discoinfernal's Full Review: Demon Days [PA] by Gorillaz
Mkay, here's the deal. I've been trying to review this for a long time now, yet every time I would start to write a review, I would read crypticcradle's, then run off to a corner and cry. So after much deliberation, I decided to do 3 different reviews: a concept review, an express review and a regular review. Read whichever one see fit. Thank you. Good bye.
The Concept Review
The six multicolored bullets commixed through the streets on a dank Autumn evening. It was just another holiday in October: the trees moaned in the breeze, behind the vibrant images the leaves portended lay a brown mold poisoning all it touched, and the Earthly silence was parted by the boisterous and animated laughs of children, which would drift and decline in the stream of time. The sky was restless: the moon stood atop the empire, yet the sun wasn’t ready to leave, and storm clouds were clotting the sky, signaling death from above and covering the struggle to the naked eye. Despite this, the two celestial bodies came to a brief armistice and diverted their attention to a tiny saltbox house located in the rural suburbs on the outskirts of Chicago. Cracks were forming at the foundation. The elongated blades of grass were turning into weeds. A rusty swing set past its prime bustled in the breeze. And the door, that beautiful gateway, came loose of its hinges as the dream frolicked forth from the majestic sight.
“Daddy, tell us a bedtime story!” chattered the kids to their 600 pound deadbeat father gathering dust on the sofa. “Oooohhhhhh…..uarrrrrrrie” moaned the gastronomic gargantuan known only as “Disco” from his external confines, shielding his eyes from the blinding sun that shined through the doorway. “Go fuck yourself you little hooligans!” the old man snapped in rage at the wall as he impotently fought to roll over. “But, you have to!” one of the kids said pouting. “Says who?!” the prune man screamed back, angry that these kids were still disrupting his slumbers. “The Illinois State Government” the other replied pulling out a paper showing the child support payments Disco had failed to make. His face dropped, “Damned liberals!” he screamed in a furor as he finally managed to hoist himself up, messing up his Jheri Curl and scattering the cloak of empty whisky bottles and Catherine Bach photos that covered his being. The kids clapped and promptly crawled (since neither of their parents ever taught them to walk) over to their sleeping bags as the floorboards creaked exponentially beneath the force of the man’s bunions. He covered up his lower nakedness with a Texas flag that happened to be near his feet and scanned the house for his Segway, which he concluded must have still been in the trunk of his Jaguar. The butler would have to fetch it come the morn. How fortunate that girth was considered a sign of prominence in the Holy Roman Empire. He tugged at the white collar of the wifebeater as he waddled his way over to the kids, scratching his head and contemplating what story to share with the children, until the old monkey story popped into his head. “Demon Days” he said squinting at the old scripture, by Dennis Auburn. Disco cleared his throat, and stared deeply into the eyes of the inquiring souls….
In a time, unbeknownst to the present, the reigning species simply vanished from the Earth, leaving only their children behind. The how and why is uncertain, yet the survivors had little care as to the location of their benefactors and sought refuge from the bitter winds that began to engulf the planet. In the hearth of the land known as Mecca, two rival factions rose from the underground, each with opposing views on how to rebuild the great society. One side, known as the “Last Living Souls” wanted to search the planet for other like-minded individuals and to a live a peaceful existence by the shores of the sea. The other faction, known as the “Kids With Guns”, cared nothing for the others, they simply wanted to consume the land and get by with what they had. Before the conflict could erupt into something deeper, the two sides grew up and disjointed. The Last Living Souls roamed the Earth for people who believed as they did, even leading some back to the current hub of the Kids With Guns, eventually settling down in a peaceful village and living peacefully with the god of the land known only as Monkey. The Kids With Guns devoured the resources that remained of Mecca, establishing a great Cosmopolitan City and living a life of excess and plague, attracting citizens at a far greater rate than the tiny Last Living Souls community. Unfortunately, one day Mecca ran out of resources and the city just faded to black. Many foresaw this, but none could have predicted how disastrous it would be. The Kids With Guns were drawn into a wretched Anarchy, with everyone fighting for control over the ashes. However, peace was restored the morning after, and the Kids With Guns salvaged what they could and moved on. They went from to ruin to ruin, absorbing all they could until the resources bled dry. Though they were able to get by, they never regained the glory of Mecca. Where they