Marks out of 10 for Now Now

[Neal Zeal]

For context, it would be handy to know what you'd give Humanz, Magic Whip and Everyday Robots, too.
Thanks.

[JackS]

9... one of the strongest collections of songs Damon has done for a while and they actually work together rather than sounding like a playlist. Short, sweet and consistent

Humanz... 7... it's ok, I didn't hate it, but too many collaborations and there is filler (Carnival, SMP, Charger - the last two from this list admittedly great live - always wonder how much better Humanz would have been with some live instrumentation)

TMW: 8. Very, very good but let down by: Pyongyang not being as good as the live version, I Broadcast not being brilliant, slightly strange ordering (Lonesome - NWT - Go Out; NWT sticks out like a sore thumb there)

ER: 6.5... has some great songs but too many I struggle to listen to (Mr Tembo - bit jarring, You & Me is very difficult to sit though). Just don't find myself listening to it very often. Works well in the autumn / winter.

[tom_cas1]

8/10 for me.

[Mark72]

8/10

[TripleJay97]

Light 7.

[Rubi]

8/10 - I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. Solid record with no bad tracks in it.

Humanz - 7/10. I liked it, but the many, many collaborations made it an estranged Gorillaz record.
The Magic Whip - 8/10. It might not be Blur's best album, but I really enjoyed it. The whole anticipation of a new Blur record, which I thought would never happen, made it very special.
Everyday Robots - 5/10. Never really got into it. Very meh for my taste.

[dougharrison]

Should for context say that I'm marking these based on Damon's previous work as a benchmark, rather than against music as a whole (which would give higher scores)

TNN - 6.25 a little bereft of either variety of ideas or full development. Feels like the album The Fall could have been. Which in Gorillaz/Damon terms, is a bit like Alan Partridge sayings his favourite band is 'Wings - the band The Beatles could have been.'

Humanz - 7.5 certainly less consistent than TNN and plenty of filler that I would never return to, but some exceptional highs - beautiful, poignant and funny in places - She's My Collar is one of the best songs Damon has been involved in for a long time.

TMW - 8.75 Almost gave it a 9 or higher, TIWAS and TATMOU are stand outs for me that show Blur still have new territory they could explore (as also shown by Ghost Ship of course) - treads a delicate line between being retrospective and progressive well, although I still struggle a little with Lonesome Street and Go Out being a bit too similar to past glories, although both are very good songs in their own right.

ER - 6.5 could almost copy and paste my TNN review here, but Me (from You & Me) and Mr Tenbo make this a slightly more varied and interesting record to my ears.

[daii]

humanz 6/10
the now now 7/10

[Forever Low Man]

9/10 best gorillaz album
this is not up for debate

[elasticaman]

a 3 at best

magic whip, everyday robots, and humanz also rank as 3s for me... of the 4 albums im most likely to revisit ER

however those 3 albums, whilst being uneven messes, at least have some stand out tracks (photographs, heavy seas, busted & blue, pyongyang)

The Now Now, i played it through twice yesterday, and couldn't hum any of it to you today... maybe a 3 was too high

[Styopa]

A 7 for me. I've really enjoyed listening to it so far and Magic City is among my favourite Damon songs of the last ten years.
There are some very fine songs on here - Humility, Kansas, Idaho and Souk Eye being the other stand outs for me - but as an album overall I don't think it has nearly the same spark as the first three Gorillaz albums which I would give 8s and 9s. It feels low key and comparisons to The Fall are valid, which isn't necessarily a bad thing by the way.

Using Damon's previous work as a benchmark, my view would be that he's been operating in or around the '7's for quite a few years now, with Everyday Robots at perhaps the lower end of that spectrum, say 6.6 and The Magic Whip at the higher end of the spectrum say 7.7.

