Gorillaz "Demon Days" ***

First of all, I've never loved Brit Pop. Sure, I love the odd Oasis or Blur single as much as anyone but I've never one to ascribe it as a great innovation in music. Gorillaz is an outgrowth of that with Blur's Damon Albarn joining forces with a cast of thousands, but primary cartoonist Jamie Hewlett and DJ Danger Mouse.

I listened to it several times but never really fell in love with it. It's natural growth over the first album. Overall, I would say it's more consistent than the first album. But while there are fewer lows, the highs aren't as high.

It's got some solid songs like "Feel Good Inc" (featuring de la soul doing its best Outkast) and "Dirty Harry" (sequel to "clint eastwood"?), but these are driven more by the DJ than by the music or production work. "Fire coming out of a monkey's head" with Dennis Hopper's spoken word has got to heard to be believed, although I would not recommend repeated listenings. Resurrecting Neneh Cherry and Shawn Ryder (happy mondays, black grape) is cool, but something is missing overall. Finally, looking through the credits, I realized almost every song has strings featured on it. This creates an atmosphere that is a bit of a downer. For superior use of strings, see the Magnetic Fields.

The funniest thing is EMI blamed the late release of this album (and Coldplay's) for missing last year's q4 earnings. This album is going to be huge on college campus and is solid quality, but it's not the next Thriller. Listening to tracks like "Dare," I cannot help but think that there is a great dance album trying to get out, but Damon is too cool and restrained for that. I suppose the remix album will be fantastic.

Likewise, if anyone has the Danger Mouse "grey album" I hear it is a must hear for the mash up crowd. I'm curious to hear Jay Z meets the Beatles. I just expected more.