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Gorillaz - D-Sides
| Allmusic | | The Gorillaz B-sides and remixes collection D-Sides just emphasizes that Demon Days could have just as easily been called Damon Days. Even though Damon Albarn worked with collaborators like Danger Mouse on the second Gorillaz album, Albarn was its main sonic architect, and this is made even clearer by the songs that didn't make it onto Demon Days. Where the album honed a paranoid, melancholy -- but always accessible -- vibe, D-Sides is charmingly loose and eclectic; the stoned, rag-tag shuffle of "Don't Get Lost in Heaven (Demo)" is far more engaging, or at least immediate, than the choir and strings-bedecked version that appeared on Demon Days. The layered, doo wop-inspired harmonies and pianos on "Highway (Under Construction)" bear the marks of fiddling around in the studio, but appealingly so -- and that goes double for the new wave/electro ramble "Rockit," on which Albarn makes "blah blah blah" sound almost profound....full text |
| | Billboard | | Gorillaz' second rarities compilation covers "phase two" of the cartoon-avatar band's career, centering on its second album, 2005's "Demon Days." It's not all killer, but some impressive tracks lurk within. Opener "68 State" is a sexy, fractured instrumental, propelled by a haunting bassline. "People" is also a great listen; the song is a demo version of "Demon Days" single "DARE," but here it has a completely different lyric and melody, sung by bandleader Damon Albarn (aka 2D) instead of eventual guest vocalist Shaun Ryder. "Hong Kong," originally recorded for a Warchild benefit album, is a different animal: Albarn is at his Blurriest, his voice melancholy yet hopeful as he muses over a river of gently plucked strings....full text |
| | Nme | | Crazy as a second Gorillaz B-sides album might sound, this rummage through the 'Demon Days' cutting room floor is totally justified. 'We Are Happy Landfill' veers between organ-driven '70s rock and giddy punk rock on a jaw-clenching prozac high, while 'The Rockit' doffs a cheeky cap to Damon's roots; with its deadpan delivery and taut, funky bass riff it sounds almost like an old Blockheads single... until the far-out synths that resemble bonking robots make their appearance, that is. But the highlight is 'Hong Kong' - the seven-minute epic recorded for War Child....full text |
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Gorillaz lyrics |
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