The attentive among you may remember my blog on last summers jaunt to Hyde Park to see the penultimate gig Blur are ever likely to play, and it was brilliant. Cut to 2010 and the release of Plastic Beach, the latest and last Gorillaz album. It reviewed brilliantly, even though the 5* review from Q Magazine was written by the hated Dave Everley (happily he barely mentioned Rhinestone Eyes, confirming my view that he knows FA about music), so I bought it. Yeah that's right, an actual CD, remember them?
It arrived, I listened, I wasn't particularly impressed. I listened to it again, appreciated it slightly more, except for one song. Rhinestone Eyes. It's just brilliant. It sits four tracks in, by itself. Much has been made of the diverse list of collaborators, but Rhinestone Eyes is just Damon. There's no rapping to be found, just a gentle, far-off vocal and tasteful synths. Its all very melancholic, evocative of a time gone-by, nostalgic even, chock full of lines like "Your Rhinestone Eyes are like factories far away". And then there's the chorus, so simple yet so effective. I can't describe it to be honest.
But better than his Blur output? The other heavyweight Gorillaz tracks? Really? I'm just going to put this out there. Yes it is. The reason I love the Blur so much is mostly because of the Hyde Park gig - the songs just...lift. But stuck on a CD they feel cramped, none more so than Tender, and whilst it's not hard to imagine thousands singing in unison along with it, it nevertheless lacks the punch of the live version. Rhinestone Eyes doesn't have this problem, and can still hold its own, musically and lyrically.
It is pretty cool yeah
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