Gorillaz D-Sides for Fans Only
New Collection of B-Sides from Hip-Hop’s Virtual Band Disappoints
Gorillaz, that cartoon fronted hip hop band featuring Blur vocalist Damon Albarn release a new collection of B-sides, with mixed results.
If British superstar Damon Albarn is remembered for anything it will be his prolific output of material, not the new Gorillaz double-disc collection, D-Sides.
Like Prince in his heyday, Albarn has practically released an album a year since starting out with Blur.
In 2007 alone he released the brilliant ‘The Good, the Bad and the Queen’, wrote and staged his first opera, Monkey: Journey to the West, at the Manchester International Festival, and near the end of 2007, jumbled together D-Sides, a double disc collection of Gorillaz b-sides.
Since their debut in 2001, the cartoon-lead virtual band has had tremendous success in the UK as well as Stateside, even overshadowing the success of Blur. With their mix of dark hip-hop beats, radio-friendly raps, danceable singles and creative videos, the band’s two albums, their self-titled debut and 2005’s Demon Days, which featured Grammy winning single ‘Feel Good Inc.’ have sold millions and have won critical acclaim.
Shortly after Gorillaz appeared, the band released G-Sides, a collection of B-sides as well as Laika Come Home, a collection of remixes. D-Sides attempts to bind both the b-sides from Demon Days as well as remixes from that album, and succeeds to varying degrees.
Gorillaz D-Sides: The Good
Disc One begins with ‘68 State’, a bizarre instrumental that sounds like listening to early New Order in the dead of winter with the window open. ‘People’, an early demo version of ‘Dare’ from Demon Days quickly follows.
While it’s interesting to hear how the track evolved, Albarn’s singing wobbles like he tried doing an organic vocoder effect. Still the music is great and by far one of the best tracks on the album.
‘Hongkongaton’ starts off with a fun juvenile piano and album closer, ‘Stop The Dams’, makes the wait worth it. But the true highlight comes at track number 5.
‘Hong Kong’ blends a ballad torch song with a Chinese zither, beautifully instrumented by guest player Chen Wei-Man. This sad lament has ‘after hours lounge’ written all over it. Had the rest of the album been half as good as this original piece, D-Sides could have been the next Gorillaz album.
Gorillaz D-Sides: The Bad
Unfortunately even good bands make bad music. However, D-Sides is a b-sides album so the awkwardness of tracks like ‘We are Happy Landfill’, ‘Bill Murray’ and the awful ‘Murdoc Is God’ can be excused.
‘Highway (Under Construction)’ with its groovy, handclapping retro R&B sound isn’t half bad, nor is ‘The Swagga’, but stay away from ‘Rockit’, ‘Spitting Out The Demons’ and ‘Don’t Get Lost In Heaven (Original Demo Version)’ unless you’re a die-hard Gorillaz fan or a collectionist.
As for the second CD, this collection of remixes quickly becomes repetitive with 6 of the 9 tracks being either ‘Dare’ or ‘Kids With Guns’.
While D-Sides satisfies the appetite of true Gorillaz fans, casual listeners should cherry-pick the best tracks to download and skip the filler.
