Gorillaz

Obviously remember the hits. Didn't particularly like them at the time or now and the rest didn't sway me.

I get this was doing something new with the cartoon visuals etc and the whole Gorillaz project gathered pace after this and became massive. But obviously the visuals are not in play if you’re just listening to the album so you need to base your views on the music and, with hindsight, it’s not that great. The big singles were smashed but even they now sound a bit dated. And the rest mostly have a vibe of Blur off cuts with occasional rapping. Better stuff was to come.

In both bands' prime, Oasis were clearly a thousand times better than Blur. Yes, Girls and Boys remains a great single, and one can find enough corkers in Blur's back catalogue to make a top-notch best-of compilation, but Oasis' laddish, proletarian grandeur made Blur vs. Oasis a fight between a poodle and a rottweiler. I still sigh with exasperation at the sight of Damon Albarn on that one-off show Britpop Now, singing Country House in tweed, plus fours and a deerstalker cap. But our Damon is a resourceful sort. After Blur and Oasis helped kill off Britpop with the catastrophic disappointments of albums The Great Escape and Be Here Now (and in retrospect, neither warranted the hostility brought down upon them, each just being somewhat weak follow-ups), Blur sought to change course with a darker, less jovial couple of albums (not too dark, mind you), while Oasis just carried on doing bog-standard Oasis songs to increasing irrelevance. Then, when Blur took a hiatus, Damon founded the group Gorillaz with the comic strip artist Jamie Hewlett. Gorillaz are a virtual band, partially intended as a riposte to the manufactured nature of boy bands. Also, a virtual band liberated our Damon, enabling him to explore genres unmarriageable to Blur's aesthetic, such as hip-hop, electronica and various cul-de-sacs of world music. Along with this, the strategy grew of Gorillaz being highly collaborative, this album alone featuring the rapper Del the Funky Homosapien, Ibrahim Ferrer of Buena Vista Social Club and members of Talking Heads. Yep, my compadres, we're talking a massive case of record-collection rock. And yep, this album has that deeply infuriating gripe affecting most record-collection rock: it's really good, but tries far too hard to be cool, resulting in a album that appears as geeky as a stamp collector. Geekiness is not a fault in itself, but this album's strand of geekiness is inimical to rock n roll, and surely the primary function of this album should be to rock n roll? On the best songs (particularly the singles), Gorillaz transcends this pretence, but the forays into dub and punk on Slow Country and, er, Punk induce nowt but awkward winces. Please understand that this is a very good album, and my criticisms are the honesty of fondness. But I would say the list made a mistake on opting for this instead of their second album Demon Days, to which I would have given the full five. Not least, Demon Days contains the single Dare, which managed the inconceivable by getting my beloved Shaun Ryder to number 1. Just for that, I forgave our Damon for everything that miffed me about Blur, and I would merrily kiss his left teste in gratitude.

Boring, but I can recognize that it's good musicianship

Understandably dated, to my ear. I remember it being influential and important when released originally, but I found it mostly boring. A few catchy tunes. My opinion has been biased by overplays. This is gas station music at this point.

Enjoyed it more than I thought.

one of my favorite albums of all times. so...

If I had one bad thing to say, it’s that a couple songs are almost- dare I say- annoying. But as my first Gorillaz album (and the 1st one) I was left wanting more. Favourites: 5/4, Clint Eastwood, Tomorrow…, Slow Country

Not as good as I remember it. Some good tunes but sounds very one dimensional. Good driving music.

Best Song: Clint Eastwood. The woozy, laidback flow works excellently here. The chorus feels like it perfectly encapsulates that moment when you're at the pinnacle point of inebriation and you feel like your every move is brilliant, even as you know the train might come off the rails at any moment. Worst Song: Man Research (Clapper). Is it possible to overuse a vocal sample? Yeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeahyeah. Overall: The album has a groovy, melted wax quality that makes it overall enjoyable as this kind of relaxed, thick, slow jam. It's too long, and several tracks could have been removed to keep the theme more on point, but maybe that isn't the point of an album like this.

