| The Defamation of Strickland Banks | ||||
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| Studio album by Plan B | ||||
| Released | 9 April 2010 | |||
| Recorded | 2008–2009 The Sanctuary, London; Miloco Studios, London |
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| Genre | Soul, R&B, alternative hip hop | |||
| Length | 49:58 | |||
| Label | 679, Atlantic | |||
| Producer | Ben Drew, David McEwan, Paul Epworth, Eric Appapoulay (add.) | |||
| Plan B chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Defamation of Strickland Banks | ||||
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The Defamation of Strickland Banks is the second studio album from British rapper Plan B which was released on 12 April 2010. The album is a departure from the sound heard on Plan B's debut album Who Needs Actions When You Got Words, with the rapper's sophomore effort providing a showcase for much more of his singing ability.[2] Lyrically the album's songs tell the fictitious tale of one Strickland Banks, a sharp-suited British soul singer who finds fame with bitter-sweet love songs like the album's opener "Love Goes Down", but then loses everything when he ends up in prison for a crime he didn't commit.[3]
Contents |
Ben had always wanted to make his second album as a concept album and he had previously abandoned an attempt to make a hip hop follow up to his debut Who Needs Actions When You Got Words.[4] After learning more about the technical aspects of singing[5] and having written some soul songs such as "Love Goes Down", which was written whilst supporting The Roots on tour in 2006, Plan B came up with the concept of a story about a soul singer who gets sent to prison.[6]
He commenced recording of the album in which half the songs were hip hop tracks narrated by Plan B and the other half were soul songs told through the eyes of the fictional character Strickland Banks,[4] however this idea was scrapped because the two genres did not work well together and the label 679 Artists thought the idea was too confusing. Hence the album was split into two records[6] and it was agreed that the soul record would be released as Plan B's second studio album.[7]
The sound of the album was influenced by Paul Epworth who produced the demo version of "Writing's on the Wall", although the majority of the album was recorded with producers David McEwan and Eric Appapoulay at The Sanctuary, London. Production took more than two years due to the simultaneous work on the hip hop and soul albums.[8]
The album tells the story from the first-hand perspective of Strickland Banks, a fictional character played by Plan B. The album's opening tracks, "Love Goes Down" and "Writing's on the Wall", are love songs sung by Strickland Banks at a concert, and are likely to be about his girlfriend, to whom he refers later in the album. "Stay Too Long" follows him and his entourage as they celebrate the success of his concert with a night out which culminates in him having a one night stand with a woman. In "She Said" we learn that this woman is obsessed with his music and believes herself to be in love with him. He rejects her so she alleges that he raped her. The subsequent trial results in his incarceration, and in "Welcome to Hell" he is sent to prison, and much of the rest of the album is about his experience inside. Throughout the course of the songs "Hard Times" and "The Recluse" we see Strickland get more isolated and insecure throughout as he struggles to cope with prison life. This results in his abuse at the hands of other prisoners, resulting in him purchasing a shiv on the prison black market throughout the course of "Traded In My Cigarettes". In "Prayin'" he is confronted by another prisoner who attacks him. With the help of another inmate Strickland kills the attacker in self-defence, with the other inmate taking the blame, and is burdened with this guilt during "Darkest Place". The next two tracks, "Free" and "I Know A Song" detail initially his anger, then his acceptance of his life inside prison. The last track, "What You Gonna Do" Strickland is in court again as new evidence has been brought up on his case. The album finishes with the listener not sure of whether he is sent back to prison or released, leaving it open to interpretation.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 75 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [9] |
| BBC Music | (Highly positive)[10] |
| Clash | [11] |
| The Guardian | [12] |
| Mojo | [13] |
| NME | [14] |
| Q | [15] |
| Spin | [16] |
| The Telegraph | [17] |
| The Times | [18] |
| Uncut | [19] |
| This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information. | |
Upon its release, The Defamation of Strickland Banks received generally positive reviews from music critics.[20] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 75, based on 16 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[20] The critics tended to compare this work with Plan B's previous album, Who Needs Actions When You Got Words, from four years earlier. The change from "spectacularly violent soliloquies"[14] on his debut to crooning soul on his second effort caught some reviewers by surprise, though not all unhappily.
