(label)
25 October 2010 (released)
23 October 2010
The Danish music scene has thrown up an oddity with The Good The Bad’s debut album, From 001 to 017. What we have is an instrumental album of surf/garage songs, with flamenco. An intriguing premise, but does it work?
The difficulty is that this is not the most imaginative of genres and has been done to death. If you deviate too far you’re in with the Beach Boys, but sticking to the parameters is not much fun for the listener. The Good The Bad do stick pretty much to the confines of short songs, scuzzy riffs and three second solos.
001 is a bit of chugger to open with. There’s more than a hint of The Shadows in 004, while 008 slows things down and its discordant sound is a welcome break from its rather lightweight predecessors. 010 is a rhythm lead pounder and 011 again bring to mind Hank’s gang but has a sparkling Latin break midway through.
013 slinks along and could be the soundtrack for the local randy tom as he does his rounds. 014 is a complete departure: a glacial lone guitar with Spanish overtones that is quite touching. The album is rounded off by 017 and we are in familiar territory.
The Good The Bad are not quite as innovative as they may think they are. There are a few flourishes here and there that prick up the ears, and at half an hour will not have people regretting the time invested, but on the whole it’s pretty generic stuff.
