23. Nature Springs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kku7qVzai3c 'The Good, the Bad and the Queen' is almost Parklife a decade older; a wiser, perhaps more cynical Albarn oversees the same Londoners as he did all those many Britpop moons ago. But where London used to love the mystery of a speeding car, 'Nature Springs' presents the capital's folk as "submarines", longing to map the sea beds and get out of the city. And 'Nature Springs' is one of the highlights of the album. It's sweetly sad, undeniably British and both pastoral and swelling like a crash of waves; if it was a tourist spot, it would be a swaying willow a-top the White Cliffs of Dover. And whilst the Danger Mouse production is sublime - bleeps and bloops mingle with swathes of strings - it's Damon's mellow vocals that stand out. It's classic Albarn; city-based, looking out at the beauty of the world.