once dwelled in mansions that rose like skyscrapers, they now dwelled in miniscule homes of soot and mud. The once mighty Kids With Guns (now called The Strange Folk) were now settling their issues with sticks and stones. Ironically, the once nomadic Last Living Souls (now called The Happy People) were now thriving in their village. They didn’t need the surplus that Mecca once had; all they needed were themselves and the spirit of Monkey. Yet one day, The Strange Folk came across the community and were instantly captivated by its illustrious shine. However, they were even more drawn to the glorious mountain that reigned at the top of the kingdom. The Strange Folk forced their way up the mountain, eventually reaching the caves of unimaginable sincerity and beauty. By chance, they stumbled upon the place where all good souls come to a rest. The Strange Folk began extracting the jewels that decorated the walls, and bringing them back to Mecca on an elaborate transit line built by slaves and chinamen. To no one’s surprise, Mecca began to flourish once again; The City Of Lights sparking to life as anonymously as it had burnt out: enwrapped in a black tower labyrinth, disco floors shining on like crazy diamonds, and smoke dancing the night away with the blue sky. Yet The Happy People suffered from The Strange Folks gain: their dreams haunted by visceral images of suffering, omnipotent screams echoing from the mountain and their sky was darkening over the horizon. And then one day, as spontaneously and irrationally as the last civilization had disappeared, so did this one, yet none from The Second Renaissance were spared. There was no village. There was no Mecca. There were no Strange or Happy Folk.
There was only nothing.
The mountain called Monkey had spoken.
Disco folded up the fable and rose, his children staring back at him. “Hiya Disco, looks like you’ve got something to say! Do you?” the kids harmoniously asked. “Yes I certainly do!” he merrily retorted almost barking, and as he opened his mouth, the words “I have to go now, my planet needs me!” rushed forth and his cell panel instantly rose from the page.
Note: Disco died on the way back to his home planet.
-----------------------
The Express Review
BUY DEMON DAYS BYE THE GORILLAZ OR GO TO HELL! ALSO IS YOU LIKE THIS, BUY THE TRACKS OF BY TYLER HILTON! OH MY GOD HES SO THE SEXY N AWESUM N HIS VOICE IS JUST LIKE RYAN CABRERA’S IF NOT BETTER! TYLER IS LIKE THE CONRAD BAIN OF 2005!
-----------------------
The Regular Review
Did you call me now?
“Last Living Souls” is the first actual song, but the ominous, “Dawn Of The Dead” inspired “Intro” is the REAL beginning. “Intro” is a texture of sirens, storm clouds, sullen horns, rattling drums and a voice screaming about the food chain; it’s the end of the world in the blink of an eye. The foundation is eventually devoured by a black hole in the form of a series of organs, as a Vincent Price-esque croaks out, You are now entering the harmonic row. What follows, the three sentences ago aforementioned Souls, is puzzling to say the least. What song with a framework of processed drum loops, happy bleeps and grizzly guitar work wouldn’t be? The three pieces of the whole can’t coexist together, so they eventually erupt into an aural hailstorm, and in the middle of that hailstorm is Damon Albarn. Albarn’s are, almost frighteningly, detached from reality as he describes the icy ruin around him. And when things are looking their bleakest, a strange glimmer of hope appears. Pianos and an acoustic guitar sprout forth, bringing in a new light and hope. An orchestral sample comes in, and with all the beauteous elements flourishing the future is looking brighter, but just to ruin the promise of a peaceful tomorrow, an eerie screaming voice (who I’m guessing is Albarn again since no other vocalists are credited) backs up Albarn as he sardonically hums out the last few lines of….
Are we the last living souls?
The answer…is no, at least, according to the revolver toting scamps known as the “Kids With Guns”. “Kids With Guns” flows practically the same way Souls does: mellow / occasionally rainy electronics and apathetic droning courtesy of Mouse and Albarn respectively (interestingly added are the muffled gunshots that punch through the beat on the opening). The big difference between the two songs is that while Souls, subliminal howling considered, ends on a relatively calm note; Guns explodes with the subtlety of a hydrogen bomb, containing aggressive beats, rowdy screaming and a faint child’s voice. “O Green World” is a hefty chunk of distorted reality loaded into a 4:31 time slot. It begins with some violently spiraling guitar licks, and right as feels like the song’s about to enclose itself around your head, the levee breaks into a jagged bassline, static screams and some “Psycho Shower Scene”-esque strings, before it resettles into gentler, yet still kind of hard-edged guitar mode again. Albarn’s pleading vocals for a greener way of life are practically covered up by the mess, which is kind of a shame since it’s one of his most heart filled performances of the album. It ends with a series of halogen lights and moans.
