CD Odyssey Disc 1739: Gorillaz

There is a ten year gap since I reviewed my last record by this next band. That could’ve just been the randomness of the dice but it wasn’t. It’s been 14 years since they released a record I liked enough to buy. Let’s explore the record that brought me back to the fold…sort of.

Disc 1738 is…Cracker Island

Artist: Gorillaz

Year of Release: 2023

What’s up with the Cover?  The Gorillaz hanging out in front a creepy shack. I imagine them as being the weird locals that live in a shed adjacent to a campground. Everyone reminds their kids not to wander over there. “It’s not part of the park, honey, bad people live there.”

They aren’t really bad people, just a weird cult that practices the dark arts and tries to summon dread Cthulhu. Kids do wander over onto the property from time to time, but most of the time they return unharmed. Most of the time.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila is the Gorillaz fan in the house, and introduced me to their eponymous debut as well as their second (and best) record, “Demon Days”. Since then I’ve dabbled based on how much I’ve liked the album. It’s been since 2010 since I was intrigued enough to buy them but last year I decided “Cracker Island” was sufficiently over the line to give it a go.

How It Stacks Up: I have four of the Gorillaz eight studio albums. “Cracker Island” comes fourth of those. Here’s the full recap since I’ve once again exhausted all the Gorillaz albums currently in the house.

1. Demon Days: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 138)
2. Plastic Beach: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 656)
3. Self-Titled: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 74)
4. Cracker Island: 2 stars (reviewed right here)

Rating: 2 stars

It’s true that the Gorillaz electronica lounge funk is not generally in my wheelhouse. I’m sure this impacts my overall impressions of all their records but hey, it’s my music blog. I’m sure you can find other blogs where electronic lounge funk is totally the writer’s jam, and you can go read those blogs if you are so inclined. They won’t be as good, of course.

Back to the record, where the consistently best thing are the beats. Gorillaz have a natural talent for creating dope beats. Beats that sink you into a relaxing groove in the same way you collapse into a bean-bag chair, slow and comfortable. The production is excellent, generating a crisp sound with heavier bass than I would like, but not so much as to be offensive.

The result of all of this is that even weaker songs are still listenable. You can just groove along with that beat and all will be well. Lyrically, none of the songs are even remotely as interesting as the beat and a lot of the other musical elements are equally just meh, but there are notable exceptions that rise above.

The first of these is the title track, which is a straight up dance banger. You will hear this song and you will want to immediately go to Cracker Island and dance your ass off until the sun rises. This song is all about the joy of the rave. Will your kids go missing while you’re there? Relax, and just tell them to steer clear of that hole in the floor of the centre of the shed and it’s all good. Most of the time.

I also dug “New Gold”. Like a lot of hip hop bands, Gorillaz invite a lot of guests to collaborate on their records. Here they invite Tame Impala and rapper Bootie Brown. I usually dislike Tame Impala but whatever they are doing on “New Gold” it is working. This song is funky as hell and the chorus has a delightful “arms in the air” vibe. As for Bootie Brown, consider me converted. Old school flow that jumps with lively energy from bar to bar in a way that makes you think you’re going to tip over from all the forward leaning beat. But you don’t. Bootie’s got you, baby.

My last favourite is “Possession Island”. This one is not a dance tune, unless maybe a slow dance (anyone miss the art of the slow dance at clubs? I do…). This song is stripped down to piano, strings and the welcome and well-suited guest vocals of Beck. This song will fill your soul with the kind of sorrow so artful, you’ll be glad to be sad. Lovely stuff. Do I love the mariachi elements that get introduced in the last minute? Reader I do not, but the song is so good overall I forgave this bit of excess.

In the end, these three songs were enough to hold my attention throughout (it helps that they are spread out at the beginning, middle and end of the record). The other songs faded into one another and left me bored, but it was never too long until a good one came along. Very similar to my Beach Bunny review, but this time just over the keep-it line.

Best tracks: Cracker Island, New Gold, Possession Island

CD Odyssey Disc 656: Gorillaz

I haven’t reviewed this next band in over four years, which just shows how long I’ve been at this damned CD Odyssey.

Disc 656 is…. Plastic Beach

Artist: Gorillaz

Year of Release: 2010

What’s up with the Cover?  This is what would pass for an island resort in a post-apocalyptic garbage world. Not terribly nice, and likely infested with rats or cannibals, but that’s what you get for booking without reading trip reviews first.

How I Came To Know It:  Sheila likes the Gorillaz and one day when I was buying myself some albums, I thought it would be nice to bring something home she would like as well, even if it wasn’t my first choice. That’s how I roll, at least on my better days.

