TOP ALBUMS OF 2010 #15 - Plan B: The Defamation of Strickland Banks

THE TOP ALBUMS OF 2010

#15 - Plan B: The Defamation of Strickland Banks

Words by Dirk Calloway

Preface: Welcome to a daily series, critiquing my favourite albums of 2010. Take a look here for more, or just tune in tomorrow for another record and some sweet videos.

"Plan B" indeed. Instead of being an infamous rapper, why not go for a complete career change and become a soul singer? That's exactly what B (can we call him this?) has done on this concept album. It's about a man who is a successful singer, who rejects a fan's advances, only to wind up in prison because she alleged he raped her. The guts of the story is told in the single, She Said. You can get the gist of where it's headed by watching its music video here:

He's an English lad, who's found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unfortunately for him, things go from bad to worse while he's in jail, but the accompanying music is all the better for it. Continuing on from where Amy Winehouse left off, Ben Drew (his real-life name when he's not Plan B) mixes the sweet sound of oldschool soul with the harsh realities of modern-day life in Britain. As if to continue on with the same theme, he's also recently starred in the film Harry Brown, along with Michael Caine. It's a similar tale: an 'us against the world' mentality that is set in a grimy existence of council flats and grey skies.

Fortunately for us as listeners, there's nothing grey about the music. It's clear-cut soul, through and through. The only divergence from this is a good old-fashioned foot stomper called Stay Too Long. It's about a wild night out on the town that caused poor old Strickland Banks' mess of a situation. It gets rowdy as all hell, just as the night itself apparently did, and it's one of the most sublime fusions of rock & rap I've ever heard. Every now and then the rapper in Plan B unleashes itself, breathing fresh air into a track and allowing him to fast-forward the narrative in the same way as operas use the Recitative technique. You heard it in She Said, but now you're gonna hear him tear the roof off in Stay Too Long here:

Rest assured that's the loudest track on the CD. The rest are warm, resonant and lushly arranged. In most cases, you'd listen to the album without realising there's a plot at all. In fact, you might find it better if you do. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy a true artist experimenting with genre. Cracker of an album from beginning to end.

Make sure you tune in tomorrow folks, it's by a duo who were nominated for a Grammy as a result of their work on a nicely pitched synth-pop record.