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Product Description
Review
There’s an argument to be made that the history of music has actually been the history of the tools used to make or capture that music, that the fresh and exciting stuff happens just as the technology is invented which allows it to happen. Certainly it’s hard to imagine the sparkling and precise acoustic balladry of the early 70s without hi-fi stereophonic sound, or the rise of hip hop without the benefits of MIDI, samplers and drum machines.
This is the first high-profile album to have been made primarily on an iPad, a labour of exploration that Damon Albarn put together on last year’s Gorillaz tour. Two years ago, it couldn’t exist. Now it does. Does this therefore mean that it represents a stunning step forward in musical creation?
Well no, that’s not really what iPads do. They re-create, in the touchscreen universe, devices which already exist: virtual vocoders, synth emulators, i-theremins and analogue warmth creators. Opening blast Phoner to Arizona is like a potted history of musical electronica – but there’s nothing which carries the sonic hallmark of the tool itself.
Damon himself is a lot easier to spot. Apart from samples or snatches of dialogue, and one exceptional exception, his is the only voice present, his whispery, disengaged ghost hanging over everything. And when he’s good, he’s great. Amarillo darkly tolls like a robot national anthem, Revolving Doors is a melancholy travelogue through a foggy past, Hillbilly Man is two short and very different songs nailed together unceremoniously.
But there are also sketches and doodles, half-formed thoughts like Shy Town and Little Plastic Bags, better left in Damon’s hard drive until he found a decent chorus. Bobby in Phoenix – the exception – is a fried masterpiece; a union between Bobby Womack’s raddled acoustic soul and Damon’s digital heaven which offers a tantalising glimpse of a more collaborative record.
This, then, is an album which could only have been made for a post-iPad world. It opens the door to tantalising, exciting possibilities, but it’s also fragmented, distracted and indulgent. It’s almost like the real thing, but somehow not.
--Fraser McAlpine
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
NME, 2011
a stunning album from start to finish... 8/10
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
49 of 50 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
It seems out of character for a Gorillaz album to materialise so soon after its predecessor. There was a four year gap between the 'self-titled' album and 'Demon Days' and five years between that and 'Plastic Beach'. So many of us are still digesting Plastic Beach and 'pop' there's a new album. The reason being, 'The Fall' is not really a conventional album in the true sense of the word. What Albarn has essentially done is produced an almost solo effort "recorded between Montreal and Vancouver over 32 days last autumn in North America". The album has been completely created on an iPad using various applications.
So off the bat this is worlds apart from what was experienced with 'Plastic Beach'. The album is far, far more relaxed and effortless to listen to. It could easily fall into the category of 'easy listening'. It's an interesting concept. The album feels like a stream of musing and influence by a musician, it feels buoyant and unrestrained, there is no over-exertion and no hint of any track being contrived and over thought. It is dream like, you can almost anticipate that curious loneliness, tumble weed-curiosity; being somewhere else intrigued by a different culture. The more you listen to it the more it feels like the album is capturing steps of a journey; effectively a diary. The album is a series of auditory reflections, it feels as if Albarn is using music in the way most people would write a conventional day-to-day diary.
What Albarn has done takes gumption by the barrel load. It will be met with criticism I don't doubt. However looking back the initial intention of forming the Gorillaz as a band was to create something entertaining that cuts through a lot of unnecessary nonsense the music industry is plagued by and Albarn is doing just that. There is no conformation present and he is not bowing with the stress induced weight that success can bring. The album is consistent, solid, humble and a true reflection of how sharp a songwriter Albarn can be.
Don't get me wrong you won't find any 'Clint Eastwood's' or 'Dare's' on the album, that's not the direction the album has taken. But it is solid and it is consistent. The beauty of the album is that its deeper appeal is something set to slow release, it will work its way in slowly. 'Joplin Spider' is brilliant and 'Revolving Doors' is one of the highlights of the album. You will find yourself singing "Revolving door in London to a foggy day in Boston" on loop for a very long time, it's ferociously addictive.
All in all there is far less pressure involved, it is not as epic, it is simply Albarn doing what Albarn does best. Through the guise of 2-D Albarn gives us a pre-cursory hint "the Fall is mostly just me...something more gentle and just...well...it's just me and an iPad really mucking about...trying out some stuff. Just looking at America and then tapping on the screen...I'm not really concentrating too hard on it". And that is exactly how it should be anticipated. Don't over expect and you will be pleasantly surprised.
So off the bat this is worlds apart from what was experienced with 'Plastic Beach'. The album is far, far more relaxed and effortless to listen to. It could easily fall into the category of 'easy listening'. It's an interesting concept. The album feels like a stream of musing and influence by a musician, it feels buoyant and unrestrained, there is no over-exertion and no hint of any track being contrived and over thought. It is dream like, you can almost anticipate that curious loneliness, tumble weed-curiosity; being somewhere else intrigued by a different culture. The more you listen to it the more it feels like the album is capturing steps of a journey; effectively a diary. The album is a series of auditory reflections, it feels as if Albarn is using music in the way most people would write a conventional day-to-day diary.
What Albarn has done takes gumption by the barrel load. It will be met with criticism I don't doubt. However looking back the initial intention of forming the Gorillaz as a band was to create something entertaining that cuts through a lot of unnecessary nonsense the music industry is plagued by and Albarn is doing just that. There is no conformation present and he is not bowing with the stress induced weight that success can bring. The album is consistent, solid, humble and a true reflection of how sharp a songwriter Albarn can be.
