When supergroups aren't so super

The Good, the Bad and the Queen

When Damon Albarn, the Brit-pop mastermind behind Blur and Gorillaz, revealed in 2006 that his next project would involve the talents of Clash bassist Paul Simonon, Verve guitarist Simon Tong, Gnarls Barkley/Gorillaz producer Danger Mouse and Afrobeat drumming legend Tony Allen, it was practically the only thing the music blogosphere could talk about for the next four months. So when the group’s one and only album arrived in January of 2007, it took awhile for the harsh truth to really sink in: The Good, the Bad and the Queen was, well, kinda dull. “To call the doom-laden tracks on the self-titled disc downbeat would be an understatement,” Pitchfork opined. “Downtrodden is more like it.”

After a few live gigs, Albarn quietly put the project to bed and went on to his next opus: a Chinese opera (no kidding) called “Monkey: Journey to the West.”