| Plastic Beach |  | Artist: Gorillaz
Label: Virgin Records
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
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Rating:  88 reviews
Sales Rank: 184
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.3
EAN: 5099962754729
ASIN: B0035G9ABQ
Release Date: March 9, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Orchestral Intro (featuring Sinfonia ViVA) | | • | Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach (feat. Snoop Dogg & Hypnotic Brass Ensemble) | | • | White Flag (feat. Kano, Bashy & The National Orchestra For Arabic Music) | | • | Rhinestone Eyes | | • | Stylo (feat. Bobby Womack & Mos Def) | | • | Superfast Jellyfish (feat. Gruff Rhys & De La Soul) | | • | Empire Ants (feat. Little Dragon) | | • | Glitter Freeze (feat. Mark E Smith) | | • | Some Kind Of Nature (feat. Lou Reed) | | • | On Melancholy Hill | | • | Broken | | • | Sweepstakes (feat. Mos Def & Hypnotic Brass Ensemble) | | • | Plastic Beach (feat. Mick Jones & Paul Simonon) | | • | To Binge (feat. Little Dragon) | | • | Cloud Of Unknowing (feat. Bobby Womack and Sinfonia ViVA) | | • | Pirate Jet |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Five years on from the release of Demon Days, Murdoc Niccals and co. return with Plastic Beach. The band have taken up residence, recording on a secret floating island deep in the South Pacific, a Plastic Beach HQ, made up of the detritus, debris and washed up remnants of humanity. This Plastic Beach is the furthest point from any landmass on Earth; the most deserted spot on the planet.
The world s biggest animated band, Gorillaz formed in 1998, and have since sold 12 million copies over two albums Gorillaz (2000) and Demon Days (2005). They have hit number 1 in more than a dozen countries and picked up awards including Grammys, Novellos, VMAs and EMAs.
Plastic Beach is produced by Gorillaz.
Album Description
Long awaited 2010 album from the genre-defying animated musical collective. Five years on from the release of Demon Days, Murdoc Niccals and Co. return with Plastic Beach. The band have taken up residence, recording on a secret floating island deep in the South Pacific, a plastic beach HQ, made up of the detritus, debris and washed up remnants of humanity. This plastic beach is the furthest point from any landmass on earth; the most deserted spot on the planet. As the world's biggest animated band, Gorillaz formed in 1998, and have since sold 12 million copies over two albums!
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 88
 Early Album of 2010 Candidate March 10, 2010
Anthony Cantu (Kansas City, MO)
73 out of 92 found this review helpful
I open this review with a very strong piece of advice: please listen to this album in its entirety. Then come back to it within a day or two (or sooner, if you are so inclined) and give it a second listen from beginning to end. If you do that, unless you really dislike "this kind of music", I'm relatively certain you will be enchanted with the album permanently. Plastic Beach is truly an amazing work.
Keep the following thoughts in mind as you navigate through other reviews of Plastic Beach. First, immediately discount any that express disillusion that this album is not the sequel to its stellar predecessor, Demon Days (2005). Comparisons to Demon Days (and, by extension, the 2001 self-titled debut album) are useful to the extent they allow you to see how the Gorillaz sound has evolved over the course of a decade. To truly appreciate this work fairly, however, you should judge it on the strength of its own merits. Moreover, this review is being written the day of its United States release, and there are currently a handful of reviews that rate the album poorly. These reviews seem to have a few things in common: they show very little regard to not only the craftsmanship and genius behind this work, but seem to be written from a jaded aspect that belies someone writing against a deadline and only taking time to listen to the album once (if they even listened that much).
That said, while this album isn't perfection personified, it really is quite good, easily earning a 9 out of 10 rating. Below I will grade each track individually, but first I want to address the album as a whole. Clocking in at just under an hour, this album is a cohesive whole that takes you on a sonic journey full of unlikely sights and stops along the way (often even within the individual songs themselves). It's not surprising that this album in its formative stages was originally named "Carousel" by its loving architect, musical wizard Damon Albarn. The album is a special kind of ride. At times the album makes you think, but not too hard, because it doesn't purport to take a stand on any of the issues it brings to the surface. Other times the album makes you want to sing along, but not too loudly, because you want to be able to appreciate the artistry at work in each song. Most importantly, the album makes you feel emotion. Whether it be exhilaration, abandon, wonderment, or disquiet, you feel it with force.
On to the snapshots of each song in the US track-list.
1) Orchestral Intro -- 4/5
This track lets you know you are headed somewhere important and maybe just a little bit different. If you listen closely, the fade-out carries a hint of distortion, which I take as an indication that the nature you are about to experience is quite unnatural.