I need a gun, cause all I do is dance.
And then we get to my absolute favorite cut of the disc, “Dirty Harry”. The song is divided into two separate halves. The first half is the light half, the silly half, the children’s half. And what a half it is: a nice, clap along beat with some playful synths courtesy of Mouse, some cheery crooning about the practicality of the gun courtesy of Albarn. Of course, it’s not long before Albarn’s vocals are drowned out by the wonderful singing of the “Children’s Choir San Fernandez Youth Chorus 2003-2004”. I can’t stress enough what a brilliant move this was on Albarn's (or maybe it was Mouse’s) behalf. I mean really, what better way to show that there’s something wrong with the times than having a bunch of cute little wiener kids singing about lust for Uzis? But the happy faces Jerry Brown has drawn over them can only tell the lie for so long. The kids are soon silenced and a series of melancholy strings come and cut through the happy fabric of song, rising at an alarming rate, and then falling, telling of something horrible to come. The second half is announced with a playful squeal that warps into a demonic roar. The brisk skip through the flower field that was the original production has faded into the Normandy Invasion, and in comes Bootie Brown. Maybe it’s just me, but I think Brown shames every other emcee here: his unrelenting flow, criticisms of the war and stories from the perspective of a soldier (which, like many of the political anecdotes here, he manages to convey without beating you over the head with their meanings) are all flawless. Ak from The Perceptionists tried a similar thing, and in all honesty, just ended up making a moralist ass out of both of us. Since every line Brown says is essentially worth quoting….and since quite frankly, I’ve forgotten most of the lines at the moment despite the fact that I’m playing the song right now and am too lazy to thumb through the song and find distinguishable lines, I’m not gonna bother, but trust me, this is THE highlight of “Demon Days”. After Bootie’s down rapping, the kids start singing again briefly, as a train runs through the song and they start laughing joyously. Much like the squeal to scream that preceded it, it goes from joyous to depraved in a matter of seconds as it fades into “Feel Good Inc”. “Feel Good Inc” is a deceptive song. Sure, it seems happy with its fast-paced bouncy beats, mariachi-tinged guitars and the laughing, crazy and all-around “feel good” party rhymes of De La Soul, but there’s an odd sadness and bitterness that resides in Albarn’s vocals whenever he takes the microphone. The video and accompanying book image (showing a depressed 2-D staring out the window) and lines such as A melancholy town where we never smile don’t really promise a feel good time. Then again, maybe it’s just me. I mean, his vocals aren’t remarkably different from the deadpan vocalizing that characterized the first three sings (even though they get more emotional with each track progression). Depressing undertones and all, it’s still an insanely catchy song, and I’ve caught myself doing the lord awful leg jolting I call dancing on many, many occasions.
From happy with a depressing undertone, to depressing with a depressing undertone, we get to “El Manana”. I think this easily takes the cake as the most sunken moment of the album; it’s easily the most human. Some teardrop keys and a screeching siren open and close the song; the rest is made up of a downtrodden beat and rainy guitars. Albarn’s vocals are at their broken climax here, hardly above a whisper until he almost forces himself to sing I saw that day / Lost my mind / Lord I find / Maybe in time / You'll want to be mine. Of course, the accompanying orchestra, who practically sings backup for him, deserve their props too. And then back to rowdy again with the thunderous “Every Planet We Reach Is Dead”. Ah, this song brings back memories to the good old days where Al Capone crip walked over the streets of Chicago, the city was always burning, and illegal alcohol, illegal gambling and illegal Jazz music painted the town red. Damn I miss those times, but to my joy, I can always relive them through this song. Though the real gem of the song lies in those gorgeous backup harmonies that bubble throughout, it just wouldn’t be a review for “Demon Days” if I didn’t note the gentle piano solo in the middle by musician turned cradle-robbing-wife-beating-drug-abusing-evil-angry-authoritarian-male Ike Turner. “November Has Come” is a little meh. Little more than a minimal gritty street beat and a nonsensical half-assed braggadocio MF Doom rap. I mean, it’s enjoyable, but I was hoping that my introduction to the somewhat legendary MF Doom would be a little….bigger. “All Alone” is pretty similar, the big difference is that Mouse is now riding a big, cocky Electronica beat. In fact, the styles and words of Doom and Roots Manuva are pretty interchangeable. As a guy who’s a fan of the weirdo rapper, both these guys really let me down. Still, Mouse worked the boards pretty damn well on both, and when he goes all mystical for Martina Topley Bird’s dazzling, orgasm inducing interlude, his hypnotic synths mixed with her dry sultry voice are a thing of unrecognized beauty.
