product designed to extract money from citizens?

So say hello to The Good The Bad & The Queen, Damon's fourth release in four years, and his fourth different artist title in a row. You had Blur in 2003, Damon Albarn in 2004, Gorillaz in 2005, and now The Good, The Bad & The Queen in 2007. Can't he just be.. himself? Why hide behind all the aliases? The different titles and the alternate nomdeplumes? Does Damon not know who he is anymore?

And is it any good?

Well, it thinks it's better than it is. As an album, "The Good, The Bad And The Queen" continues the trend Albarn has followed since the turn of the decade, musically and lyrically simplistic, efficient, clipped, minimal. Whatever phrase you want to use, but it lacks, as all the recent work has, the shot-in-the-heart honesty of "13". In many respects, it's as if Albarn took a step back from creating anything personal, hiding behind an artifice of abstract concepts.

It's still a vast improvement upon the constructed artifice of "Demon Days", but it's still the work of a man in an artistic vacuum. In some ways, "The Good The Bad & The Queen" is a great commuting record - designed to somehow soothe exhausted office workers on a crowded train journey home after yet another long day chained to a desk. The half-committed, lazy melodies, the fragmentary vocals, and the broken rhythms that barely catch pace or travel faster than a heartbeat are empty lullabies. Lyrically the album is, as indicated, shallow and simplistic, but also evocative of London. Estuaries fade into the language of a suburban, old city.

In "Herculean", Albarn may have written his best song of the decade, but it's hard to tell : the delivery is non-commital, the music oddly passionless. By the albums end, the overall feeling is one of a detached, unexcited, even bored journey home. Outside a featureless plain passes, the commuter sits in a seat and tries to capture sleep in the dead time., and language falls apart in meaningless couplets (in the title track) such as "the kids are never going to tired, coz everything has ever so slightly come". What does it mean?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN? Nothing. For Albarn words are merely verbalised sounds, and he has jettisoned the power of language to communicate. For all the sense this album makes he could be singing in Hopelandic. At least he isn't pretending to be four 16 year old Japanese Schoolchildren called Noodles, and affording his collaborators a long overdue equal billing. Whilst a vast improvement upon the packaged and pointless artifice of the Gorillaz 'project', "The Good, The Bad and The Queen" isn't a bad album by any interpretation : just an interesting, shallow and imperfect shrug of a record.