Everyone’s favourite animated group, (although Josie and the Pussycats are a pretty close second) are back and if the success of their ‘Feel Good Inc’ is any indication, this album might just be included in a huge number of people’s record collections. The characters that front the group were a result of a collaboration between Blur singer Damon Albarn, who wanted to quietly pursue a side project and his mate and creator of the cult comic book classic Tank Girl Jamie Hewlett. Second time around our musical cartoon heroes are joined by producer Danger Mouse. He was the bloke responsible for illegally mixing Jay-Z’s ‘The Black Album’ with The Beatles’s ‘The White Album’ and rather predictably called the record ‘The Grey Album’.
They are joined by an impressive list of guest stars. You’ve got Nenah Cherry, ex Happy Mondays singer Shaun Ryder, Ike Turner, De La Soul, Roots Manuva, Martina Topley Bird and Hollywood actor Dennis ‘Pop quiz hot shot’ Hopper, who narrates on ‘Fire coming out of a monkey’s head’. One of the first things to strike you is the hypnotic beats. They demand your attention and give the album its gritty, dark edge, one example being ‘All Alone’. A children’s choir singing ‘I need a gun to keep myself from harm’ on ‘Dirty Harry’ is reminiscent, if not more tongue in cheek, of the kids on Pink Floyd’s ‘Another brick in the wall’. They resurface again on ‘Don’t get lost in heaven’ and ‘Demon days’ which aren’t exactly the most listen-worthy of songs. ‘Every planet we reach is dead’ has a bluesy feel to it and goes completely off the rails slightly towards the end. Thankfully for an act that could have been so gimmicky they’ve distanced themselves from that by producing some decent tunes.
Rating: 4/5
Release date: 23rd May 2005
Label: Parlophone
Info: www.gorillaz.com
Words by: Helen Duong