2) Welcome to The World of The Plastic Beach -- 3/5
There's probably no truer living representation of hip-hop than Snoop Dogg, and he serves as an apropos master of ceremonies welcoming you to your destination. Snoop has always had a unique five-star flow, and it's on full display on this track. Ever since his debut album Doggystyle (1993), however, he has an uneven track-record of bringing the heat to whatever song he's spitting rhymes on. The frustrating thing about Snoop is that both the listener and he are in on the fact that many times he is as lazy a lyricist as the flow of his trademark delivery, and that is indeed the case in this song, using trite expressions like "Boss Dogg" (not once, but twice), "mirror, mirror on the wall" and "crack-a-lackin". For the record, my wife thinks that Snoop did exactly what he was supposed to do on this track: introduce, not steal the stage. Regardless, aided by the sick horns of the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, this song helps get you in the mood to groove.
3) White Flag -- 3/5
A light, flighty orchestral piece by the Lebanese National Orchestra For Oriental and Arabic Music (I think I got that right...) takes you to Bollywood and some other exotic places you've probably never been to as you skip across the sand of Plastic Beach for the first time. You are suddenly greeted by a hot potato back-and-forth rap between British grime rap stars Kano and Bashy set to a dub beat. Their wordplay forms the musical meat sandwiched between the previously mentioned beginning of the track and its conclusion, which is a synthesis of the orchestral part and the dub beat. The final outcome is both an unlikely treat and treatise from your locale.
4) Rhinestone Eyes -- 5/5
This song has video single written all over it. 2D's vocals take center stage for the first time. It's a heavily synthesized pop tune complete with catchy not-quite-a-chorus repeats of the phrase "Love Electric-tric-tric-tric-tric" that you can only imagine yourself chanting alongside Noodle. This song also carries that signature "Gorillaz sound" of keyboards and drumbeats that can be traced back to their debut album. This song is definitely one of the reasons I regard the album so highly.
5) Stylo -- 5/5
The lead single and video from the album. "Feel Good, Inc." it is not, but this fact only adds to "Stylo"'s charm. An unyielding beat accentuated by an insidious, haunting repetition of the phrase "Overload", a slick verse from Mos Def, and the undeniable raw power of Bobby Womack make this song an instant classic. You don't get "Stylo" at first, you just know it has a catchy beat. After multiple listens, though, you realize the song is consummate. It is worth mentioning that essential to the whole Gorillaz concept is the fact that their music is both an audio and visual experience. Taken in that light, the promotional video shot for this track by co-creator Jaime Hewlett does an excellent job of immediately engaging the audience and drawing them into Plastic Beach.
6) Superfast Jellyfish -- 4/5
Rumored to be the second video and single from the album, this song is dripping with sinister irony. De La Soul become the first rap artists to score a follow-up opportunity with the Gorillaz, and they do not disappoint in this twisted indictment of consumerism, cloaked in a breakfast meal jingle. Though not as in-your-face and extreme as, say, Johnathan Swift's 1729 pamphlet "A Modest Proposal" the implications of this song are meant to be frightening. Gruff Rhys also lends his vocals to the track that is both scary and scary good.
7) Empire Ants -- 5/5
The beautiful, peaceful beginning of this song shows Plastic Beach at its most serene. The guitar makes a rare appearance, and it strums blissfully along in concert with 2D's singing and piano accompaniment. Then, halfway through, the song it improbably explodes into a shimmering disco-pop tune completed by the vocals of Yukumi Nagano from the Swedish group, Little Dragon. This may very well be the album's best song, though "Broken" gives it a serious run for its money a few songs later.
8) Glitter Freeze -- 2/5
Personal preference here, but this is my least favorite song of the lot. Mostly instrumental with a few sparse words from curmudgeon Mark E Smith, this song is an aural assault on your eardrums and mind. Often, after this song ends, I'm relieved, because it feels like I've just been willingly violated, which might just be a microcosm for one of the tenets of the album, namely the willful violation of our own home planet. But just as soon as you begin to contemplate that we are off to our next song.
9) Some Kind of Nature -- 3/5
Many are split on this Lou Reed guest effort, where his sing-song voice takes Albarn's piano-based beatnik ditty for a quick spin. Some hail it as the watermark of Plastic Beach, while others decry it as its nadir. The song comes pre-loaded with a fully realized chorus and simulated clapping that beckons singing along. I'm still not sure what to make of it all, I find myself in neither of the previously mentioned camps of supporters or naysayers, but I believe it is a solid addition to the album regardless.
10) On Melancholy Hill -- 5/5
An endearing track. Listen closely and you'll hear a rhythm that lies beneath Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" and the song it borrowed heavily from "Foreigner Suite" by Cat Stevens. I doubt it is intentional, and it is otherwise completely overshadowed by what is quite an uncharacteristically upbeat, almost saccharine ode from Albarn. While this song is technically 2D from Gorillaz, it is also every bit just Damon being himself.