Ian Wade of the BBC gave the album and Plan B (Ben Drew) great praise, calling it "tremendous work", admiring its range, as for example "on 'Welcome to Hell' he trills like a scared-to-pick-up-the-soap-in-the-prison-shower Smokey Robinson, while 'Hard Times' and 'Love Goes Down' are just lovely – anyone operating in the greasy world of pop would give a limb for such songs."[10]
For Pete Paphides of The Times, Defamation deserved 4 out of 5 stars.[18]
The Guardian's Alexis Petridis gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Though dissatisfied with the its concept and "gaping holes in the album's plot", he said, "Drew's reinvention suits him. The strength of his voice was understandably overlooked on his debut, but it comes into its own here: a high, aching croon that adds an appealing touch of self-doubt to the hardest-hitting lyrics. Rather than simply drafting in Mark Ronson to add a retro-soul veneer, he's clearly studied the source material: the result is a string of uniformly well-done Smokey Robinson pastiches. In a neat touch, the bleaker Strickland Banks's story becomes, the lovelier the melodies.".[12]
John Freeman, writing for Clash, gave it a 7/10 rating, while suggesting that the style change.[11]
NME's Sam Wolfson gave the album a rating of 6 out of 10, and expressed regret at Plan B's move into new territory.[14]
At The Telegraph, Thomas H Green gave it 4 out of 5 stars, calling it "accessible, polished and brimming with verve". He closed his review saying, "The rapping hasn’t been completely abandoned, either, but the emphasis here is on his sweet soul voice and a thumping Motown groove, an intriguing change of direction that’s both passionate and populist."[17]
The first single from the album, entitled "Stay Too Long", was released on 8 January 2010. It entered the UK Singles Chart on 17 January 2010, where it reached a peak of 9 and a peak of number 3 on the UK R&B Chart, making it Plan B's first Top 10 single.
The second single from the album, entitled "She Said", was released on 24 February 2010. It reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart on 4 April 2010 as well as peaking at number 1 on the R&B Chart; the single marks Plan B's biggest selling single to date.
The third single, "Prayin'" was released on 9 July 2010, where it climbed up the chart before peaking at number 16 in the UK.
The fourth single from the album was announced by Plan B as "The Recluse". The video premiered on Plan B's official site in September, which was followed by a release of 4 October 2010. The single peaked at number 35 in the UK; marking Plan B's fourth consecutive Top 40 hit; fifth overall.
The fifth single to be released from the album was "Love Goes Down" and after being added to the BBC Radio 1 Playlist, was released on 3 December 2010, where it peaked at number 62.
"Writing's on the Wall" was released as a video only promotional single in March 2010. A straight-forward performance video for the track, filmed live at Cafe De Paris, was originally released on YouTube in 2010 shortly after the video for "She Said" was released. It has been added to the Radio 1 Playlist in March 2011 and a re-edited video was released. The 2011 version of the video features additional footage showing Strickland's girlfriend preparing a meal for him at home whilst he's out performing, and ends with footage from the "Stay Too Long" video.
Following Plan B's performance at the 2011 BRIT Awards, the medley "She Said" and "Prayin'" was released as a download single the following day which charted at 72 in the UK singles chart. The track also included an excerpt of an unknown track from The Ballad of Belmarsh at the beginning.
"Hard Times" was released as a single on iTunes on 19 May 2011. The song had newly recorded vocals from Elton John and Paloma Faith and reached no. 147 in the UK Singles Chart.
All songs written and composed by Ben Drew.
