Fancy Clown
Member
On the verge of Gorillaz return after a 7 years since their last major studio album, I've been revisiting their past work and have been, as always, particularly drawn back to Demon Days. I was kind of surprised in the top 3 albums thread just how many people listed this album alongside other greats, although maybe I shouldn't have. I had forgotten just how huge this album was in 2005, nearly everybody was listening to Feel Good Inc., D.A.R.E., and the other singles. They were even put at the forefront of iTunes marketing campaigns at the time.
Demon Days is such an unlikely success candidate. A weird, pseudo-cartoon band with an Uber eclectic album that sounds like a soundtrack to a horror storybook. Beyond the catchy dance tracks it bops around genres like like the jazzy "Every Planet We Reach is Dead", and culminating in a flowing 3 track climax that transitions from a spoken word parable by Dennis Hopper, to two ethereal and hauntingly beautiful gospel infused songs. And this[/] was a wildly successful pop album. What??
The only thing more surprising than the success of such a strange and convention defying endeavor is just how good it is. Danger Mouse's layered production offers a verisimilitude across the seemingly disparate tracks that cohere the whole thing together into one hell of a cinematic nightscape of an album. Each track feels perfectly positioned with some amazing transitions and has a purposeful intro and outro. In an age where pop albums are constructed around singles, an album that had such wildly successful singles making more sense in a constructed whole is an unusual thing.
Damon Albarn would try again and push the envelope of convention defying pop music even further with Plastic Beach, although to unferstandably less enthusiastic popular reception at the time, given he seemed to be actively fighting against putting any track that could be used as an album defying single. He even brought De La Soul from Feel Good Inc. back for a goofy track about mass produced junk food jellyfish.
From what we've heard of Humanz it sounds like Damon Albarn and co. are returning to, and doubling down on, the darker and dancier moments of Demon Days, with the album art consciously recalling it as well, so I'm curious if he can strike gold for a second time.
What do you guys think of the album, 12 years out? Am I overstating its quality, success, or influence?
Demon Days is such an unlikely success candidate. A weird, pseudo-cartoon band with an Uber eclectic album that sounds like a soundtrack to a horror storybook. Beyond the catchy dance tracks it bops around genres like like the jazzy "Every Planet We Reach is Dead", and culminating in a flowing 3 track climax that transitions from a spoken word parable by Dennis Hopper, to two ethereal and hauntingly beautiful gospel infused songs. And this[/] was a wildly successful pop album. What??
The only thing more surprising than the success of such a strange and convention defying endeavor is just how good it is. Danger Mouse's layered production offers a verisimilitude across the seemingly disparate tracks that cohere the whole thing together into one hell of a cinematic nightscape of an album. Each track feels perfectly positioned with some amazing transitions and has a purposeful intro and outro. In an age where pop albums are constructed around singles, an album that had such wildly successful singles making more sense in a constructed whole is an unusual thing.
Damon Albarn would try again and push the envelope of convention defying pop music even further with Plastic Beach, although to unferstandably less enthusiastic popular reception at the time, given he seemed to be actively fighting against putting any track that could be used as an album defying single. He even brought De La Soul from Feel Good Inc. back for a goofy track about mass produced junk food jellyfish.
From what we've heard of Humanz it sounds like Damon Albarn and co. are returning to, and doubling down on, the darker and dancier moments of Demon Days, with the album art consciously recalling it as well, so I'm curious if he can strike gold for a second time.
What do you guys think of the album, 12 years out? Am I overstating its quality, success, or influence?