As someone who had been a fan of both Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett for nearly a decade when this came out, I knew I would be and instant fan. I honestly thought it would be an experimental noise fest like the Blur remix album. I was wron, this was an instant classic and a soundtrack that lifted me up during some pretty rubbish times.

Ahh back when CDs were still a thing this was such an exciting release and we played it to death. My kid got into Gorillaz a few years ago and this got a lot of airplay on car trips (the car being the only cd player we had!). It's hard to pick a favourite song for me, all of the songs are like your favourite pieces of clothing, well worn and very comfortable.

Hmmm, a bit hit and miss this one. The singles give it a slight nostalgia bump, but it felt like there was plenty of filler too. Fave track - "Clint Eastwood". The video was awesome and Del the Funky Homosapien's flows are sick!

Starts off as a typical Blur album but quickly snowballs to become a genre-bending project of its own, in a bag. Hip-hop, alt-rock, breakbeat, reggae, rap... Albarn brings together a talented consortium of artists to make an LP that exists solely within its own class while building on well-recognized tropes, in a bag. The album definitely struggles in the editing department (some of these tracks are clearly base-level melodic ideas extended to 3 or 4 minutes), but there's enough gold here to warrant relistening, in a bag.

A lot of fun and some great bops

Clint Eastwood is an absolute belter of a song. Gorillaz are an all time fav for me. They were so good live!!

Exciting! This is just such an assured debut that covers just about everything stylistically. I'm keeping it at a 4 as I don't think it's as consistently strong as their next two albums but it's a true classic

Not just Clint Eastwood, it's pretty great all the way through.

One of the great albums of the 00’s

Enjoyable. Mostly killer, very little filler. Jane - 3 Bill - 3.5 Conor - 3.75 Shannah - 3.5 (3.45/5)

fav track - 19-2000

This album probably was very "revolutionary" in 2001 and still sounds like it. It's not the best thing from this list, and it's even not the best Gorillaz work, but this mix of electronic music (that I don't like) with some rock spicy is catching! It's one of the good examples of how to use technology in favor of the songs, instead of just playing repetitive sounds forever and calling it music. I hope the current versions of the book also include the most recent works from the band. We deserve more.

Damon and Jamie, Jamie and Damon. Who could have thought that an agreement to live in an apartment after breakups in their relationships, ranting about the state of the music business and plasticity on TV, would lead into one of the more consequential and influential groups on music history. Never before had their been a virtual group (shrouded in mystery before the jig was up) making music as though the 22nd Century was on their front door and have it be the basis for complete and utterly eclecticism. It shouldn't have worked (in lesser hands, it wouldn't have) but, thankfully, it did and provided its creators a new springboard for their creativity after years of being acknowledged (rightfully) for who and what they were. Their albums would get more ambitious, more hit-laden, more guest-starring but this is where it starts and what a start it is.

i don't think i'm cool enough to listen to this album! it was an enjoyable listen and i can see how groundbreaking this was in 2001--and still today, even. i enjoy some of gorillaz' music, but some songs here just missed the mark for me. good, unique, but it couldn't excite me as much as i thought.

Man, this album is just as cool today as it was when it debuted over 20 (!!!) years ago. It's easy to forget that it was so long ago because megahit Clint Eastwood STILL gets played on every alt-rock station as if it were released yesterday. As a teenager at the time when this came out, they are the first "virtual band" that I can remember taking seriously. These guys knew themselves, they knew they wanted to do something different, and they knew how they wanted to do it from the beginning of their career; with their debut album, they were not only already setting a foundation for their own signature sound, but also an eclectic alternative/trip hop/lo-fi sound that many other band would embrace in the new millennium and attempt to make their own. Speaking of eclectic, this album is all over the place, but in a good way. They don't limit themselves to any specific sound or genre from track to track, and any given one track is likely to have a mishmash of genres and musical stylings. And yet, everything they do on this album sounds intentional, cohesive, and cleanly executed. All these years later, it was fun to reexamine this album, find a new appreciation for it, and find that it has really stood the test of time.