11) Broken -- 5/5
My favorite of the album. The song evokes Clint Eastwood with its pseudo-riff on "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" theme by Hugo Montenegro. The song is beyond phenomenal, and I think this is no coincidence, another 2D solo joint that can just as easily be seen as Damon Albarn as himself. The beat is seriously sick and haunting at the same time. The production sounds as if lifted off a top-flight hip-hop producer's private instrumental songbook, but it is so much more due to Damon's vocals dominating the song. I don't care what he is singing about in this song, I just want to listen and feel his lament. It's why this album, and its creator, are one-of-a-kind.
12) Sweepstakes -- 4/5
Hated this song at first, due to the repetition of the beat and the rhyme. However, keep listening: the lyrics actually change, not in their content, but in their delivery, just as the song itself transforms into something greater than the sum of its parts. Several minutes of repetition in, you are greeted again by the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble amplified this time with a percussion section that evokes an American college football halftime band performance. Mos Def is most definitely a winner on this track. Hip-hop heads will prefer this track to the rest of the album's offerings, which speaks to the fact that there is almost something for everyone here.
13) Plastic Beach -- 3/5
I can't hear Mick Jones' contribution to this song, but ex-Clash band-mate (and frequent Albarn-collaborator) Paul Simonon's strings sound pretty good on the title track. The track is funky, a little bit eerie, and definitely keeps the mood of the album and its maybe-fictional-maybe-real setting at the center of your mind as your trek through Plastic Beach nears its end.
14) To Binge -- 5/5
For those not expecting Blur to ever make a guest appearance on this album -- well, don't worry, they didn't. But this is as close as you'll ever get, since even the most casual Gorillaz fan will notice that 2D doesn't sound anything like himself on this record. In fact, he sounds just like Albarn from Blur during the height of the 90s Britpop era. This time, however, he is trading verses with guest singer Yukumi Nagano who appears in her second contribution to the album. The song is like a fading sunset, with clouds developing as the song itself fades out. If this is the final album from the Gorillaz, I think this song serves as its official good-bye. And even though two more tracks come after this one, they feel more like encores than anything.
15) On The Cloud of Unknowing -- 4/5
But what encores they are! Powerful, powerful stuff from Bobby Womack here, coupled with chilling and atmospheric instrumentation from Sinfonia ViVA, make this a contemplative song, even if the first few listens give little clue as to what you and singer are contemplating. It can be simply described as a pretty song.
16) Pirate Jet -- 4/5
I have an image of an animated pogo-stick or slinky, or something bouncy like that just hopping all over this song like a little kid. "It's all good news now, because we left the taps running for a hundred years." Call it tongue-wagging sarcastic optimism at the prospect that even as foolish and wasteful we humans are, Nature will adapt to whatever is thrown at it, and persevere. That's my take, at least. And with that, the final opus in the Gorillaz trilogy (this is widely rumored to be the final album for the group) comes to a close.
If you have made it to the end of this review, thank you. I had fun sharing my rambling thoughts on what I feel is a great album. If you have not already purchased this album, give it a try, you will be happy you did.
kinda different, but i like the view from the beach March 11, 2010
muzic mania (dearborn mi)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
it seem with a few track that they tried very hard to make it more top 10 , but for the most part I kinda like it. Songs like Rininstone Eyes, Glitter Freeze, On melancholy Hill, To Binge are all great songs, I kinda like songs 1-5 and alot of the later songs it is alittle more melow, but well done, , if you like or love the Gorillaz, then your gonna be all about it. I would have loved to hear more guest singers on here , than the same that they did 2 times over. I really did not like the art work for the inside of the cd, or the booklet...how cheep, love the cover work , but what happened to the rest. fans who pay good money should get the words to all the songs and better booklet. This cd is not gonna break any sale records, but maybe a stepping stone to something even greater . would I buy it, hell yes, after many plays of this cd, got to give it 5 STARS, its great, I have learned to love all the tracks, my hats off to you guys, THIS IS A GREAT CD, BUY IT, I LOVE IT. YOU GO GORILLAZ. ITS ALL GOOD.
Gorillaz 101 April 17, 2010
Josh A. Goatley (USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
ok, first of all i have been a fan of gorillaz work since clint eastwood, i bought all of their cd's and have not been disappointed yet. Plastic Beach IS gorillaz. They have always had a tremendous amount of creativity and talent.. I think this cd is the best example of both. I mean it has some smooth beats and crisp lyrics that would appeal to a wide audiance of hiphop fans. It also has the feel of an indy rock cd. I know that when you listen gorillaz the creative stands out and is kind of overwealming for newcommers to the band. I recommend listening to songs two or three times before you pass judgment. My favorite songs on the cd are 5. Stylo, and 9. Some kind of nature. The sound is so unique you have to appreciate the creativity. I would recommend this cd to anyone who likes to experiment with music because this cd is exactly that. In my opinion as far as talentwise plastic beach is gorillaz best work, and has their best collaborations ever.
