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. read more..
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We are future pixels in factories far away. by Jason Stein
Damon Albarn's side project, Gorillaz, has surely surpassed all expectations, becoming equally, if not more popular than Blur. No one expected the project to be this successful. I am a fan of Blur, I have all their albums, and I have all of Gorillaz albums. "Plastic Beach" is just as uneven as everything that has come before it.
At 16 tracks, the album is a tad too long, as are all Gorillaz albums. Albarn doesn't know when to cut and edit. Several tracks on the second half of "Plastic Beach" should have been relegated to "P-Sides". The number one most likely to be a b-side is "Sweepstakes". Easily the most sub-par track on the entire disc. It sticks out like a sore thumb. "To Binge" and "Pirate Jet" could have also been b-sides. That at least would have trimmed the fat.
There is a stretch of solid tracks from "Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach" through "On Melancholy Hill". Of those, the standout tracks are first single "Stylo" with its sample of Eddy Grant's "Time Warp", "Superfast Jellyfish" with its strange mix of humor and strong catchy melody, "Empire Ants" with its dual parts, "Glitter Freeze" which may or may not be an intentional homage to Gary Glitter's "Rock And Roll, Part 1", "Some Kind Of Nature" with Lou Reed's deadpan delivery and the most straightforward pop song on the disc, "On Melancholy Hill".
So that makes approximately 9 good songs. In the old days, that would make an album. Now, the thing to do is add, and add, and add. There are too many average songs on "Plastic Beach", and the same is true with "Demon Days" and "Gorillaz". You could take the best songs from all three albums plus "G-Sides" and "D-Sides" and have a really good Gorillaz compilation. At this point I am voting to have Blur back for a while and have Gorillaz go on hiatus.
As a side note, after listening to "Plastic Beach" all week, I began to notice how nearly every track mentions plastic or beach.
Here's how "Plastic Beach" compares to Gorillaz other albums:
2001 Gorillaz: Three Stars
2002 G-Sides: Two Stars
2005 Demon Days: Three and a Half Stars
2007 D-Sides: Three Stars
2010 Plastic Beach: Three and a Half Stars
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