Deeply satisfying

Gorillaz by Gorillaz to w mojej biblioteczce jeden z tych albumow osluchanych do bolu, a nadal sprawiajacych taka frajde jak za pierwszym razem, jest to pierwszy pick wirtualnej bandy na liscie i pewnie nie ostatni, bo jednak jest to pewien unikalny fenomen wsrod zachodniej muzyki rozrywkowej to wlasnie Gorillaz, ktore jest projektem pana Damona Albarna, ktory pojawil sie juz na liscie przy Blurowych pickach i Jamiego Hewletta, ktory odpowiada w tym wypadku glownie za strone wizualna zespolu, bo jednak wirtualny zespol trzeba wykreowac, bo to wlasnie postacie jakie ten projekt stworzyl sa jedna z mocnych stron wciagajacych sluchacza, gorillazy maja swoje wlasne uniwersum z poteznym lore, ktore czesto i gesto plata sie z wydarzeniami swiata rzeczywistego, zwlaszcza w ostatniej fazie przez jaka przechodzi grupa, bo gorillazy trzeba nazwac banda, pod pod kazda z postaci kryje sie artysta i jego wlasny instrument, wiec czterech czlonkow za ktorymi kryje sie x muzykow, bo jednak jest to album mocno kolabowy, gdzie pan Damon jest glownym wokalista i lirykiem, ale jednak produkcja zostala dzielona z nikim innym jak Danem Automatorem, ktory w zamierzchlych latach, bo rok wydania tej plyty to 2k01, nie byl jeszcze tak uznanym producentem jak jest teraz, ale juz wtedy mial w dyskografii kilka ciekawych projektow jak so hows your girl z handsome boy modeling school, czy deltron 3030, czyli duet z delem, ktorego przemycil takze na Gorillazowy projekt, bo pomimo calej swojej eksperymentalnosci jak dla mnie jest to material na ktorym artysta rokowy stara sie dostosowac do standardow hip hopowych co daje ciekawe efekty, polaczenie popowo catchowatych hookow z tekstami o kilka tonow ciezszymi jak przystalo na rokowanie, a to wszystko na bitach elektronicznie lofikowych, bo ten album jest tez dobrym przykladem produkcji domowej, tak dobrze znanej nawet z mainstreamowych krazkow rapowych, jak chcoby wutangowe produkcje od RZA, tak tutaj domowe brzmienie nadaje albumowi pewnego ciepla i bliskosci do ktorej chetnie sie wraca, a jest do czego, bo blisko godzinna plyta jest tak roznorodna jak tylko moze byc material, ktory mial byc wielkim eksperymentem, ktory pokazal po raz kolejny, ze pan Damon potrafi w muzyke i nawet jak chce zrobic cos niemainstreamowego i zaprzeczajacego wczesniejszej filozofii jaka sie kierowal i tak zrobi z tego cos kultowego, bo taka wlasnie jest dla mnie ta plyta, nie bedzie pewnie niczym dziwnym, jesli ulubionymi kawalkami z tego materialu beda te ficzurujace Dela, czyli Clint Eastwood i Rock the House, ale nie jestem tutaj sam, bo oba te kawalki, a zwlaszcza Clintowy sa najbardziej granymi utworami plyty wedlug spotifaja, tak jak teraz slucham to strasznie uderza ile nowych sampli jestem w stanie wychwycic po tych podrozach w otchlanie listy, co jeszcze bardziej bardziej napelnia mnie podziwem dla pracy pana Automatora, bo robi on tutaj uzytek z tak szerokiego spekrum muzyki, ze az glowa boli, od Bo Diddleya, ktory nie tak dawno pojawil sie na liscie, przez omnichordy OM-300, po The Specials, wiec tak jak jestem hejterem dyskografii blurowej, tak jestem fangejem gorillazowej, a na plejke dodam Tommorow Comes Today i 19-2000, ktore pasuja na lofikowa liste, bo kawalki Delowe juz wczesniej mialem na rapowej, chociaz caly krazek leci do biblioteczki spotifajowej, bo jednak jest to plyta jedyna w swoim rodzaju, bo przeciez perwszy zachodni zespol wirtualny, jesli nie liczyc band ktore spiewaly w bajeczkach, jak wiki wspomina o wiewiorkach alwina lub bardziej na wschodzie o macrossie i wystepujacych tam spiewaczo wojownikach, z ktorymi wypadaloby sie kiedys zapoznac