[John_d]

TNN - I said a few years ago about a potential Phase 4 - "In 2016 I would welcome a "quick" gorillaz record that isn't weighed down by guest spots all over it. Regardless of record sales, plastic beach was definitely missing a killer single or 2. It may be that damons knack for writing these has gone…If so that's ok, even stellar talents like Bowie and madonna only manage 15 - 20 years max at the vanguard - Damon managed about 13 (there's no other way - feel good inc). But it would be great if he chose a producer who would challenge him". I think TNN is what I wanted! He has been harassed into singing a bit more clearly! I get the feeling "Hollywood" was a condition of getting the rest of the album greenlit by EMI - have at least one thing which recognisably followed the formula. There are several truly great songs on TNN - Tranz and Souk Eye are both incredible - I'm not sure you could say that about any track on Humanz. 8/10

Humanz - I like Humanz up til around Busted and Blue. The rest of it, not so much. Even then I accept a lot of the stuff up to Busted and Blue is pretty whacky. So if a lot of people aren't into it, I can understand why. 7/10

TMW - it was a lot of fun getting a new Blur album, a lovely surprise, and it was a good album too. I wasn't really into Lonesome Street as it sounded like a strange throwback, a weaker MLIR track perhaps. Blur have never went backwards like that before. I liked the sentiment of Go Out, and the tune was a grower, but it's never going to be a proper great Blur song. Ghost Ship and Ong Ong were on the other hand excellent, and should in my opinion have been the 2 singles. I a m pretty sure Ghost Ship is the sort of runaway sleeper hit of this album, racking up lots of Spotify plays. Is it more than a co-incidence that "Humility" sounds quite like it? The album reminded me that so many Blur songs have been elevated due to the band's (particularly Graham's) incredible musicianship. 7/10

ER - Damon was apparently going to be challenged by Richard Russell, but I didn't hear it. Too many of the songs were of the stoner mid-tempo Damon likes defaulting to. You + Me was magnificent. Title track was a dirge. 5/10

[northernmonkey]

It would be an 8 for me, this really is a beutiful piece of work, great production, melodies and nice to see Damon (2D) take centre stage for most of the album. There isn't a bad song on the album and one I can listen to from start to finish (unlike Humanz). Standout tracks at the moment would be Tranz (loving this more by the day), One Percent, Magic City & Souk Eye. For me the negatives towards the album is that it is a tad short and some of the songs could have lasted longer, which is also a positive towards the songs themselves, examples of this are One Percent and Idaho end too soon and wouldn't mind just to have the chorus just repeating for a bit longer maybe.

Magic Whip is an 8 for me, at the time of release I would have maybe said a 9, but now the dust has settled its an 8. Much like TNN it is great as a standalone album, it may not have the hit singles of the past but the songs themselves are very strong (and very Blur).

Humanz is a 6 - Very hit and miss in places, there are a few songs I skip, but the main issue is that there is huge gaps without any Damon and you do wonder if you are listening to Gorillaz. It does have standout tracks such as Saturn Barz, Andomeda & She's my Collar, which add enough to the Gorillaz legacy.

Everyday Robots - 5/6 - Some nice enough songs on this such as Hostles, Mr Tembo and You and Me but I just haven't gelled with much of the album and not impressed by the production. Not what I had hoped for from Damon's first official solo album.

[blurop4]

Still taking TNN and getting a feel for the album as a whole in so too early to vote, but I am loving Lake Zurich in particular. I was always a big fan of Glitter Freeze and aspects of Zurich remind me of Glitter. Generally positive vibes so far though!

I really enjoy all of TMW, ER, and Humanz. Probably in that order with TMW & ER at 7.5/10 and Humanz at 6.5/10.

[MsMagicAmerica]

I'd rank the Now Now an 8/10. It's a very good album. I really like it a lot.

Magic Whip 8.5/10. I love every song but I Broadcast and Ong Ong

HUmaz 4/10 I really didn't like this album at all, but I do like 3 songs from it.

Everyday Robots 6/10 Just too meh for me