What cd has been the biggest letdown of the year? That would be the debut from Damon Albarn's latest project. What went wrong? Albarn is the talented frontman of Blur and Gorillaz. He teamed up with members of The Clash and The Verve. I had high hopes for such a team-up.

Sadly, it turns out that the album is highly forgettable. It's not as though they don't sound ok. The album sounds original and there's a couple nice songs, but after listening I can't remember what most of it sounded like.

I'm not someone who HAS to have a poppy melody to enjoy an album, either. I've enjoyed album from bands such as The Hold Steady who have songs like Hornets, Hornets! which have no catchy hook, yet still are memorable songs.

That said, let's get to the songs.

History Song leads off the album with a somewhat swampy guitar riff. It's a laidback song, sung as though Albarn is half asleep. The song is pretty simple, and aside from the refrain of, If you don't know it now/ Then you will do, there's not much that stands out about the song. The music just kind of sits there, like someone playing guitar while reclined, not creating any sort of energy. Eventually it fizzles out into a couple keyboard hits.

80's Life fares a bit better, relying on a keyboard riff and repetative melody. The lyrics are pretty good here, with lines like, Oh, Lord, can a stone/Be ballast for/An aching soul. There's actually some harmonizing as the song picks up some energy in the middle section. Sadly, this is as good as the album gets.

Northern Whale has a more upbeat groove to it, and the melody isn't bad. Damon's keys work well here to create something that sticks out in the song, because his voice is sometimes really hard to hear. This makes the song hard to get into. There's various noises added throughout the song, but still, I keep wishing it would end long before it does, because it feels like it goes on forever.

Kingdom Of Doom decides to rely on a bouncy guitar/keyboard riff. The vocals are recorded really poorly, making it hard to even pick out the melody or lyrics and being annoying after a while. Thankfully, the song is less than three minutes long. This song might have been better if it were pruned back so I could actually tell what was going on. It's way too noisy, badly mixed, and chaotic for there to be anything enjoyable about it.

Herculean has a distorted sort of beat driving it, with Damon whispering his vocals. It like tracks he pulled with Gorillaz. Keyboards are added at key moments to add to the mood and speed the song along. It's not a terrible song, but it's not something I feel the need to listen to more than once in a while, if I happen to hear it.

Behind The Sun marks the midpoint of the album. At this point, my eyelids are getting heavy and it's a good thing I'm not driving. It has a more swinging sound and the guitars are trying to create the sound of a howling wind. I must admit, that sounds pretty cool. It does get kind of old by the end of the song, since the music doesn't do much else.

The Bunting Song give us a little tinkling keyboard riff that sounds like something from a video game. Now our hero enters the fourth dungeon to save the princess from Ganon! My mind then drifts to video games and how much more fun it is to play any Zelda game than to listen to this song, which I pray will end it's little tinkling and heavily muted vocals soon. It sounds like a chipmunk is singing backing vocals. Um, ok?

Nature Springs at least sounds like real music. Not real good music, but I can actually think about the album now. Honestly, I like the flow of the song, and the little bloops added by the keyboard, and the melody works nicely. It's not a terrible song, but I can't remember it after I listen to it, so I can't say much good about it, either.

Four more songs to go, I pop a caffiene pill and brace myself for A Soldier's Tale. The riff here sounds strangely similar to the riff in History Song, but not as interesting. There's violin and whistling to try and make the song memorable, but it's too slow and dull, it cannot be saved.

Three Changes, demented circus ride? Sounds like it, as it's more upbeat, but the guitar riff swings all over the place. The time signature sounds like it's changing a few times. It makes the song a welcome break from the usual sound of the album. At least I don't feel like falling asleep for this one. The song then segues into a different section where the music changes a bit and we get another time signature change. It's kind of cool, but overly long.

Green Fields isn't bad. The guitar riff is interesting next to the programmed beat that comes in for the chorus. I feel a little cheated that this isn't building into a big rock song, since it sounds like it wants to be let loose, but the energy is being held back.

The title track of the album, and the band's name, it's time for The Good, The Bad, And The Queen! Opening with a quiet keyboard riff, with some bells coming in, this is an ok closer, but I think it would have been better if left an instrumental. The melody isn't at all interesting and Damon's voice is drowning out the music, which is the highlight here. I guess they decided that epic length was good for this song, as it's seven minutes. As it goes on, they try to change things up a bit, and it sort of works. The tempo also increases as the song goes on. distorted guitars are added, things build up, and it sounds like we do get that big rock number. I wish it were about two minutes shorter and things built up faster and weren't so repetitive, but otherwise, I think this is a decent closer.

So, any questions? No? God, because I can't remember what I jut listened to, aside from a couple songs. My overall reaction to the album could probably best be summed up as, "whatever". Here's hoping the next outing will be an improvement.

Recommended: No

Great Music to Play While: Going to Sleep