I forgot about this album. I think I appreciate it a lot more now that I have aged.

Gott fyrstatugarpopp. Mistæk, en margt mjög skemmtilegt.

It’s good I’m just not getting as much out of it as I’d how to. It’s really like a high 3

I initially was not excited for this album but it really grew on me.

very good album, didnt love my first listen but it’s really grown on me. feels oddly similar to the avalanches

Ok album, enjoyed it more than my last listen, still only enjoy the album enough as background music

Whereas Demon Days is still pretty strong, I am quite a bit surprised that this album has stood the test of time and is in the list. Bought it on cd at the time, but never got into it. And now, 20 years later, became bored again quite soon by the concept and the general mediocrity of the song material. Of course, I am not talking about the two biggest singles: Clint Eastwood and 19-2000 (note that the Soulchild remix is much better than the original version). The other two singles are ok too. The rest is 1-2-3 star. So three stars overall seems about right.

Damon Albarn is an interesting artist that tries new things all the time, but this album did not work for me.

Interesting sound. Worthy of more listens

Desperately bland

Meh, I'm just not a big Gorillaz fan. It's kinda quirky and weird concept album, a couple good radio tracks, but other than that, I don't love it.

I never thought Gorrillaz would amount to anything more than a novelty. I was right.

A mediocre collection of songs that forms the debut album by 'the world's first virtual band'. There's not a lot of substance behind the novelty on show here. Based on the singles I would have expected this to be much more varied in style, but most of it is fairly uninteresting guitar music. Another Damon Albarn project with a couple of catchy singles but little depth in quality. Rating: 2/5 Playlist track: Clint Eastwood Date listened: 20/05/22

More than stands the test of time.

not my fav gorillaz album, but a goodie nonetheless!

Mostly uninteresting and boring dance music. 2 🌟

What a debut! Gorillas bring everything into this. A decade defining single, catchy choruses everywhere and solid production. Damon Albarn has always had talent but being able to mask himself behind Jamie Hewletts animation elevated him, obviously!

3/5 11/05/22 Good first album, quite experimental and original but still fun to listen.

I think we are lucky to have Damon

Lots of hits. Lots of misses.

Good. 3/5

a band and album that cannot really be pinned to one genre, very creative without being annoying 4/5 is a personal favorite as skater song

Ah, un classique que j'ai appris à aimer avec les années. À sa sortie, je n'étais vraiment pas intéressé par le Hip Hop et Clint Eastwood me donnait l'impression d'un album entièrement dans cette veine. Par contre, j'avoue avoir été séduit par le fond de cette chanson et avoir finalement apprivoisé le flow par dessus. J'ai fini par avoir l'album plus tard et c'est finalement très diversifié et je trouve que la construction des pièces d'une façon plus proche justement du Hip Hop mais en y incorporant plein d'autres éléments rend le tout rafraîchissant. C'est aujourd'hui un album que j'aime beaucoup et qui vieillit très bien. Pièces préférées: Clint Eastwood, Rock the House, Tomorrow Comes Today, 19-2000, Latin Simone (Que Past Contigo)

The kind of deep funk tracks I needed for the day. These were some good songs when they hit the radio. They should have made the advisory sticker HUGE and part of the cover art design, because screw those people.

spooky

Vibes and a couple iconic tunes.

p good

As someone who learned violin via the Suzuki Method, absolutely losing my mind at "Left Hand Suzuki Method"

That was really boring.

