Minstrel

Neither Alex James nor "one of the others" are credited as being part of the group, so I'm completely unconvinced any of them besides Albarn are seriously involved with the Gorillaz.

Based on what do you give Albarn sole credit for their songs? All the members are given composer credit. That doesn't mean all of them were equally involved, but I've certainly read that Coxon was an important member of the song-writing.

And with the Gorillaz, Albarn is assuredly not the sole composer. The entire point of the Gorillaz is that they are all contributors to creating the music.

So the idea that Albarn, alone, makes the Gorillaz essentially identical to Blur is absurd. Albarn wasn't the sole driver of Blur and he's definitely not the sole driver of Gorillaz. The Gorillaz sound nothing like Blur because the song-writing dynamics are different with all the completely different members.

Thanks. I've reflected and find your points without merit.

__________________
"Blow your tuneless trumpet, the choice is yours / We don't want the glamour, the pomp and the drums / The Dublin messiah scattering crumbs"