GORILLAZ

The Singles Collection
2001-2011
Parlophone

It’s hard to believe it has already been 10 years since Blur front-man and all-round musical bad ass Damon Albarn unleashed his animated concept band, Gorillaz. With three major albums, and one minor release this year, Gorillaz have given radio stations plenty of catchy tunes to spin. To mark the 10 year occasion Parlophone has put together an album that neatly compiles all the band’s best hits.

The title of this collection is strangely a tad inaccurate. It opens with Tomorrow Comes Today, the band’s first hit and still my favourite ‘rillaz track, but it actually made its debut in 2010 on its own EP. The Singles Collection 2001-2011 also ends with hits taken off 2010’s Plastic Beach and single Doncamatic, released in 2010.

Title nitpicking aside, I couldn’t help but notice how much better the start of the album, or hits off the band’s debut, still trumps their later work. Del the Funky Homosapien, who memorably made early hits Clint Eastwood and Rock The House, sadly didn’t collaborate on any more tracks. As much as I love the later two LPs, they never captured the fun of that debut album.

The only track not on an LP (depending on what copy of the self-titled Gorillaz LP you have) is Doncamatic, a single released at the end of 2010. This collection isn’t likely to bring any surprises to old fans, but does stand as a nice gift to the marginal Gorillaz fan.

_TOM VARIAN

xpressradio by X-Press Magazine

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