Published on Feb 27, 2006
When marketing Demon Days, Gorillaz should
have hired the same firm that marketed 1999s black comedy
American Beauty. For that movie’s poster, the tagline “look
closer” pulled audiences into the alluring shot of a teenager’s
navel. With Demon Days, the tagline could be altered to read
“listen closer.” Because the first listen sure as hell won’t grab
you. In fact, it may repulse you.
Those who thought Damon Albarn officially rode Blur
off the deep end of the music world with 2003’s Think Tank
will have their beliefs confirmed with the plodding third track,
“Kids With Guns.” Gorillaz follows that song up with “O Green
World,” a song that sounds as if Albarn was singing the track from
a dentist’s chair.
The album continues to go in seemingly insane,
self-indulgent directions. We have Dennis Hopper doing a seemingly
pointless spoken-word track (“Fire Coming Out Of A Monkey’s Head”)
and the king of control freaks, Ike Turner, dropping in to
contribute a piano solo on “Every Planet We Reach Is Dead.”
The fine vocal talents of Neneh Cherry and Martina
Topley Bird are utterly wasted, as they are primarily background
vocals on their respective tracks. At the end of the first listen,
most people would totally accept why Dan “The Automator” Nakamura
jumped ship after the Gorillaz’ self-titled debut.
Still, the album throws you enough bones to lure you
back in for a second listen. For starters, the band offers “Dare,”
a song Prince should be kicking himself for not writing. And the
album closes with a gorgeous chorus from the London Community
Gospel Choir.
As for the rest of the album, call it the “Feel Good,
Inc.” effect. At first listen, you question who had the balls to
release this as a summer single. The song starts off with a killer
bass line, but the chorus could be a ’60s protest anthem — and
suddenly, De La Soul comes in and crashes the party. Still — God
knows how — producer Danger Mouse makes it work enough for you to
want to listen to it again…and again…and again.
Adding to the overall weirdness of Demon Days,
EMI (Gorillaz’s record label) notoriously served Danger Mouse a
cease and desist order for his Jay-Z/Beatles mash-up, The Grey
Album. EMI wisely chose not to let this legal issue interfere
with the opportunity of having a white-hot producer man the boards
for a band that could have easily been a one-hit wonder with “Clint
Eastwood.”
Danger Mouse was rightly nominated for a Grammy for
producer on Demon Days. What at first listen was a
career-ending album slowly begins to unveil its layers. Neneh
Cherry’s barely-recognizable background vocals become a sultry
homage to Salt-N-Pepa’s “Push It.” The out-of-place cocaine beats
of “White Light” make its middle all the more soothing and
rewarding. Even without reading the reviews about the album being a
sort of concept album about the deterioration of the planet, you
begin to notice an overall flow that makes you feel guilty for
skipping a track.
The placement of obscure musical personalities, an
‘it’ producer and … let’s face it, cartoon characters as
band members smacks of novelty. However, on Demon Days,
Gorillaz reveal a band that deserves to be taken seriously,
two-dimensional or not.