My Review of "Gorillaz"
By Hikaru Gosunkugi (Mat Morgan to some)
This might be a little different from other reviews you've read. I'm gonna go
from least favorite song to favorite, describing each in what I think is
detailed, but probably isn't. So enough with the explanations, let's get to
the critique!
18th Place and the "I'm Skipping You From Now On" Award - "Man Research"
This is where 2D's kewl falsetto voice gets just plain annoying. The
song gets weirder and weirder starting with "This is a breakfast club!", and
2D singing "Yeah yayayayayayaya" gets irritating after about three listens.
17th Place and the "Sedative" Award - "Starshine"
Wow, is THIS uninspiring! And slow... and boring... and sleepy...
and.... zzzzzz........
16th Place and the "..." Award - "Sound Check"
At this point, I like all the songs other than the previous two. The
reason "Sound Check" got sixteenth is because it's really unremarkable. A big
surprise for me, when I went to the Gorillaz' concert in Seattle, was that it
sounds REALLY cool live. But on the CD it's just too quiet.
15th Place and the "Trippy...." Award - "Left Hand Suzuki Method"
Very cool music, but I have to deduct points from it because I really
don't care for Noodle talking about recording and stuff. On the plus side, it
mixes classical with swing and hip-hop without missing a beat.
14th Place and the "Garage Band" Award - "5/4"
I like this one, 'cause it just plain rocks, and it's one of the three
rock-oriented songs on the CD. Of course, the other two blow "5/4" out of the
water. 2D sounds a bit nasal here, also. Sorta like Tom DeLonge of Blink 182.
And I DO NOT LIKE Blink 182. So that's bad karma on "5/4". On the plus side,
if you want to see all four members at their best in the same song, this is
the one. Some songs highlight 2D, Murdoc, Noodle, or Russel individually, but
this one has them all rockin' out.
13th Place and the "Spanish Inquisition" Award - "Latin Simone"
My mom LOOOOVES this song, since she's a huge Buena Vista Social Club
fan (The guy who does the vocals is Ibraham Ferrer of the BVSC), but I just
think it's cool. And now that I've heard it in English, this version doesn't
compare in my opinion.
12th Place and the "I Got Beat Out By My Remix?" Award - "Clint Eastwood"
WHOA!!!! The big hit single didn't make the top ten AND was beaten by
it's re-mix? Yup. I'll be honest with you - I used to HATE "Clint Eastwood".
I just didn't enjoy it. It eventually grew on me, but I mainly bought the
Gorillaz CD for "19/2000" and "Tomorrow Comes Today", not "Clint Eastwood".
Del's cool here, and 2D rocks as well, but for some reason I never liked it
as much as everyone else.
11th Place, the "Murdoc At His Best" Award, and the "Instrumental Funk" Award
- "Double Bass"
"All of which makes me anxious. At times unbearably so." ~ Murdoc
Niccals
For some reason, that line makes this super-cool, super-funky song ten
times as awesome.
10th Place and the "Get Up, Stand Up" Award - "Clint Eastwood - Ed Case
Remix"
Whoooo! Reggae! Techno! 2D singing faster! Rocking! Fun! Wheee! I'm
bouncing around! I'm gonna fall off my chair! I just did! OW!
9th Place and the "No False Advertising" Award - "Rock the House"
WHOA. Now this was cool. This was basically nothing but Del, and I
LOVED it, which surprised me, because I'm not a big fan of rap, hip-hop, etc.
Not only that, but it's REALLY, REALLY cool live ("Peace to Seattle - The
Supersonics" (The Sonics actually won their game that night against the
T-Wolves, too! Talk about your good blessings!)). I've actually memorized the
beat to this, too. That's how much I love it.
8th Place and the "Softer than My Sister's Head" Award - "New Genious"
Ah, it's time to stretch, lean back, and relax. This song's awesome,
with what are the second-best lyrics in the entire CD. And... I like it. So
there.
7th Place and the "What The Hell'd He Just Say?" Award - "Dracula"
Rest is good for the blood, indeed. This song's cool, slow-moving,
jazzy, and has the weirdest, most slurred lyrics I've heard in a long time. I
orignally thought the lyrics were "Someone just told a lie/The rest of us are
asleep/Everyone party time/Some of us may never sleep again". Yeah, I know I
suck.
6th Place and the "Superball" Award - "Re-Hash"
Just barely missing the Top Five, "Re-Hash" is a fun, fun, FUN,
FREAKING FUN song to listen and bounce along to. God, I love this song. When
Gorillaz broke into this at Seattle, I was going nuts. In other words, this
song's a sweet sensation over the dub, and I sure as hell don't wanna stop
listening to it.
5th Place and the "Paradox" Award - "19/2000"
This song's super fun, I listened to it for five hours straight and I
never got sick of it. No, really. I like this song, even though it's so damn
pop-ish. God, I'm such a hypocrite now... Okay, I'm cool with that.
4th Place, the "Runner-Up" Award, the "Noodle At Her Best" Award AND the
"Rocked Out of My Mind" Award - "M1A1"
Okay, I didn't like this song originally. Why? I woke up in the middle
of the night and heard this song. I couldn't sleep for an hour. The "Hello?"
stuff starts out annoying, but you have to sit through it, 'cause it gets
REALLY cool halfway through! Listen! Love! Hail! Whee!
3rd Place, the Bronze, and the "Sore Throat" Award - "Punk"
I STILL can't understand most of the lyrics. But I love it anyway. A
short, extremely fast paced song which was the first song by Gorillaz other
than "19/2000" and "Tomorrow Comes Today" that I instantly loved. So it's
cool.
2nd Place, the Silver, the "Russel At His Best" Award and the "Deeper Than a
Lake Full of Jello" Award - "Tomorrow Comes Today"
Ah, the best lyrics on the album, with Russel unloading a phat beat on
his drum set. I love everything about this song, and I love it so much it
defies definition. It can only be beaten by....
1st Place, the "2D At His Best" Award, the Gold, and the "Sedative... In A
Good Way" - "Slow Country"
I'm not gonna drag this on, one word describes this song:
P-E-R-F-E-C-T!
The CD as a Whole: Everything clicks when put together, even "Man Research"
and "Starshine". This is almost the perfect CD. And now my hands are tired,
so I'll cut it off there.
GRADE: A
If you don't like my opinions, write your own damn review.
Later,
Hikaru Gosunkugi