Delivers on all fronts- Smooth, Simple, Deep, Intrinsic- it hits home March 11, 2010
Ryan Smith (New Brunswick, NJ)
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
Gorillaz... wow. such an unexpected pleasure for me. Ever sense Del killed it in 2000 I've been a avid fan, and let me say, music as popular as this never takes over my cd rotation. To me its like Gorillaz are Jackson, Zeppelin, Nirvana etc. in their hayday, whether you're into mainstream or not, the sound is quality.
This album killed it for me right from the beginning. While driving home from the cd store the first four tracks left me grinning ear to ear. I have put Welcome To The World Of Plastic Beach and White Flag back to back again and again. Snoop is all style, he could spit nonsensical lyrics all day and it'll move you. The beat is addictive, I love Albarn's ability to keep that chill, full frontal gorillaz synth melody rolling, holding on to a high note transitioning from measure to measure. Its a perfect track for snoop, its got west coast written all over it, and Albarns got some affinity for west coast hip hop (Del) and chooses well where to utilize it.
White Flag is monstrous. I just love the fusion. It is so unique, so exotic, perfect to follow up snoop- both tracks describe this concept album, giving you a depth and conception right off the bat. I love the orchestra, but, I guess its just my taste, sometimes I skip the first minute just to hear Bashy and Kano rip it so hard on that island beat. It's almost the antithesis of Snoop, it's all about the clever tight lyrics, but Bashy's got this brash style reminiscent of Busta for me. He's just raw, cant say theres no style there. Kano completes the whole, lovely synthesis of style and lyricism from both Mc's, and again great juxtaposition with the beat and National Orchestra For Arabic Music. I love it.
Other highlights... well theres a ton. Actually 95% of the songs are worth listening to, for me an improvement from the last records (lookin at you Punk, Dare, White Light). I just think those songs in the Gorillaz catalog are less composed, or too upfront. They leave everything on the table right in front of your eyes, it's kinda boring. Stylo almost made it there in my book, but it certainly redeemed itself- its just too infective. Its like I love some of the other songs more, but I have to listen to Stylo just to hear that beat again. Mos Def, Albarn and Womack all make it a great listen. I thought it was a little predictable/standard at first, but theres enough there to keep me coming back.
I'd love to go through each song, which I literally could and explain every part I love or leave me wanting, but its just too much. 16 tracks people, its huge. I love it! Well worth the wait. ...but I can't exempt Some Kind of Nature with Lou Reed. This song is so beautiful. It grows on you, its got a combination of two complementary styles which I woulda thought could never happened. Lou Reed is so funny and eccentric, his plastic beach inspired lyrics are so interesting, and how he sings it is unreplicable.
Broken, Rhinestone Eyes, Plastic Beach, Empire Ants, To Binge and Pirate Jet I can't get enough of. Just gotta keep listening. The rest of the album is certainly listenable, and are quality songs. Superfast has De la leaving me wanting more lyrics, Melancholy Hill and Cloud of Unknowing are tight, but just haven't hit me yet. Sweepstakes is amazing, just in achieving that off beat eccentric sweepstakes characature with Mos Def, but its just so out there... very strange. Not bad.
The album is riddled with gems; rubies, emeralds, sapphire, anything you can find in the sand. Every song has its place in the concept, its really amazing. One thing I'd like to mention is my admiration for Albarn, how he can create basically 3 concept albums, with a completely concept band requiring a certain gorillaz trade mark in each song. This is INCREDIBLE. He's an amazing artist. He not only successfully created this band, but it's reached international acclaim, and the music is wonderful; thats the catch. Thanks for reading!
Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach! March 10, 2010
R. Reyes (SIVAR)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've always liked Gorillaz. Their previous singles were amazing, but, I always found myself skipping tracks for both the self titled and Demon Days. Still, those albums came to be one of my favorites of the past decade.
That being said, I've been listening to this album for quite some time now. First of all, there is not a single song that you can say "This song is the Feel Good Inc. or Clint Eastwood of the album". But, every single song in this album is fantastic. Some more than others. It has been some time since I could listen to an album from start to finish without skipping a single track. The wait is over.
Key tracks: "Rhinestone Eyes", "Stylo" , "Superfast Jellyfish", "Empire Ants", "Some Kind of Nature", "On Melancholy Hill"
Showing reviews 1-5 of 88
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