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Track Listings
| 1. Orchestral Intro (Feat. sinfonia ViVA) |
| 2. Welcome To The World of The Plastic Beach (Feat. Snoop Dogg and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble) |
| 3. White Flag (Feat. Bashy, Kano and The National Orchestra For Arabic Music) |
| 4. Rhinestone Eyes |
| 5. Stylo (Album Version) (Feat. Mos Def and Bobby Womack) |
| 6. Superfast Jellyfish (Feat. Gruff Rhys and De La Soul) |
| 7. Empire Ants (Feat. Little Dragon) |
| 8. Glitter Freeze (Feat. Mark E Smith) |
| 9. Some Kind of Nature (Feat. Lou Reed) |
| 10. On Melancholy Hill |
| 11. Broken |
| 12. Sweepstakes (Feat. Mos Def and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble) |
| 13. Plastic Beach (Feat. Mick Jones and Paul Simonon) |
| 14. To Binge (Feat. Little Dragon) |
| 15. Cloud of Unknowing (Feat. Bobby Womack and sinfonia ViVA) |
| 16. Pirate Jet |
Product Description
Review
The Plastic Beach back story – colourful fluff about cyborg bassists, kidnapped singers and islands made of trash – might make you think the whole cartoon band conceit is wearing a bit thin. Listen, though, and it makes more sense than ever.
Only behind such a distracting smokescreen could Damon Albarn get away with conducting a project as sprawling, daring, innovative, surprising, muddled and magnificent as Plastic Beach: not just one of the best records of 2010, but a release to stand alongside the greatest Albarn’s ever been involved with and a new benchmark for collaborative music as a whole.
Not that you’d think that from the first couple of tracks. After a meandering, seagull-strewn string intro, Snoop Dogg phones in his contribution to lounge rap number Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach. You’d be forgiven for assuming Gorillaz had found their place as Damon’s token hip hop side project. Then, the first handbrake turn in what will be a head-spinning ride. White Flag opens as the world’s only Shinto Bollywood track before Kano and Bashy trade anti-war, anti-crime and anti-religion rhymes over trashy Casio beats. It’s the first of a plethora of jaw-dropping surprises on what might possibly be the least predictable album ever made.
From here Plastic Beach simply flies. Rhinestone Eyes (brilliant) is all 80s synths and M.I.A. skipping chants, first single Stylo (also brilliant) manages to merge Bobby Womack’s soulful croon and Mos Def’s raps into something resembling a Gary Numan or Grace Jones track from 1983, and Superfast Jellyfish (particularly brilliant) finds Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys delivering an OutKast-meets-The Rentals elastic pop bouncer in keeping with his colourful cartoon surroundings, right down to the trumpets that sound like a sad clown at the end.
The celebrity guests all step up to the raised bar. Lou Reed’s fragile turn on Some Kind of Nature is the kind of New York piano charmer he does best, and Mark E. Smith is a spectral, menacing presence on Glitter Freeze. But it’s when Albarn takes centre stage that Plastic Beach really thrills: Empire Ants is a trickling ballad to rank alongside Blur’s best, and On Melancholy Hill is a hazy pop gem with the sugary 80s sparkle of Strawberry Switchblade or early Lightning Seeds.
The scope and depth of Plastic Beach is staggering. For anyone frustrated that Blur never quite managed their White Album, look no further. --Mark Beaumont
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
73 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The soundtrack for summer 2010 has arrived,
By Suzabella (Bristol, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Plastic Beach (Audio CD)
This album fits together more elegantly than the previous Gorillaz albums. It plays like the smooth, laid-back soundtrack to a long lie in the sun (perhaps in the garden, or, if you have one to hand, on a beach). The slightly soporific/hypnotic spell is broken by the chaotic party music of Sweepstakes - but that track is a fun, intense ride.
Expect a slightly slower pace than Demon Days, and, instead of the latter album's mood of "help - the apocolypse is coming", a feel of "okay, here we are in a post-apocolyptic world, let's make the best of it". How you react to that message is up to you. What's amazing about this music is that, even though it fits together so beautifully, there are so many different elements - western and arabic orchestral music, several flavours of rap (laid back, cheap & cheeky, intense & high), loose semi-improvised brass, dub, alternative rock, 70s and 80s electronica, comedy jingles, crooning, vocal harmonies, snippets that reminded me of Brian Eno, Jean Michel Jarre, David Bowie, Tangerine Dream, and many, many others, and that's before you even get to the various guest stars (Lou Reed, Mark E Smith, De La Soul, Little Dragon, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Gruff Rhys, etc.) who each bring their own highly personal styles. The guests are fully integrated and feel completely authentic parts of the sound. There are moments that are sleepy, racy, romantic, funny, camp, cool, trippy, danceable, ghostly, nostalgic, futuristic. This album has a chilled-out feel yet is packed with so much variety and so many overlapping layers of rhythm, sounds, intriguing words, and sweet counterpoint melodies that it will be very hard to get bored no matter how many times you listen.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
...And I wasn't dissapointed.,
This review is from: Plastic Beach (Audio CD)
I pre-ordered this album after having a quick listen to the samples and liking them. I loved their previous album 'Demon Days', and so was really looking forward the long awaited next album from Gorillaz. And I have to say that I haven't been dissapointed. This album is more chilled out in a way, with a lot more orchestral tunes, almost hypnotic at times. But this does not make it any less of an achievment for them. Infact I really like it, it's different, but at the same time doesn't seem to vear away from the usual stuff we are all familliar with with the Gorillaz gang. I love this album, it's something different from them. I'm just glad it came so quick!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Just enjoy the gritty crunch, it tastes just like chicken",
By
This review is from: Plastic Beach (Audio CD)
Plastic Beach is the long-awaiting follow-up to the Gorillaz' 2005 album Demon Days and (for me, at least) is the first 'must buy' album of 2010 and is definitely going to be the soundtrack to my summer.
The tracks are a bit of a mixed bag, ranging from their usual indie/hip-hop crossover on tracks like "Sweepstakes" (with guest vocals from the awesome Mos Def) and "Superfast Jellyfish" (which is my favourite track from the whole album, making me realise how much I actually miss the light-hearted and upbeat raps from the timeless greats, De La Soul) to more darker, yet surprisingly mellow tunes such as "On Melancholy Hill" and "Glitter Freeze". The constant shift in styles is most welcome though as it offers a wide variety of concept sounds, some which are so abstract that they did actually take a few listens to before I actually even began to like them. This is a great album, not one that I'd say will hit you with an instant favourite straight away but is most rewarding after a few listens. The sound is completely new from their previous albums but is excellent all the same. Highly recommended.
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