jakecalhoun75's Full Review: Demon Days [PA] by Gorillaz
Gorillaz Demon Days Release Date (US): May 24th, 2005 After the release of their self-titled debut album in 2001, the Gorillaz emerged onto the music world with hit singles such as "Clint Eastwood" and "19/2000". They gained instant fame overnight, and were soon recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Animated Band Ever. However, they slowly faded into the distance in the years following their debut album's release. Gorillaz is a fictional band composed of four primate musicians. Murdoc, the satanic bass guitarist and wannabe front man of the group, is the controlling and ego-maniacal backbone of the group, who is credited as the primary writer of the band's first album. 2D is the pretty-boy vocalist and keyboardist who is very meek and shy, and easy to manipulate. Despite his admiration of the wannabe leader Murdoc, 2D is truly known as the front man of the band. Russel Hobbs is the drummer and hip-hop guru of the bunch. He's calm and reserved, and often gives his insight to the band in a sage-like way. And last but not least is Noodle, the Japanese axe-wielding princess guitarist and main visionary of the band. It is believed that Noodle was delivered to the Gorillaz in a crate during their search for a guitarist. Noodle's child-like demeanor gives the band an upbeat style, which is credited to Noodle's visionary ideas and navigation of the band's musical direction. But years after their "disappearance", co-creators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett stunned the music world yet again with the return of Gorillaz with their new album Demon Days. Damon Albarn, lead singer of the Britpop band "Blur" and co-creator of Gorillaz, stated his reason for the band's conception was to step out of the boundaries of pop music today, combating all musical stereotypes that you're only as good as your genre, and dispelling the rumor that pop music has become bland and single sided since the turn of the century. Demon Days features an array of musical sounds, some differing greatly from one another. The album begins with an eerie tune that resembles that in which you would find in a zombie horror flick. A sage-like voice then echoes, "You are now entering the harmonic realm..." with a lead-in to the album's next track. The album then takes a sharp turn with "Last Living Souls", which features an orchestra of violins along with a hip-hop beat. "Kids With Guns", one of the album's better tracks, breaks in with a bass riff commanding nothing less than a high respect, with the song ending with the feeling of someone being shot dramatically in a cinematic fashion. The album then goes on to question what we have become as a society, asking what we have done wrong by placing a heavy burden of pollution on a "green world". This element is eeriely similar to the current Global Warming problem that has gained attention in the public spotlight, modeling a detereorating planet being torn apart due to the selfish and wasteful acts of mankind. "Dirty Harry" (possibly a follow-up to the band's "Clint Eastwood") features the first rap part of the album with rapper Bootie Brown rapping about, what else, the War in Iraq. "At night I hear the shots ring, so I'm a light sleeper. The cost of life, it seems to get cheaper. Out in the desert with my street sweeper. 'The War is Over!' so said the speaker...with the flight suit on...maybe to him, I'm just a pawn...so he can advance..." makes the oddball resemblence to George W. Bush as 'the speaker with the flight suit on', expressing the cause of concern for the motivation of the war, and why the soldiers are simply 'pawns' that help Bush advance to gain political ground, so to speak. "Feel Good Inc.", the album's most popular piece, takes us to the previously referenced "polluted world" where the rich and privileged fall to a melancholy state after realizing that their actions only contributed to damaging the wellfare of their community. Noodle flies by on a flying island propelled by a windmill of childhood ambitions, a much simpler exsistance, with an acoustic guitar, where 2D looks out the window of his smoke stack loft and begins to dream of escaping his self-made hell and relaxing on the soft grass of the windmill island. 2D is then reminded of his personal entrapment, where he is bound by his actions to remain as he watches the windmill island float on by. "El Manana" follows with a dark and depressing shadow of reality that the windmill of childhood simply cannot exist without experiencing the harsh realities and sad truths of mankind's creation. Madness and insanity begin to enter the picture, where 2D begins to state that he lost his mind as he saw the windmill get shot down and destroyed. Thus destroys the fantasies and day dreams of a simpler exsistance, possibly a reference to the ending of childhood for some. The album takes another turn as it introduces "Every Planet We Reach is Dead", a hip-hop style beat with a lyrical flow eeriely resembling that of the previous track. The song simply asks "How are we going to work this out?" and "What are we going to do?" before a soft melody lifts you up and spits you back out with an eruption of mental instablity. "November Has Come" features the best hip-hop track of the album, with famous rapper MF Doom laying down his rhymes in an easy-styled flow. This is one of the most underrated tracks of the album, simply overlooked by it's simple facade, and adored by it's complex make up. The album then suffers it's downfall with "All Alone", which features the rapper Roots Manuva and the soft-as-silk vocals of Martina Topley-Bird. The rapping isn't stellar, and doesn't live up to the other rhymes of the album. Although "All Alone" features a catchy riff and fast-paced tempo, this is one of the weaker tracks of the album, which would have been more suited making it on the D-Sides album. The hit single "Dare" features Noodle providing the lead vocals and British musician Shaun Ryder providing the backing vocals. Despite this song's never-ending popularity, it just doesn't tie in with the rest of the album. It's techno beat and rave-like groove are what kills this song in the album. Nearing the end of the album, the quality picks up with a story that illustrates a society of "happy folk" and the "strange figures" who bring darkness into their lives by discovering a cave of riches in a mountain simply called "Monkey". The story is narrated by one of the speakers in Hollywood, actor Dennis Hopper. Demon Days finishes with a beautiful combination of orchestra and choir with the finale tracks "Don't Get Lost in Heaven" and the title track "Demon Days". The finale serves as sort of a summary of what the album has covered, from pollution ruining the earth, to greed causing a society to implode on itself. Despite some weak links, Demon Days is an absolute must-have for any music fan out there. Rating: 9.5 out of 10
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
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