“White Light” is a playful blast straight outta the 80’s: a 1 minute track with little more than a punch-drunk beat and Damon Albarn spitting out the words white light and alcohol, alcohol, alcohol over and over again. Equally inane and fun is “Dare”. Mouse creates a neon ballroom Disco sex romp and DARES you not to dance to it. Like so many songs here, it’s playful, sunny and is hard not to like. However, the song has one distinguishable problem: it’s name is Shaun Ryder. How should I put this….the man stinks. Seriously. Now I’ve never heard a Happy Mondays song before, so maybe he was this great singer back in the day, but hearing this middle-aged codger awkwardly stumble through this song is just embarrassing. I don’t care what anybody says; hearing this man sing is the modern day equivalent of a braless, drunken Carrie Fisher singing a Christmas carol to the tune of the Star Wars theme. On the plus side, Rosie Wilson’s vocals are great, and are easily the saving grace of the song. In fact, that she’s listed as “Backing Vocals” when that talentless prick Ryder is given top billing is a bloody outrage! And then, things get take on a darker image.
Now everybody’s dancing, the dance of the dead.
“Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey’s Head” is possibly the darkest, and is easily the most pointed political moment in the Gorillaz’ arsenal. It book ends the story on the conflict between the “Last Living Souls” and the “Kids With Guns” with pretty grim results. Everyone involved deserves the highest honors: Mouse, for weaving a dark, low rumbling beat, guest reader Dennis Hopper for putting on an excellent performance of the spoken word material, and most importantly, Damon Albarn. The Oooh oooh oooohs he provides during Hopper’s readings are absolutely haunting and despite the simplicity of his sung interludes, the closing line of Where were you, when it all came down on me? is easily the greatest message of protest I’ve ever heard. The closing two songs, “Don’t Get Lost In Heaven” and “Demon Days” are the best songs I’ve heard about death and the afterlife since Skinny Puppy’s “Download”. Heaven contains breezy ambience to coincide with tear trickling piano, and as Master Headcase pointed out, Albarn sounds strikingly similar to Brian Wilson as he recants the destruction of mankind from a third person omniscient perspective. Once the strings begin to dissipate the song, the heavenly “Demon Days” (the title track) begins to take you to a higher plane. The sound of voices carried in wind whispers in your ear. The hands of a clock chime in the background. Albarn makes one final plea. And a thousand angelic voices beseech you not to lose yourself in these sterile demon days. Turn yourself around to the sun. You don’t have to be like either of them. And then their voices just disappear and leave you with the weight to carry, yet don’t fret; they’ll be back.
After all, this is only life, and life is but a dream.
------------------
Highlights: Dirty Harry, Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey’s Head, Demon Days
Damon Albarn: 5/5
Danger Mouse: 5/5
Jamie Hewlett: 5/5
Bootie Brown: 5/5
London Community Gospel Choir: 5/5
Children’s Choir San Fernandez Youth Chorus 2003-2004 season: 5/5
Simon Tong: 5/5
all the orchestral players I’m too lazy to list individually: 5/5
Martina Topley Bird: Bet you wish you didn’t dump her now ay Trick?
De La Soul: 5/5
Dennis Hopper: 5/5
Rosie Wilson: 5/5
MF Doom: 3/5
Roots Manuva: 3/5
Shaun Ryder: blows
The 15-track Demon Days is the follow-up to Gorillaz s worldwide smash self-titled debut and was co-produced by Albarn and Danger Mouse. The London Co...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
![Demon Days [PA] by Gorillaz](http://di1.shopping.com/images1/pi/2c/05/d3/2006741549-177x150-0-0.jpg)
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.