This item: The Defamation of Strickland Banks by Plan B Audio CD £4.22 Audio CD (12 April 2010); Number of Discs: 1; Format: Explicit Lyrics; Label: Atlantic /. Love Goes Down, Writing's on the Wall, Stay Too Long, She Said, Welcome to Hell, Hard Times, The. The Defamation of Strickland Banks is the second studio album from British rapper Plan B which was released on 12 April 2010 by 679 Recordings. The album.
This item: The Defamation of Strickland Banks by Plan B Audio CD £4.22 Audio CD (12 April 2010); Number of Discs: 1; Format: Explicit Lyrics; Label: Atlantic /.
Plan B may never record another soul album. After crooning through The Defamation of Strickland Banks, one of the biggest albums of 2010. The Defamation of Strickland Banks is the second studio album from English rapper: Plan B, which was released on April 12, 2010. The album.
Plan B - The Defamation Of Strickland Banks. Let’s sort this one out up front.
Ben Drew, AKA Plan B, has transformed himself from a hoodied, ASBO rapper to a sweet-voiced soul boy. That’s all. In fact, his debut album (2006’s notorious ‘Who Needs Actions When You’ve Got Words’) contained a couple of songs on which his surprisingly delicate falsetto took centre-stage. So, we’re hardly in Ziggy Stardust territory here. The reason for this musical reorientation is new album ‘The Defamation Of Strickland Banks’.
Yep, it’s a concept album; the tracks form the chronology of a story about a soul singer (Strickland Banks, no less) who is accused of a crime, sent to prison and, well, we won’t spoil the outcome. The sonic transformation works, most notably on the spinning arpeggios of ‘The Recluse’ (on which a desperate Banks/Plan B refuses to leave his cell), or the swaggering Motown of ‘Prayin’ (which sets Banks begging his Lord for mercy). However, Plan B’s jackhammer rapping has not been completely jettisoned. A number of tracks allow his luscious croon to crash, mid-song, against a juddering rap, best displayed on the heightening hysteria of lead single ‘Stay Too Long’, with our man Banks “running from cops”. The chameleonic changes don’t stop there - the glitzy mamba of ‘She Said’ and the Smokey-smooch of ‘Hard Times’ both deliver musically, but there’s a lyrical clunkiness which lets the concept down.
Drew intends to turn ‘Strickland Banks’ into a film, giving the album the feel of being an ‘OST’ to an, as yet, unmade musical - with Drew vastly overstating the simple plot. But, even if there are occasional flirtations with bland daytime soul sludge, Mr.
Strickland Banks is a welcome addition to Ben Drew’s beguiling set of alter-egos. Words by John Freeman.