Demon Days, the follow up to the Gorillaz’s eponymous 2001 debut, was one of the most accomplished pop albums of last year.
Although apocalyptic in its take on society and its brooding satire of popular culture and the music industry; its reconciliation of a dark electronic palette and dystopian lyrics with gorgeous melodies created an album that is intelligent and accessible.
Gorillaz Demon Days Live, shot in November last year at the Manchester Opera House, is a mammoth production that made use of 87 musicians and singers to create a live experience for frontman Damon Albarn and animator Jamie Hewlett.
Set against various-sized screens, Albarn’s silhouette is almost indiscernible, surrounded by a seven-piece band, a choir and a bank of strings, bringing into question the banal cult of the pop star — a fundamental of the Gorillaz project.
Albarn directs the slightly anonymous group effortlessly from his piano, unflinchingly oblivious to the crowd until the end.
The appearance of guests such as the Happy Mondays’s Shaun Ryder (Dare), disco-fabulous Ike Turner (Every Planet we Reach is Dead) and De La Soul (Feel Good Inc) provides the crowd with the only acknowledgement of ritualised engagement familiar at live-music performances. But there is never a moment of complete disengagement: Hewlett’s graphics and images, archive material of performers and the sheer musicality ensure that. Albarn doesn’t have to rub himself up against the stage rigging to engage with the crowd, he need only allow his voice to soar.
The performance runs through the 15 songs on Demon Days and the gamut of its musical brushstrokes that range from the mo-funk electronica on Dirty Harry to the reggae groove that infiltrates Last Living Souls at its culmination. The concert concludes with Hong Kong, featuring Zeng Zhen on the Chinese zither, and Latin Simone and the inevitable sense that substance and style are not mutually exclusive in the contemporary pop music canon.
DVD Reviews
Revolver Records is an independent label with a history of recording local gospel and reggae artists. The imprint now primarily licenses international releases for local reproduction. Its catalogue is predominantly reggae but includes a spectrum of “black music”, which, I suppose, means gospel, maskanda and vintage R&B. The label has recently released a slew of classic reggae performances on DVD. While the “lower-income African market” (which is apparently the imprint’s target market) may delight at concerts such as Bob Marley’s timeless outing at the Rainbow at almost half price, the generally poor reproduction of these products renders them expendable and the increased accessibility of reggae archives (thanks to the Trojan label) renders some of these products redundant. Nevertheless, the concerts captured here are worth purchasing purely for historical reasons. Below are some of the more noteworthy ones. — Kwanele Sosibo
Peter Tosh Live at Berkley
Peter Tosh (Revolver Records)
This DVD captures Peter Tosh promoting the Mama Africa album in Los Angeles. Known for his warbling performances and incendiary rhetoric, the Stepping Razor keeps this one tight, delivering blistering renditions of hits such as African, Equal Rights and then-new material such as Not Gonna Give It Up and Glass House. Even though the picture quality has not improved from the original, this is an important snapshot of an artist at the zenith of his career. — Kwanele Sosibo
Home To My Roots
(Revolver records)
Revolver has been peddling different versions of this momentous concert documentary for a while now. Instead of the famous 1988 Burning Spear show in Paris, which was included in the original to add value, this release substitutes the extra concert with a new Burning Spear video and EPK, as well as visuals from the studio sessions of Is it Rolling, Bob? — a tribute to Bob Dylan. The quality of the concert footage is tolerable, but the interspersed interviews comprise standard issue Rasta clichés. — Kwanele Sosibo
Reggae Sunsplash Live
(Revolver records)
This film documents the second Reggae Sunsplash concert, an event that has since become an annual fixture on the Jamaican concert calendar. Although it features snippets of Bob Marley’s first performance in Jamaica since the legendary One Love Peace Concert and includes snippets from Peter Tosh and Burning Spear, it is the film’s off-stage idiosyncracies that lend it charm. The cameras wander aimlessly and film random encounters with off-kilter Nyabinghi drummers and dodgy ganja cultivators. The result is a strangely insightful film about the lifestyle that informs the music. — Kwanele Sosibo