Some pretty cool grooves. 3 stars.

Novel, kind of interesting

nije mi njihov najbolji album

The filler is properly crap

the music that we choose

listened to again has some great tracks but a lot of filler

Damon Albarn's first forays into something a little more experimental than Blur's usual stuff. An interesting mix of dance, electronica, hip-hop and indie (hard to detach Damon's... sorry 2-D's vocals from Blur)

Instrumental grooves and chill Latin beats

This is quite far from my taste, but somehow one of my favourite band and this album is a masterpiece. In my opinion the most exciting song is Double Bass, which is quite unexpected.

Nice alternative album by the gorillaz. They have their own style and it’s pretty awesome. A few songs on this album drag it out and could’ve been cut off but most this album is good. Clint Eastwood is a solid song. 6.9/10

I find it doesn't achieve the same effect on me that this album used to have in its day, but it's still a great and innovative album nevertheless. It literally took me years to be able to get the klezmer inspired Clint Eastwood tune out of my head, and it's not like there is a shortage of breakthroughs in this album otherwise: M1 A1 is an all time favourite I'd gladly point a finger at.

Liked even better than when it just came out.

I really remember enjoying this album when I was young. It's super not my vibe anymore, Clint eastwood is forever a solid banger though. No lies can be told there.

Rock alternativo. Un megahit. Un 4.

Bien

Wanted to like it, but was just background music.

I know two songs by the Gorillaz before listening to this album. Clint Eastwood from this album and Feel Good Inc. from the second album. After listening to this album Clint Eastwood is still the one that stands out. None of the other songs are as good as it. The songs are generally uninspiring. I dont have a need to listen to this whole album again. Probably should be a 2.7 but I will round up.

This is a good album. I remember the first time I listened to some of these songs a couple of decades ago with my friends and how special it was for me. After listening to it again I see that it still sounds fresh and unique. Good music to bring good vibes

I only know like two songs by these guys. You know an album is going to be interesting when Wikipedia doesn't know what genre it is. "Alternative rock / art pop / hip-hop / lo-fi"? What the hell does that even mean? Okay, this is pretty good overall. "Clint Eastwood" is the one song I heard before and I think it's also the best one. There's some pretty unremarkable ones here as well, like "Man Research (Clapper)" and "New Genius (Brother)". Those songs aren't bad, just kind of boring. Pretty sure that's the lo-fi part.

So coooool… Nice one here

It's not my favourite Gorillaz album but I do like it. It has its weaker and stronger tracks but overall a great variety.

Some interesting arrangements but no songs that particular grabbed me.

Pretty good but I didn't get that much out of it to be honest

No where near as good as I remembered but a few gems.

Not my cup of tea besides a couple of singles.

Very good

Enjoyable

Doesn’t float my boat

Ahhh, simpler times. We had just survived Y2K, and everything felt fresh and new. I remember being thrilled when Blur and Bay Area hyphy collided in this stunning debut, although I couldn't for the life of me remember any of this music, save Clint Eastwood of course. A fun musical journey, whether or not it's familiar.

Excelente

Good, but no Demon Days. Didn't add (and already own Demon Days).

If Screamdelica had been better, it would have sounded like this, which is still only okay.

Kiinnostavaa, yks biisi meni listallekin. Alku oli tosi jees, loppua kohden lähti vähän laukalle. Mut hauskaa et tuli suositus, kun oon jonkin aikaa jo miettiny bändiin tutustumista tarkemmin. Tän perusteella kannattaa jatkaa.

Brilliant concept, well helmed...

Great Indie nostalgia.

