As a long-time fan of the various musical outpourings of the brilliant Damon Albarn, from Blur to Gorillaz, from Dr Dee to The Good, The Bad & The Queen, I have to admit to a sense of anti-climax after listening to this latest release a dozen times or so. Musically it's as accomplished as you'd expect, and with musicians such as The Red Hot Chilli Pepper's bassist 'Flea', and Soul giant Erykah Badu, there's plenty of quality on board here. The problem for me is the lack of any real variety or intricacy on the album; the bass lines are taut but repetitive, while that old cliche 'they all sound the same', is unerringly resonant after several listens. I have to say that one of the things I've always liked about the records made by Albarn is his distinctive voice, but he only sings on two tracks here.
Rocket Juice and the Moon is a decent mix-tape of funk oriented sessions from some brilliant musicians, however I think it's high time that Albarn stretched himself a little more; surely his genre-hopping of recent years is what's made his musical output so consistently appealing.