Plastic Beach- The Gorillaz

Track List:

  1. Orchestral Intro
  2. Welcome To The World of The Plastic Beach
  3. White Flag
  4. Rhinestone Eyes
  5. Stylo
  6. Superfast Jellyfish
  7. Empire Ants
  8. Glitter Freeze
  9. Some Kind Of Nature
  10. On Melancholy Hill
  11. Broken
  12. Sweepstakes
  13. Plastic Beach
  14. To Binge
  15. Cloud of Unkowing
  16. Pirate Jet

Snoop Dog, De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Lou Reed, and Mos Def. What do all of these people have in common? They all are guests on the new Gorrilaz record Plastic Beach. The new album moves away from the Gorillaz conventional electronic fusion of rock and rap and focuses more on a slow hip-hop jam. The whole CD has a very nice flow and is very easy to listen to. In the same vein as their last album, the Gorillaz (or should I say Damon Albarn who is the co-creator of the the band) have provided us with a nice commentary on our world. On the second track, “Welcome To The World of The Plastic Beach” Snoop Dog shows us his more peace loving side by spitting the lyrics “The revolution will be televised/And the pollution from the ocean/Now with devotion/Push peace and keep it in motion.”

One track that really shows the Gorillaz’s new sound is their first single off the album entitiled “Stylo.” Bobby Womack and Mos Def are both guest artists on the song which makes the song very dynamic. The song has a slow and easy R&B beat to it that you can’t help but tap your foot to. The way Mos Def integrates his rap between Bobby Womack’s verses gives the song such an original quality. Just when I thought I coudn’t like this song anymore I discovered the music video. I’m not exactly sure how he does it, but Damon Albarn can seem to get just about anybody to contribute to his little project; and for the “Stylo” music video Bruce Willis lent his talents.

There are some complaints I have about the new CD. On their first two albums The Gorillaz seemed to be providing a lot of their own vocals without the help of outside artists, however on Plastic Beach it seems that the whole record is dominated by guest artists. While I think their selection of artists could not have been better, I really would have loved to hear them contribute more to their own songs. Another big problem I had with the album is the ending. Their last CD, Demon Days, had one of the best finales to a record that I have ever heard. However, on this CD it seems that they left us listeners hanging. There was really no closure brought to the album and when I listened to it all the way through, I had to double check to make sure the record had actually ended. The album had such a great opener that I was sure the closer was going to blow the finale of Demon Days out of the water, but sadly I was wrong.

Here is the finale to Plastic Beach. Leave a comment letting me know how you like (or don’t like) it

Despite all of that, I still cannot dislike this album. For what it lacks in the finale it makes up for in actual music. The bass lines fit every song perfectly. The guest artists to a great job at adding their peices to the songs. The entire mood of the record is very laid-back and chill, something I think that we all should learn how to do. I would definitley reccomend this record to any music fan since it does incorporate a lot of different genres. I give Plastic Beach by the Gorillaz a 7 out 10.

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