Gorillaz: Plastic Beach
Gorillaz: Plastic Beach
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Friday, 05, Mar 2010 03:48
By Peter Walker.
Parlophone, out March 8th.
What's it all about?
The third album from the world's most successful virtual band brings together a disparate array of guest musicians - everyone from Snoop Dogg to Lou Reed - to complement the existing animated characters.
Who's it by?
Started in 1998 by Blur front man Damon Albarn and Tank Girl animator Jamie Hewitt, the Gorillaz are an anti-MTV experiment in making pop music without the physical pop stars. The animated foursome's eponymous debut shot them into the mainstream with hits like Clint Eastwood and 19-2000, followed in 2005 with the wildly successful Demon Days, featuring Dare, Dirty Harry and Feel Good Inc; all promoted by the bands cartoon avatars and an innovative stage-show.
As an example.
"To the dark dark sea's comes the only whale, watching ships go by it's the day we try / it's a Casio on the plastic beach, it's a Styrofoam deep-sea landfill". - Plastic Beach
What the others say
"An intoxicating cocktail of musical styles and pioneers, 'Plastic Beach' is instantly recognisable as a Gorillaz album despite, or perhaps because of, its scatter shot styles, contributors and voices". - Clash
"The scope and depth of Plastic Beach is staggering. For anyone frustrated that Blur never quite managed their White Album, look no further." - BBC Music
So is it any good?
Five years after the El Manana incident and the mysterious monkey mountain, bassist Murdoc Niccal's has assumed control of the band and relocated to Plastic Beach; a Tracey Island-style fortress, floating atop an base of detritus at the most isolated point of the South Pacific.
With drummer Russel Hobbs gone AWOL, 2D being held hostage and Noodle now a DNA-reconstructed cyborg, Murdoc has had to recruit another epic haul of guests to help create their comeback record.
And with so many artists bringing so many styles and ideas, there are inevitably a few ill-advised combinations - Snoop Dogg sounds even more lackadaisical than usual on the album's introductory number and the shambolic wailings of The Fall's Mark E Smith on Glitter Freeze add little. However, as with the revival of Shaun Ryder and Dennis Hopper on Demon Days, the variety and quality of contributors generally makes for another album full of genre-defying brilliance.
Take the surprisingly effective combination of Kano and Bashy's urban styling's with The National Orchestra For Arabic Music's ethnic melodies on White Flag, the juxtaposition of Mos Def's distorted mumble-rap with Bobby Womack's soaring soul vocals on first single, Stylo, or the similarly successful mixture of Gruff Rhys' sweet singing with De La Soul's entertaining rhymes on Superfast Jellyfish; all truly inspired concoctions.
Sadly the album isn't able to maintain this level of creativity throughout, and after the excellent Empire Ants, Damon's individual efforts start to lose their way somewhat. It's a wonder why distinctly average tracks like Broken and Melancholy Hill were favoured over intriguing (but rejected) collaborations with Bee Gee's Barry Gibb and the Horrors; maybe too many cooks would have spoiled this broth.
These minor indiscretions are easily forgiven though, as musical heroes like Lou Reed and the Clash's Mick Jones & Paul Simonon are given a chance to show their versatility; such is the band's broad sonic remit.
The visual and musical spectacle that is Plastic Beach reaffirms the groundbreaking Gorillaz experiment as something of great value to the mainstream music industry; pushing the boundaries of pop and creating some of the most memorable music of the last decade.
8/10