I don't know what it is about Gorillaz, but whatever it is, I can't get into 'em. Throughout my teens, I was a big Blur fan. To this day, I have a great respect for Damon Albarn. There's no doubting his ability to write a cracking and catchy ditty and, on his day, has a wonderful turn of phrase. However, since Blur went cold, I've not been able to really get into anything he's done.

I scratch my head often wondering what may have changed my mind. Am I a pop snob? I can't be. I still like the Parklife LP, and The Good, The Bad and The Queen is hardly standard pop. So have I simply grown out of Damon Albarn's stylings? I don't think so. Gorillaz have done some pretty good tunes... so what is it? The only thing I can think of is the lack of Graham Coxon.

For me, all the best songwriters have had a good foil. For every Jagger dandyism, he's got a Keef to slap him down with a chooglin' riff. For every moment of McCartney whimsy, you had a Lennon sneer. This is why solo projects never work out as well as band-outputs (in most cases at any rate).

So with that, even though Albarn is making credible and accessible music in post-Coxon era Blur, he's missing that awkward grime that so often featured in a great Blur number. I mean, long gone are the days of "Sing", "Badhead" and "Colin Zeal". Without Coxon, Albarn is able to strut and pose like a heavyweight champ... even though that's not why we loved him in the first place. Maybe that's it. Albarn needs an awkward and shy foil to match his cocksure attitude. Until then, I'm just gonna puzzle.

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