Plastic Beach

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.

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!

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.

Sometimes you buy an album for that great song you have heard and you love to hear it and there are a few other good tracks on the album but you keep listening and it loses its interest. Here Gorillaz have created something that improves over time. I bought it on the day it was released, listened to it once and thought - hmm well the other albums were much better. There is no Clint Eastwood or Feel Good Inc, there is no stand out song and too much rap.

Then I saw them at Glastonbury and a few songs shone through - White Flag and Glitter Freeze so I went back to listen again. Then I realised I had been missing out on something special Superfast Jellyfish, Rhinestone Eyes ... The Gorillaz still have it whatever it is. How can you describe a group that one second uses Brass, then mass strings and a Lebanese Orchestra while mixing it with rap and synth? Crazy and amazing fusion.

First time when I listened through these songs I didn't feel anything at all. Though it was Gorillaz I knew I had to listen more, because - well - Gorillaz is one of the most brilliant music acts ever - in my opinion that is. Not more than 2-3 listens and I was blown away.

This surely isn't the typical sound of Gorillaz you'd expect. It's indeed the most pop influenced music Gorillaz have ever released - just as Damon Albarn proclaimed before the actual release of this magnificent album. Some special songs indeed takes A LOT of "getting-used-to"s. For me that was "Cloud of Unknowning" and "Sweepstakes". If you have time and invest it in the album, you will without any doubt like this album, if you are a true Gorillaz fan. The obvious position of the album is not hidden away. As usual Damon Albarn have the ear for the melody and the eye for the world and interprets his thoughts very well with great superiority! Imagine visiting sad - and also very positive - sides of every aspect of the western culture with the amazing captain Damon Albarn while he insists the helm.

That said, "Plastic Beach" is by fare the worst album of the three albums: "Gorillaz", "Demon Days" and "Palstic Beach". Nevertheless I choose to give it 5 stars because the songs are that good. Precisely because of the genius mastermind of Damon Albarn never fails. I've been playing this album to death almost and I still find it extremely extraordinary and brilliant. As UNCUT's review once said: "Plastic Beach puts so much modern pop to shame". True words.

My personal favorites are "Some Kind of Nature", "Rhinestone Eyes" and "Glitter Freeze". I'm pretty sure many other people have many other opinions, but don't feel bad about it. That is how the machinework of Gorillaz work....

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