Why do most supergroups suck? Logic says that adding great musicians with more great musicians equals one great band.

Yet on the supergroup scale, every Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young is elevated by the weight of bands like Audioslaves and Velvet Revolvers.

The release of The Good, the Bad, and the Queen's self-titled debut only adds pounds to the side of the dull.

As with most supergroups, The Good, the Bad, and the Queen sounds promising.

The impressive lineup features names such as Damon Albarn from Blur and Gorillaz, Paul Simonon from the Clash, Tony Allen from Fela Kuti and Simon Tong from the Verve.

And apparently DJ Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley, the Gorillaz album Demon Days, etc.) produced this, though it hardly shows.

In practice, it's little more than an Albarn vanity project, and even his die-hard fans will find little of interest.

There are only faint traces of the Gorillaz, and Blur is nowhere to be found. Of the others, Simonon fares best, as the slight dub sound gives his basslines a showcase.

Tong is reduced to inconsequential acoustic guitar plucking.

But Allen's exclusion is most puzzling. This is a band so misguided that it recruited an Afrobeat percussion icon and then included several drumless tracks on the album.

Pointing out the flaws is easy; the same ones show up on every track. Melody is forsaken for atmosphere, but the only mood here is bleak.

The pace is sometimes slow and sluggish, and Albarn's distinctive voice is sleepy and flat.

There are tons of vocal harmonies, including plenty of "ooohs" and "ba ba bas," but when they're given with all the gusto of someone who just rolled out of bed at noon, it's just grating.

The topics never deviate and the songs never take shape, even after repeated listens.

Danger Mouse would have been more useful if he left the production booth to buy the guys a cup of coffee instead.

At least the lyrics match the dreariness of the vocals.

But Albarn mistakes "gloomy" for "substantial," scribbling up impressionistic references to bad weather, bad times and a bad war without them ever amounting to much.

Single "Herculean" is more notable for cribbing the Gorillaz style, right down to a distant-sounding microphone effect ala "Feel Good Inc.," than any distinctive hook.

The title track, "The Good, the Bad, and the Queen" is the closest thing to a standout on the album, a seven-minute epic that ends in a wash of distortion and -- gasp! -- some actual energy if you can even believe it.

They return to their true form in the end, though, and close with a minute of aimless atmospherics.

The Good, the Bad, and the Queen sounds exactly like what it is: an underdeveloped one-off. It begs the question of why a rich talent like Albarn is so obsessed with side projects.

Ex-Blur guitarist Graham Coxon has done just fine on his own because he's played to his strength, making energetic, catchy guitar pop.

Albarn's done OK with the Gorillaz (in particular some stellar singles), but here he's just half-assing it.

What could have been one of the year's first little treats is merely the year's first disappointment.

Grade: C-