Gorillaz

The good part about being a fictional cartoon band that has their music supplied by popular cult musicians is that even the B-sides need to be carefully calculated. Instead of getting the lowbrow toss-aways that haunt most collections like this, Gorillaz supply listeners with some high-quality toss-aways instead. The most ear-pleasing tracks come from teaming with rapper Phi Life Cypher, who adds a bizarre hardcore rap to the remix of "Clint Eastwood," which also benefits from a well-rounded breakdown. "Sounder," their other collaboration, is a hip-hop/blues mix featuring Damon Albarn squeaking out the lyrics to a clever Automator beat. "Faust" is an interesting elevator music experiment, while the poppy "12d3" is the closest this project has ever come to sounding like Albarn's Blur. "Hip Albatross" is a disturbing sound collage featuring Albarn's weak voice rambling beneath the creepiness, while the awesome "Ghost Train" is like Prince filtered through Kraftwerk. Some very good remixes of "Left Hand Suzuki Method" and "19-2000" are included, and the two other tracks are just revisiting from the first album under the guise of an "edit." This is a pretty good album that does not take the easy way out often. A few tracks are questionable (and leaving off the "9 11" single is a big mistake), but fans should be happy with the rare material found here. ~ Bradley Torreano, All Music Guide