I had an annoying, unidentifiable song permanently lodged in my head from 2013 - 2019. It turns out it's "Rock the House." Good to have some closure. I like the album otherwise, a nice halfway house between trip and hip hop. "19-2000" is a forgotten gem.

okay

The cool shoeshine

Not bad, but not great. The two obvious stand out tracks, but the rest are so-so

I didn’t get a chance to listen but a friend I work with at the Food Bank said it was her favourite album. Also it’s the only band the App sent that my son Dylan went to see in concert without me. Prob not the best rating analysis but 4 it is.

I was only familiar with Gorillaz hits until now. I found the LP got off to a so-so start with the first two songs, but really picked up after that. The sequence of songs that begins with New Genius (brother) is great and there’s absolutely no filler until the end of the album. I especially like Sound Check (Gravity). The cast of characters that Damon Albarn brings in keeps it fresh and you never know what to expect. Despite the high level of creativity and genre swings it all hangs together nicely (even Ibrahim Ferrer sounds like he belongs)! A great album.

I've heard their singles over the years but I've never had a chance to listen to the full album previously but I'm happy to discover that this is a really good album! I've been listening to Damon Albarn lately but I'm not as familiar with his early stuff with Gorillaz but this seems to be a great place to start. Love the nods to Ennio Morricone and Augustus Pablo's recorder on Clint Eastwood and Tomorrow comes today. Really good arrangements and clever writing throughout. Nice to see that this still sounds pretty fresh despite the fact that its over 20 yrs old.

Also really mfing good and interesting

tap your toes and clap your haaaaands

BANGER!!

Not into it, though I do like the hit from this album, Clint Eastwood, alright.

Enjoyable dance/rock album from one of Blur's founding members. 3.5 🌟

This is all over the place but the highs are high

Pretty good. A little long.

shit

An interesting album with an unique sound. "Clint Eastwood" is phenomenal, but the rest of the album, although good doesn't live up to the standard set by that song.

The next two Gorillaz albums are better, but I guess this one's included for cultural significance. When I first heard it I remember being surprised by how many tracks seemed more like sonic experiments than fully formed songs, and I think that's true of the band as a whole at this point: an interesting experiment that would become more well-realised over time. The eclecticism was there from the start, though; I love 5/4, Tomorrow Comes Today & Slow Country for very different reasons. And I reckon Clint Eastwood remains their 'definitive' track - it still sounds fresh today. A fun, quirky listen: 3.5 stars.

My dad gifted me this album after accidentally buying it for himself (he got them confused with the The Avalanches). Great album with far more big recognisable tunes than I remembered. Easy ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

interessante, já conhecia algumas das musicas do album

The skeleton of the unmistakable sound of Gorillaz is there but not fully realised. Personally, I think Plastic Beach is the best example of their musical ingenuity and I think they really shine when they collaborate with other artists, a thing which is lacking in their debut album (compared to their other albums). Something which I’ve always appreciated Gorillaz for is their willingness to experiment with sounds and there is a nice variety here. Overall, not their best work but it’s definitely not bad either. Fave tracks: Clint Eastwood/19-2000 Leave fave track: Sound Check (Gravity)

Garbage. Didn’t like this. Was never a fan of Blur and Damon Albarn’s voice just grates on me. Nil point. (Said in a French accent France 🇫🇷)

4.5/5

yes let’s fucking GO 4.8

<3

Tepid. Boring. Pedestrian. Damon Albarn coasting because of a post-grunge hangover?

It’s hard to say whether this album simply pales in comparison to the Gorillaz albums to come after it, or if it’s really just too slight and sketchy (I lean towards this; it feels more like Albarn and co. are exploring rather than establishing), but it’s wild that *this* is the Gorillaz album to hear before you die. St. Peter will turn your ass around and send you back if you think you’re just gonna shuffle off without hearing Demon Days or Plastic Beach.

Has some okay moments, but overall it didn't really do much for me. I felt like the singer was just mocking the whole thing, then after listening for a while I read the Wikipedia entry on this album and this group, and I guess that was the point (maybe?). I don't know. Didn't change my experience of the music, though. Some decent hooks and interesting moments, but not enough to make me want to come back to this.