Don't get me wrong you won't find any 'Clint Eastwood's' or 'Dare's' on the album, that's not the direction the album has taken. But it is solid and it is consistent. The beauty of the album is that its deeper appeal is something set to slow release, it will work its way in slowly. 'Joplin Spider' is brilliant and 'Revolving Doors' is one of the highlights of the album. You will find yourself singing "Revolving door in London to a foggy day in Boston" on loop for a very long time, it's ferociously addictive.
All in all there is far less pressure involved, it is not as epic, it is simply Albarn doing what Albarn does best. Through the guise of 2-D Albarn gives us a pre-cursory hint "the Fall is mostly just me...something more gentle and just...well...it's just me and an iPad really mucking about...trying out some stuff. Just looking at America and then tapping on the screen...I'm not really concentrating too hard on it". And that is exactly how it should be anticipated. Don't over expect and you will be pleasantly surprised.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The main thing people have to understand about this album is that its not really a proper one like demon days or plastic beach. Its just a little album, each track giving a feel of where they were during the tour. So it is a bit repetitive, but its just supposed to give you that feel of the place it was written. I think the best track is Amarillo because its very atmospheric, 2nd would have to be Detroit because of the same reason. Really enjoy listening to this and am very amazed something like this can be created during a tour.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Don't expect this to be the full bells-and-whistles extravaganza of a full Gorillaz album release. It makes more sense to compare it to the D-Sides and G-Sides collections in feel because it is a disparate collection of short songs and musical sketches that are relatively unpolished rather than designed for chart success. It is a mini album really, weighing in at only 43 minutes despite the 15 tracks.
Recorded on iPads as a series of reflections on touring and places visited on the way, it actually makes a surprisingly coherent whole. Even though the order of the tracks was dictated purely by the order that the songs were written and recorded, the sequencing is nevertheless very effective, and often tracks segue into each other seamlessly as the album shifts scenes and moods. The obvious standout tracks for me are Revolving Doors, which is furiously addictive and always leaves you wanting more after it's finished, and Amarillo, a glorious shimmering roman candle of a song. But there are plenty of other standouts: The Joplin Spider, HillBilly Man, Shy-Town, Aspen Forest and many others. In fact only two tracks seem surplus to requirements, The Speak it Mountains and Seattle Yodel, which are perhaps a noodle too far.
Over all then, a collection of mood pieces and scenes interspersed with a some really fine songs, this is a sunny laid back road trip of an album. It's a tribute too to Damon Albarn's inspiration and output, these songs were all written and recorded no more than a couple of days apart in the space of a few weeks, something I can't imagine anyone else doing these days.
Recorded on iPads as a series of reflections on touring and places visited on the way, it actually makes a surprisingly coherent whole. Even though the order of the tracks was dictated purely by the order that the songs were written and recorded, the sequencing is nevertheless very effective, and often tracks segue into each other seamlessly as the album shifts scenes and moods. The obvious standout tracks for me are Revolving Doors, which is furiously addictive and always leaves you wanting more after it's finished, and Amarillo, a glorious shimmering roman candle of a song. But there are plenty of other standouts: The Joplin Spider, HillBilly Man, Shy-Town, Aspen Forest and many others. In fact only two tracks seem surplus to requirements, The Speak it Mountains and Seattle Yodel, which are perhaps a noodle too far.
Over all then, a collection of mood pieces and scenes interspersed with a some really fine songs, this is a sunny laid back road trip of an album. It's a tribute too to Damon Albarn's inspiration and output, these songs were all written and recorded no more than a couple of days apart in the space of a few weeks, something I can't imagine anyone else doing these days.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Tpically good Gorillaz
I don't suppose there is much to add that others haven't commented on already. So, to summarise, classic Gorrillaz, both chilled and electic sound with the odd gem.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
Published 6 months ago by xercron
Gorillaz have left me behind...
The Gorillaz collective has become way too experimental for my taste and I'm afraid Damon Albarn is in danger of disappearing up his own arse these days :o(
If you... Read more
If you... Read more
Published 8 months ago by S. Martin
Not so sure about this one
As a long-standing Gorillaz fan, I felt that this one was not up to the normal standard. Whilst re-invention is a key part of the Gorillaz appeal, this seems to have gone a little... Read more
Published 11 months ago by GDM
The Fall - Gorillaz
Really glad I bought this album, but am a big Damon fan so I may be a little biased. I cannot fault its musical content although it perhaps lacks some of the depth of Plastic... Read more
Published 12 months ago by customersmythe
Unimpressed
Might have been technically advanced being produced on an I-pad. But overall it just seems to be background noises in the USA with some notes added.
Published 12 months ago by big-luap
Gorillaz - The Fall
Disappointing after Plastic Beach..... moments of wonderfulness, but not many. Hard to understand why this was released! Read more
Published 12 months ago by josiek
It's a grower
I was bitterly disappointed when I first heard this album. However, was it fair of me to expect it to be a carbon copy of albums past? Read more
Published 12 months ago by I. Le-luan
Shame about the bad reviews - this is great
I don't know what software Damon has on his iPad, but it's definitely better than mine - and Garageband wasn't out when this was recorded! Read more
Published 12 months ago by John Basham
Tis good!
Its nothing special but it has its moments- revolving doors and a few others. If you know what to expect you won't be disappointed. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Allen
I like this !!
fjuk an ipad.. this is just an album made using digital music software like any other.. it's alright too :) why OVER ANALYSIS all the time!?? yawnsome!!!
Published 13 months ago by I. Halborg
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