Review Summary: Don't think I'm all in this world
Sometimes, it's hard to explain why you love something so much. When your opinions on music change practically daily, it's virtually impossible to have a 'favourite' album. But when I was thirteen, and I discovered the joys of music for the first time ever, there could only have been one answer to that question.
Demon Days is practically the opposite of perfect. I was never a fan of Blur or Damon Albarn in general before this record, and almost everything he does, even this, is somewhat flawed. But Albarn is a dreamer. Rather than taking the safe option and relying solely on his own singing skills (which would have been a dreadful idea in retrospect), he enlists guest stars to encrust
Demon Days with their respective talents. It's a gloriously exciting ride from the ominous opening of 'Intro' to the final moments of the choir driven title track, and though not every moment is perfect I don't think I've ever heard an album that comes so consistently close. For example, 'Last Living Souls' wouldn't even make me bat an eyelid if it were released today, but the keyboards that begin to flutter in and out of the funky, dark production courtesy of Danger Mouse make the song a brilliant opener.
And the work of the Mouse work shines gloriously throughout every track of this album. His eerie atmospherics served
St. Elsewhere much in the same way as this, making even a seemingly normal pop song like 'Dare' sound like an apocalyptic war/dance off between two warring alien races, laser gun-aping keyboards included. 'Dirty Harry' is as gritty as its namesake with a retro-funk beat and classical inflections matching a goosebump-inducing war cry from The Pharcyde's Bootie Brown, while 'Every Planet We Reach Is Dead' presents a Ike Turner-aided piano epic in the form of futuristic alt rock.
Gorillaz featured some of the best alternative tracks to hit the mainstream in a long time, but Albarn easily trumped his own efforts here by abandoning awkward genre mashups in favour of lengthy, structured songs that build up to one of the most satisfying climaxes in pop music history. Even if Dennis Hopper's narration on 'Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head' doesn't get you excited, then follow up 'Don't Get Lost In Heaven' will push your emotions harder than any other track here. These songs are so good that even the more forgettable numbers interspersed between seem exciting in their own right, and make the album seem as cohesive as humanly possible deposited the fact that at least three songs are utterly forgettable.
But I would never have been tempted to even listen to this album if I hadn't heard the projects biggest hit to date. 'Feel Good Inc.' remains a classic to this day, rocking a warped bassline and bombastic De La Soul verses to accompany Albarn's crooning vocal. The acoustic interlude here would have segued beautifully into follow up 'El Mañana', which essentially evolves this section into a full length song. The muffled mixing of the singing on this record is initially jarring, but it's almost impossible to imagine the hazy 'O Green World' without them. Similarly, many a childhood memory was made walking to and from school with Albarn's monotone delivery on 'Kids With Guns' blaring from my headphones. Fact is, for about 6 months i listened to NOTHING but this album. So much so, in fact, that even the dreadful garage rock of 'White Light' sounds pretty good even today. And why is that? Well, Its because, even with its faults
Demon Days can be cherished as true classic due to one simple thing: nostalgia.
Which is an awful thing really, as the main purpose of melancholic dwelling is to improve some very unexciting lives. But I think we all have that one album that really made us excited about and interested in listening to music, and this was mine. I didn't even listen to this until 2011 so I can't look back on this in the same way that many can, but it's indisputably my favourite record of the 2000's and sets a standard for creativity and genre diversity (along with perfect single selection) that I've yet to see bettered by any record before or after.