| Standard edition | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Producer(s) | Length | ||||||
| 1. | "Love Goes Down" | Ben Drew, David McEwan, Eric Appapoulay (add.) | 3:52 | ||||||
| 2. | "Writing's on the Wall" | Paul Epworth | 3:42 | ||||||
| 3. | "Stay Too Long" | Paul Epworth | 3:44 | ||||||
| 4. | "She Said" | Ben Drew, David McEwan, Eric Appapoulay (add.) | 3:31 | ||||||
| 5. | "Welcome to Hell" | Paul Epworth | 4:32 | ||||||
| 6. | "Hard Times" | Ben Drew, David McEwan, Eric Appapoulay (add.) | 3:57 | ||||||
| 7. | "The Recluse" | Ben Drew, Eric Appapoulay (add.) | 3:19 | ||||||
| 8. | "Traded in My Cigarettes" | Ben Drew, David McEwan, Eric Appapoulay (add.) | 4:14 | ||||||
| 9. | "Prayin'" | Paul Epworth | 3:46 | ||||||
| 10. | "Darkest Place" | Ben Drew, David McEwan, Eric Appapoulay (add.) | 4:20 | ||||||
| 11. | "Free" | Ben Drew, David McEwan, Eric Appapoulay (add.) | 3:42 | ||||||
| 12. | "I Know a Song" | Ben Drew, David McEwan, Eric Appapoulay (add.) | 3:10 | ||||||
| 13. | "What You Gonna Do" | Ben Drew | 4:11 | ||||||
| Disc 2 (deluxe edition) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Verses" | 4:01 | |||||||
| 2. | "Spend My Money" | 4:09 | |||||||
| 3. | "Prayin" (original demo version) | 3:53 | |||||||
| 4. | "She Said" (live from Café de Paris) | 3:42 | |||||||
| 5. | "Welcome to Hell" (live from Café de Paris) | 4:45 | |||||||
| 6. | "Stay Too Long" (Pendulum remix) | 7:06 | |||||||
| 7. | "She Said" (Shy FX remix) | 4:23 | |||||||
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom[22] | 9 April 2010 | 679/Atlantic | CD | 5051865847120 |
| 2xCD | 5051865899327 | |||
| United States | 19 April 2011 | Atlantic | CD | 527576 |
On 18 April 2010, the album debuted on the UK Albums Chart at No. 1, selling 68,173 copies in its first week and a further 47,950 in its second week. It was the 5th biggest selling album of 2010 in the UK with sales of 826,400. The album has sold over 1,000,000 copies to date.
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
Certifications
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| Preceded by "The Fame" by Lady GaGa "Iron Man 2" by AC/DC |
UK Albums Chart number-one album 24 April 2010 8 May 2010 |
Succeeded by "Iron Man 2" by AC/DC "Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree" by Diana Vickers |
| Preceded by "The Element of Freedom" by Alicia Keys "Recovery" by Eminem |
UK R&B Albums Chart number-one album 24 April 2010 – 5 June 2010 9 October 2010 |
Succeeded by "The Element of Freedom" by Alicia Keys "Disc-Overy" by Tinie Tempah |
The Ballad of Belmarsh is the upcoming third studio album to be released by Plan B in 2011. Originally meant to be released as a double album with The Defamation of Strickland Banks,[38] the hip hop record will be released as a stand alone album on Plan B's own label after his record label 679 Artists refused to release it.[39] Snippets from the album have been included in the music video for "The Recluse" and The Defamation of Strickland Banks film trailer.[40] The album is influenced by Skinnyman and Klashnekoff.[41]
Speaking live on BBC Three on 26 June 2011, after his Glastonbury performance on the Pyramid stage, he said the album, "goes into greater detail. That's the great thing about hip-hop, it allows you to do that. And I'd say, I wrote this album the way I write hip-hop, which is trying to convey the story I need to get out rather than trying to make songs that radio will play. So I always talk about this album like it's an underground album, and I'm not sure how much commercial legs it has. But it's more of what I call a film for the blind, so when you put it on, it'll be like listening to the audio of a film without having the images."
In the same interview, Plan B also confirmed, "I just recorded Ray Winstone in the studio. I wrote a kind of John Cooper Clarke-esque spoken word rap. At the moment, it's called 'Officer Men', it's a working title and I got Ray to come in and spit it. It sounds amazing. It's like the 2011 Parklife but with, like, balls. I'm really really excited. It's weird because I was in the studio with him and I was like, 'This is the proudest moment of my musical life.' And I've had some great moments... I never thought he'd say yes, and he did."
In a Digital Spy interview posted online on 15 September 2011, Plan B re-iterated his intention to finish The Ballad Of Belmarsh, and that its video should give "enough coverage" to make the film version of the Strickland Banks story. However, he added that he had to finish his movie Ill Manors as a priority before finishing The Ballad Of Belmarsh, and then the Strickland Banks movie.
The Defamation of Strickland Banks is intended to be made into a musical film directed by Plan B himself. It was originally conceived as a short film to be released alongside the album and the original trailer was uploaded online in late 2009.[42] The film intends to incorporate all the music videos from The Defamation of Strickland Banks and The Ballad of Belmarsh with scenes of dialogue.[43] Kelly Brook and Roger Daltrey have also been rumoured to have roles in the film.[44][45] A second film trailer was uploaded to YouTube in February 2011.[40]
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