Gorillaz - The SinglesCollection 2001-2011

Wed 22nd Feb, 2012 in Music Reviews

Right from their original conception in 1998, virtual musical outfit Gorillaz has had a high degree of success both in critical acclaim and mainstream adoration both for the musical content provided by Blur frontman Damon Albarn as well as the animation produced by comic-book visionary Jamie Hewlett.

Despite the fact that having animated band members was a strong selling point when Gorillaz first made their appearance, it was the cross-genre innovations that were the main reason for the group’s success. By infusing traditional hip-hop, pop, electronic and dub musical styles together, Albarn had created something brand new; something the world hadn’t quite fully experienced before.

Into the actual review of this CD however, The Singles Collection 2001-2011 is essentially one of Albarn’s trophy cabinets, a mantelpiece to proudly display the 13 incredible singles which all charted favourably across the globe. The compilation consists of tracks from the band’s three albums – Gorillaz, Demon Days and Plastic Beach .

Spanning from their first single, Clint Eastwood, all the way through to the most recent Doncamatic, The Singles Collection truly accentuates the variation in Gorillaz’ (and more so Albarn’s) musical versatility. As the band developed, the clear shift between hip-hop to rock to electronica is made evident in the space of one disc representing 10 years of Gorillaz’ music.

In a world where digital downloads have taken over and people are preferring to download their favourite tracks as opposed to the purchase of full length LPs, some could say that a singles collection is a somewhat irrelevant release. However this collection is predominantly targeted at fans who will enjoy the miscellaneous music videos and bonus features included on the DVD section of the deluxe edition.

There are no massive positive selling points about this release other than the fact that is a celebration of Gorillaz and their extremely successful career. Their music is still as relevant as it was 10 years ago and despite the fact that it isn’t necessarily a relevant compilation, each of Gorillaz’ singles are worth celebrating, and The Singles Collection aims to and achieves just that.