Review Summary: Gorillaz say I want some
Born from the minds of Blur frontman Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, Gorillaz were a bold experiment. To have a band made up entirely of cartoon characters (with Albarn being the musical mastermind behind the scenes) was certainly an interesting idea and to release an album under the moniker and for it to be a smash hit surprised many. Gorillaz' debut album is certainly an interesting beast. I suppose if Albarn had released this as a solo album, expectations would have been monumentally high. So he did something different, recording an album in the guise of a band consisting of a black eyed idiot, a green skinned satanist, a drummer possessed by a ghost and a Japanese kid guitarist. Yet, the release of lead single 'Clint Eastwood' provided the band with a smash hit and low and behold, its parent album was too. Nowadays, the Gorillaz are more than a gimmick. Now they're a multi media experience, and critically acclaimed artists, even if they aren't real per say. But is their debut album the modern classic many say it is? Let's take a look into the wild world of Gorillaz and their self titled debut record.
Musically, Gorillaz is a wild departure from Albarn's work in Blur. Branching out from his alt rock roots, Albarn embraced hip hop and dub music with Gorillaz and their debut album is vastly different to what he produced with Blur. Most tracks here are hip hop inspired tracks or surreal dub experiments, with the occasional rock song in there. Opener 'Re-Hash' is an upbeat acoustic number; styled with record scratches and the very next track is the hard rock-esq '5/4'. This really
Showcases the group's wide musical stylings, and this expands with the next track, The Lo-fi trip hop of 'Tomorrow Comes Today' which is layered with clattering drums and a lonely melodica, a mouth organ instrument used in dub music. There's elements of punk, on the appropriately titled 'Punk', Dance on smash hit single 'Clint Eastwood', which combines a thumping baseline and piano chords to make a groovy beat, upbeat soul funk on 'Rock The House', which features a cheery horn section and dub with the massively catchy '19-2000'.
There's even genres like Latin and lo-fi which pop up on the surreal 'Latin Simone (Que Pasa Contigo?)' and 'Starshine' respectively. However at the same time, the focus on trip hop and dub leads into one of the album's main flaws. It's sloppiness. Outside of the slick singles and a few select tracks, Gorillaz is a messy album. It's not as slickly produced as their later releases, and here the shaky production is very noticeable. Tracks like Starshine would sound better if they were cleared up, but the minimal production leads to the track sounding irritating and tinny.
Another is the amount of tracks. While later gorillaz albums were similarly long, they were focused on different songs. However here, Albarn devotes a good chunk of the record to experimenting. Tracks usually devolve into extended instrumental jams. While sometimes this works in the tracks favour, like with Clint Eastwood, sometimes it drags some songs down. The moody instrumental 'Double Bass' for example, goes on for a minute too long and overall sticks out like a sore thumb musically (still a good song though) and the closer 'M1A1' devotes a quarter of its runtime to an awkwardly long sampled intro. The worst offender is the previous mentioned Latin Simone which is entirely in Spanish and as such, like Double Bass, very out of place on the album, which is odd given how an English version had already been recorded.
Lyrically, Gorillaz is... odd. Like Blur's 13, it's a dark album. From The moody and agitated 'Tomorrow Comes Today' to the flat out depressive piano jam 'Slow Country'. Even Clint Eastwood sports a pretty blue chorus, between guest rapper Del the Funky Homosapian's iconic verses. It's a mellow record and one I feel represents Albarn's mental state at the time, not that of the group's vocalist 2D. Some tracks are sparse lyrically. Gravity only features three lines repeated ad nauseam, with Starshine and the bouncy 'Man Research (Clapper)' which is mainly just Albarn chanting "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" over a thumping dance beat.
So Gorillaz is a unique little album. While it's not as polished and refined as their later records, it's still a wildly unique and creative record and a very fun listen. Behind the hit singles is a wildly uneven but enjoyable record with some very captivating and beautiful moments
Standout tracks
Re-Hash
5/4
Tomorrow Comes Today
Clint Eastwood
Rock The House
Slow Country
Standout lyrics
'Stereo I want it on
It's taken me far too long
Don't think I'm all in this world
I don't think I'll be here too long' - Tomorrow Comes Today
'Feelings, sensations that you thought was dead
No squealing, remember that it's all in your head' - Clint Eastwood
'I can't stand the loneliness' - Slow Country