How It Stacks Up:  We have three Gorillaz albums, and I’d put this one in the middle. Also, as this is the last Gorillaz disc in my collection, here’s the recap of how they stack up against each other:

1. Demon Days: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 138)
2. Plastic Beach: 2 stars (reviewed right here)
3. Self-Titled: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 74)

Rating:  2 stars but almost 3

I tend to only enjoy electronica when it is sidling up to generic pop music, and I find the Gorillaz a relatively painless listen for this reason. On “Plastic Beach” they are even downright enjoyable at times – just not at regular enough intervals. Like the flooded, doomed planet they depict on the album cover, the places where my ear can find a welcoming harbor are few and far between.

The album uses a number of guest vocalists, most notably (to me) rapper Snoop Dogg, seventies soul crooner Bobby Womack and alt-rocker Lou Reed. The Gorillaz are clearly interested in exploring music’s origins in multiple directions, and I appreciate this. Unfortunately, the various styles don’t always work.

Snoop Dogg’s appearance on “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach” is one of the high points. The Gorillaz groove-based techno beats slide perfectly with Snoop’s rap style, and although I would have preferred this song with a real horn section, the way they use a synthesizer to get the same effect as a trumpet flourish works well enough.

Bobby Womack appears on a couple of tracks, to varying degrees of success. On “Stylo” he croons away over top of an undeniably cool beat. The beat on “Stylo” is so effective, the Gorillaz could’ve gotten away with just putting atmospheric sounds over top of it, and that’s pretty much what they do for the first half of the song. When Womack’s “110^th Street” power soul kicks in it gives the song a whole other facet. It is partly the pure and organic nature of Womack’s singing (and his understanding of how to slide on and off a perfect techno beat) that gives this song its spirit.

Unfortunately, later in the album the effect is slow and ponderous. On the wonderfully titled “Cloud of Unknowing” Womack attempts to deliver a heartfelt dirge, but the dead quality to the music sucks the life out of the performance, and left me wanting more.

As for Lou Reed – let’s just say this was not a match made in heaven. “Some Kind of Nature” just did not work. It felt like he was guesting on a digital version of the Muppet Show, minus a fun skit going on in the background. Even scratching his voice a bit near the end didn’t make it funky.

The best pure Gorillaz song is “Rhinestone Eyes” which has a great groove and (unlike most techno) thoughtful lyrics and may be the best song on the record.

Unfortunately, they can’t replicate this throughout. A lot of the songs feel like they never develop into anything, or worse they develop into an atmospheric collection of sound that had me glancing at my MP3 player 2-3 times for some songs wondering how much longer they were likely to go on. The worst offender, “Glitter Freeze” sounded like an electronica version of having your teeth drilled.

A much shorter album containing all my favourite tracks might have worked, but this record just takes too long to do what it wants to do. Ordinarily 16 tracks is two too many, but on “Plastic Beach” I’d say it is about six tracks too many. It isn’t that these songs are terrible, but they are too ordinary to be piled up to this height.

Thematically, I’ll give the Gorillaz credit for putting together what amounts to a concept album warning us about our society’s disposable culture and the reckoning that is coming when we become flooded in our own garbage. I love the effort, even if it didn’t fully deliver for me on the music front. This is at least in part because techno music doesn’t speak easily to me, so if you like techno beats, you will like this record more than I did. For all that, the songs I did like, I liked quite a bit.

Best tracks:  Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach, Rhinestone Eyes, Stylo, On Melancholy Hill

CD Odyssey Disc 138: Gorillaz

The latest roll is the third straight disc from the oughts. Doing this Odyssey has shown me that I have music mostly spread over the last four decades, and a surprising amount from the last ten years.

This one happens to be Sheila's, but they all count for the Odyssey.

Disc 138 is...Demon Days
Artist: Gorillaz

Year of Release: 2005

What’s Up With The Cover?: Profile shots of "the band". As I noted in my review of the Gorillaz' first album at Disc 74, these guys like to pretend they are cartoons. I think it is a bit goofy, but each to his own.

How I Came To Know It: Sheila introduced me to the Gorillaz. I'm not sure how she found out about them, but she buys their albums, and this is one of them.

How It Stacks Up: We have two Gorillaz albums - we don't have their 2010 release, but if Sheila wants it, I'm sure she'll pick it up. I have enough addictions of my own (I just bought my 4th Budgie album today). Of the two we do have, "Demon Days" is definitely my favourite.

Rating: 3 stars.

"Demon Days" is a good record, in a genre I don't understand very well. I've listed it here as "rap and hip hop" but I could have just as easily gone "electronica". It is the artificiality of that electronic sound that I find a bit jarring (I usually prefer my music more organic).

