HISTORICAL FRICTION: Damon Albarn looks to the Elizabethan era for
inspiration
Damon
Albarn, Dr Dee (Virgin)
 |
| RENASSANCE PLAN: Albarn scores and opera of sorts |
At
some point — several years, months, or maybe just days from now — people will
look back in bemusement on the mid-’90s at an ultimately meaningless battle
that broke out in England to see who might be crowned King of the Brit-Pop
Hill. In one corner stood Oasis, a ruggedly handsome, dour gang of ruffians who
chiseled monolithic melodies out of big hooks cadged from the Beatles
catalogue, added a little punk snarl to the mix, and created their own hit
parade of fairly meaningless anthems. (Seriously: I'm still not sure whether a
wonderwall is that not quite floor-to-ceiling partition you'll find between
most respectable bathroom stalls, or some mysterious Stonehenge-like structure
erected by ancient astronauts as fodder for a fascinating History Channel special.
And I have yet to come across a cocktail menu that lists a beverage called a
"Champagne Supernova," although I'm pretty sure it would be awesome.)
On the other side of the ring lurked Blur, a cagier bunch of louts who quickly
moved on from the druggy Manchester dance grooves of their 1991 debut Leisure to the eccentric social
critiques that characterized Modern Life
Is Rubbish and Parklife, a pair
of smashing Anglocentric successes that never stood a chance of gaining much
traction here in the US.
In retrospect, the outcome of this
particular clash of the titans was fairly predictable. Oasis went on to conquer
the greater part of the known world, complained about the rigors of stardom
(i.e., drugs and alcohol abuse), and ultimately imploded in painfully public
fashion, as singer Liam Gallagher and his brother, guitarist/songwriter Noel,
became increasingly annoyed with one another, as siblings in the spotlight are
wont to do. Meanwhile, Blur emerged as O Britannia's favorite sons, while
garnering little more than critical acclaim on these shores until they
accidentally hit something close to paydirt in 1997 with "Song 2," a
charmingly churning shout-along that rose to the level of a sports stadium
staple and is probably best remembered for its "yoo-hoo" choruses.
Although Blur essentially ceased all military operations after guitarist Graham
Coxon called it quits and singer Damon Albarn drifted into the virtual world as
the de-facto leader of a cartoon splinter group known as Gorillaz, they've
remained friendly enough to reunite from time to time, most recently in 2009.
As for who won the epic showdown, well,
let's just say that it remains an open question that's probably not worth
debating for more than a few minutes. (It's a little like arguing the relative
merits of the Who versus the Stones: Who fans pick the Who; Stones fans pick
the Stones; and the rest of us happily don't care one way or the other.)
However, in the wake of the Oasis collapse and Blur's slow disintegration, the
clear victor and reigning champion has gotta be Albarn, especially now that
Liam (with his poorly named band Beady Eye) and Noel (who's now backed by his
own High Flying Birds) are currently in the business of trying to recapture
past morning glories by out Oasis-ing one another.
Albarn, on the other hand, has grown into
something of a postmodern pop Renaissance man. His Gorillaz, a collaboration
with visual artist Jamie Hewlett (the creator of the Tank Girl comic book series), have synthesized brilliantly stylized
pan-cultural mash-ups that have drawn on the talents of San Fran turntablist
Dan the Automator, Oakland rapper Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Japanese actress
Haruka Kuroda, Chicago's Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, former Clash guitarist and
bassist Mick Jones and Paul Simenon, soul singer Bobby Womack, and, ah, Lou
Reed, to name just a few. The group has won all kinds of awards on both sides
of the pond, including a 2006 Grammy. And, at least two of their four albums
have been certified platinum in both the UK and the US. Beyond that, under
Albarn's stewardship they basically established themselves as one of the most
interesting, forward-thinking multi-media musical projects in the galaxy, both
online and off. Oh, and Albarn also married African rhythms and dub-style production
with Brit-pop hooks on a self-titled, kinda solo album credited to the Good,
the Bad & the Queen back in ’07.
So Albarn has definitely been keeping
himself busy. But the story doesn’t end there. With Liam and Noel Gallagher
currently doing their honest best to promote the debut albums by their
respective bands, Albarn has upped the stakes yet again with Dr Dee, another sorta solo album that’s
actually credited to Damon Albarn, although it has its roots in a collaboration
with British theater director Rufus Norris.
Dr
Dee may indeed be the first album the elusive Albarn has put his given name
to in the two decades since the beginning of Blur, but it is defiantly —
perversely, even — not at all what fans might expect from the man behind the
Gorillaz mask. The soundtrack to an operatic stage musical based on the life of
a rather mysterious magus/mathematician who played a controversial advisory
role in the court of Queen Elizabeth I, the disc is a mélange of spare organ
drones, pastoral British folk, symphonic arrangements by the BBC Philharmonic
Orchestra, and African percussion. And, yes, there’s also an opera singer. To
suggest it’s all over the place, or even a bit incomprehensible, would be an
understatement.
Not that there aren’t moments when the
pop savvy Albarn emerges with what might best be described as song sketches
that might work as b-sides to an actual single. The sadly sung “Apple Carts”
works well enough as a folky rumination, replete with fingerpicked acoustic
guitar, a flute solo, and a bittersweet melody, as does “Cathedrals.” And,
let’s face it, Albarn has done more than most rock dudes to earn the artistic
license it takes to go off on an obscure excursion like this. Let’s just hope
that Dr Dee makes more sense on a
stage than it does as an album, and that Albarn has something a little more
accessible in his nifty bag of tricks ready for his next project.
