Gorillaz (album)

Untitled

Gorillaz is the debut album by the British band Gorillaz, released in March 2001. It includes the singles "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Rock the House" and "Tomorrow Comes Today". The album reached #3 in the UK, and was an unexpected hit in the U.S., hitting #14 and selling over seven million copies worldwide.

Album information

Throughout the album the band experiments with many combinations of genres, including hip-hop, rock, Latin, punk, dub, acid, and reggae. Gorillaz was released as an Enhanced CD that included a short movie.

In 2004, the album was packaged with 2002's Laika Come Home in a limited edition box set as part of EMI's "2CD Originals" collection. The beginning of the song "M1 A1" features a successive sound clip from the movie Day of the Dead. The song "Slow Country" features a sample from The Specials' 1981 single "Ghost Town". A sampled loop from "In the Hall of the Mountain Queen" by Raymond Scott is repeated throughout the song "Man Research (Clapper)". The song's title is a nod to Raymond Scott's Manhattan Research, Inc.

Reception

• Rolling Stone (6/21/01, p. 78) – 3 stars out of 5 - "A playful piece of genre-squishing art pop. Inspired by the punky reggae parties of Sandinista!-era Clash....running with anything-goes avant-aesthetic."
• Spin (1/02, p. 76) - Ranked #6 in Spin's "Albums of the Year 2001."
• Spin (6/01, p. 148) – 7 out of 10 - "A multiculti grasp of the sweetest kind....Easy on the ears because they know the difference between calling people up and casting them."
• Q magazine (5/01, p. 115) – 4 stars out of 5 - "With its creepily urban feel, and innocent, nursery-rhyme quality of the melodies, Gorillaz couldn't be further from a self-consciously arch 'art' supergroup."
• Alternative Press (2/02, p. 65) - Ranked #15 in AP's "25 Best Albums of 2001".
• Alternative Press (7/01, p. 68) – 8 out of 10 - "Brilliant"
• Magnet (6-7/01, pp. 89–90) - "Nothing short of sheer musical buggery."
• Muzik (5/01, p. 66) – 5 out of 5 - "Genre-splicing, sample-collaging, spliffed-out hip hop...standing head and shoulders over anything Blur have ever achieved...and even overshadows much of Dan The Automator's recent output."
• Mojo (4/01, p. 98) - "A funky...meld of dub, reggae, hip hop, world music, pop and thrash punk....Electric, upbeat, and actually very good."
• NME (12/29/01, p. 59) - Ranked #48 in NME's 50 "Albums of the Year 2001".
• Included in 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
• Gorillaz was placed on Slant Magazine's list of best albums of the 2000s at number 96.

Track listing

1. "Re-Hash" (feat. Miho Hatori) – 3:38
2. "5/4" – 2:41
3. "Tomorrow Comes Today" – 3:13
4. "New Genious (Brother)" – 3:57
5. "Clint Eastwood" (feat. Del tha Funkee Homosapien) – 5:41
6. "Man Research (Clapper)" – 4:29
7. "Punk" – 1:36
8. "Sound Check (Gravity)" – 4:40
9. "Double Bass" – 4:44
10. "Rock the House" (feat. Del tha Funkee Homosapien) – 4:09
11. "19-2000" (feat. Miho Hatori and Tina Weymouth) – 3:27
12. "Latin Simone (¿Qué Pasa Contigo?)" (feat. Ibrahim Ferrer) – 3:36
13. "Starshine" – 3:31
14. "Slow Country" – 3:35
15. "M1 A1" – 3:55 (10:40 inc spacing/hidden track)

UK/Europe/US Clean hidden track

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Clint Eastwood (Ed Case/Sweetie Irie Refix)"	4:29

UK reissue bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
16.	"Clint Eastwood (Ed Case/Sweetie Irie Edit)"	3:42
17.	"19-2000 (Soulchild Remix)"	3:27

US bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
16.	"Dracula"	4:43
17.	"Left Hand Suzuki Method"	3:10
18.	"19-2000 (Soulchild Remix)"	3:27
19.	"Clint Eastwood (Ed Case/Sweetie Irie Edit)"	3:42

US Clean bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
16.	"Dracula"	4:43
17.	"Left Hand Suzuki Method"	3:10

French CD 2

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Dracula"	4:43
2.	"Hip Albatross"	3:43
3.	"Left Hand Suzuki Method"	3:10
4.	"The Sounder"	6:16

The Korean edition includes, within its enchanced content, the promotional video for "Rock the House". Many versions alternate between containing the "¿Qué Pasa Contigo?" version of "Latin Simone" or the original (with Damon Albarn).

Singles and EPs

• Tomorrow Comes Today (EP) released before the album was released, a promo video was also released.
• "Clint Eastwood" was the first single from the album. It was released on 4 March 2001, just a few weeks before the album and peaked at #4 in the UK and #57 in the United States.
• "19-2000" was the second single, released in June 2001. Peaked at #6 in the UK charts.
• "Rock the House" was the third single, released in October 2001. Peaked at #18 in the UK charts.
• "Tomorrow Comes Today" was the fourth and final single from the album, released almost a year after the album, in February 2002. It peaked at #33 in the UK charts. A DVD, a white-label and a CD single were released. Prior to the release of Gorillaz, "Tomorrow Comes Today" had been released as an EP on 27 November 2000.
• As stated in Gorillaz: Rise of the Ogre, "5/4" was repeatedly considered for a single and video, but was edged out by "19-2000" and "Rock the House".

Personnel

Fictional

• "2D" (voiced by Damon Albarn) - lead vocals, keyboards, piano
• "Noodle" (voiced by Miho Hatori and Tina Weymouth) - guitar, backing vocals
• "Murdoc" (voiced by Phil Cornwell (on occasions only) - bass guitar
• "Russel" - drums, percussion
• "Del the Ghost Rapper" (voiced by Del tha Funkee Homosapien) [contained within "Russel"] - raps

Real-life

• Del tha Funkee Homosapien - guest vocals on "Clint Eastwood" and "Rock the House"
• Ibrahim Ferrer - guest vocals on "Latin Simone (¿Qué Pasa Contigo?)"

External links

• Gorillaz at Metacritic