That said, this album is made of pretty groovy stuff. It is a bit overlong, at fifteen tracks, but not so much that it is irritating. I actually think cutting a song or two might disturb the flow, so I'll give that a pass.

On their first release, the Gorillaz had a hit with "Clint Eastwood" so it is kind of funny that this album has a song called "Dirty Harry". It is a good enough track, but my favourite is the funky "Feel Good Inc." The rapping on "Feel Good Inc." reminds me of Outkast, when they aren't sucking (so you know - it has a rare feel).

The album has more range overall than the other Gorillaz record, with some quieter tracks and songs that almost have a narrative quality to them.

There is a particularly wacky song near the end titled "Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head" which is basically the story of a peaceful mountain people that are taken advantage of by a greedy race that mines the gemstones out of their sacred caves. Of course, this offends their Monkey god, which retaliates by spewing fire and bringing doom to all.

Either that, or there was a mining operation in an active volcano, which went off. It is hard to tell with myths what actually happened, and what is embellishment. As for me, I'm going with the Monkey God story, since it is more entertaining.

This CD is entertaining as well. I wouldn't say it is a love connection, but it is solid, and when Sheila puts it in the rotation on a game night, I am always happy to have it in the mix.

Best tracks: Kids With Guns, Dirty Harry, Feel Good Inc., Dare

CD Odyssey Disc 74: Gorillaz

After all that sixties and seventies rock, the dice provided an interesting tonic for the latest Odyssey edition.

Disc 74 is...Gorillaz (Self -Titled)

Artist: Gorillaz

Year of Release: 2001

How I Came To Know It: Sheila introduced me to the Gorillaz. I have no idea how she came to know them - I vaguely recall they had a couple radio hits along the way, but I rarely listen to the radio. Anyway - this one is from Sheila.

How It Stacks Up: We own two Gorillaz CDs. Of the two, I'd say I like the other one better - but I'll talk about that when I roll it.

Rating: 2 stars with a thumbs up.

I believe Gorillaz is a band that doesn't show their actual faces - instead they all have cartoon personas. It a bit of an odd thing to do, but it is what they like. I don't care if they want to pretend to be cartoons, I'm just here for the music.

Their music is fairly interesting, and I can see why they generated buzz. Most of these tracks (maybe all) are about laying down a funky groove and then having catchy but repititous vocals over top of that beat. I'd prefer a little more range on this album, but Gorillaz certainly know how to do what they do, and in places they stretch their sound into rap, and even a little punk, in the aptly named "Punk".

The big hit on this album is "Clint Eastwood", which quite a lot of people know. It is OK, but seems to have very little to do with Clint Eastwood. The chorus is:

"I'm happy, I'm feeling glad
I've got sunshine in a bag
I'm useless, but not for long
The future is coming on."

I listened carefully, but nowhere did I hear any "feel lucky, punk?" or "shoulda armed himself" or "right turn, Clyde" in the song. For all that, it is a pretty catchy song, and I can see why it was a hit.

There is a lot of this sort of thing - where the song title has nothing to do with the song itself. I find this an annoying affectation of recent music. Just name your song after the chorus - or if you can't bring yourself to do that, then the title should at the very least relate to the songs. If these songs do so, I've missed the connection.

Track 1: repeating lyric: "It's the money'll stop". Title: "Re-hash"
Track 11: repeating lyric: "Get the cool shoe shine". Title: 19-2000"

(I might have these titles mixed up, since it isn't really clear where some tracks end - but that is really just part of the problem).

In the Gorillaz' defence, I don't think these songs are supposed to have a lot of deeper meaning - I think they are just supposed to be groovy. They are fairly groovy, but they don't really move me. Even the song "Punk" is more of an excercise in "Gorillazing" a few punk sensibilities, but not really with a point.

In short, when I listen to this Gorillaz album, I find myself wishing I were listening to the other album of their's that we have, which I think is stronger overall, but never benefited from as big a hit as "Clint Eastwood."

One other note of annoyance - this album has some weird DVD features that makes it hard to upload the music. I still haven't figured out how. I'm not interested in a cartoon video letting me know I have "unlocked the secrets of Murdoc's Winnebago" - since I'm not going to go on line and find out what that is anyway. Hey, Gorillaz! - I don't want to illegally download your music, I just want to put some songs on my MP3 player from an album I already bought. It shouldn't be so hard.

I am not a huge fan of this record, but it has its moments musically, and deserves credit for being different from a lot of what you hear. Hence - a thumbs up, even if I don't put on too much.

Best tracks: Clint Eastwood, Rock the House, 19-2000 (or "get the cool shoe shine" - I think).