Let us take a time machine back some years to 2001. I was in eighth grade and had heard about a cartoon band that played a song called “Clint Eastwood,” At the time I would listen to any rock band I was told to by my peers and the great Total Request Live, so I went on Napster and downloaded the song and liked it. I didn’t understand any of the lyrical content, but it was pretty cool. A few weeks later I went to the mall and bought the self titled album, reveling in the fact that a 13 year old managed to buy a CD with an Explicit Lyrics sticker without getting carded or thrown out of F.Y.E. (I still think that the two F bombs on that album don't warrant a sticker) I listened to “Clint” along with the other single “Rock The House” but never really appreciated the album as a whole; I mean lets look at what was in my CD collection at that juncture. I can literally tell you every CD I owned at that point and I will; I had
Let it Be and
Magical Mystery Tour, Sum 41’s
All Killer No Filler, Weezer’s
Green Album, U.K. industrial band Pitchshifter’s
www.pitchshifter.com, and Cartoon Network’s
Brak Presents the Brak Album Starring Brak. So of course at this point in time I had no idea what I was getting myself into. My young brain couldn’t fathom hip hop or Britpop, so I would skip to “Clint” and “Rock the House” and then eject the CD and carry on with my day. So as the years passed and I learned more about music in general, my appreciation for the Gorillaz as well as Damon Albarn’s other works grew exceedingly.
Demon Days has been consistently in my driving only CD book since I’ve had my license and I was lucky enough to see Albarn alongside Paul Simonon and other famous people with The Good, The Bad and The Queen back in my freshman year of college. With all of that in mind, you can imagine the amount of joy I was in when I heard Plastic Beach was coming out...
The "Experience Edition"The album’s “Orchestral Intro” does for this album what the grim “You are now entering the harmonic room...” did for
Demon Days, it opens the door for the audience to enter into the artificially wonderful world of
Plastic Beach. The next track, the aptly named “Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach” shows just how uppity and over produced the
Beach really is. Toting a prominent guest spot from Snoop Dogg, arguably one of our days most “plastic” rappers who doesn't have the price tag of a Jay-Z or Lil Wayne. To me Snoop’s appearance comes off as a bit forced, Albarn has connections to several great rappers, some of which appear later on the album, but really? Snoop Dogg? How great would it have been to start the album with a returning verse from Del Tha Funky Homosapien? Del’s voice lends itself well to the sound Albarn wants, not to mention the check would be much smaller than that of the multi-platinum Dogg. But Snoop aside, the tracks quirky synths and tweaked vocals from Albarn make for a great introduction.
“White Flag,” the next track, features a smoothly layered beat from The National Orchestra For Arab Music alongside rappers Bashy and Kano, with no lyrical contributions from Albarn himself. The synth-pop drum machine loops compliment the layers of strings and flutes incredibly well. Following “White Flag” is “Rhinestone Eyes,” which may be the best track on the album. Albarn resumes the role of lead singer while punchy drum kicks behind the catchiest synth line I’ve heard in a long time. This track truly encompasses Albarn’s desire to truly innovatively combine hip hop, pop and rock. While it doesn’t tote heavy guitars, rap, or a catchy chorus, the laid back vocals, head nodding musicals and heavy bass get the job done. The next two tracks had been leaked weeks earlier, and feel much more at home and relevant in the context of the album rather than standalone songs. Following “Rhinestone” the 80’s synthesized bass and drums of “Stylo” drone over and over. At first I found the song boring, especially considering the miniscule role Mos Def plays. However, the incredibly abstract Bobby Womack breathes life into the repetitive track. “Superfast Jellyfish” the next track, with “Feel Good Inc.” alums De La Soul reappearing, is another one of the albums highlights. The layers come in gradually and effectively, with Albarn singing a fun hook that is reminiscent of the aforementioned “Feel Good Inc.” and “Clint Eastwood” however talking about eating jellyfish is a tad awkward, even for the Gorillaz standards. “Empire Ants” is a relaxing next track, showing us another more serene side of the
Beach. Even when the drums and bass kick two and a half minutes into the song, this track serves as a bit of a cool down, and a really funky one too.
“Glitter Freeze” starts thumping with a Muse-like bass line with jumpy keyboards and keeps on layering them over and over for the mostly instrumental track, which almost acts as a beginning to Act II of the album. “Some Kind of Nature” follows up with the lazy vocals of Lou Reed over happy instrumentals. While I’m not a fan of The Velvet Underground or Reed’s solo work, I must say that his vocals are rather underwhelming. He seems to trot along waiting for Albarn to come in and bring the hook in each chorus. When they finally start trading the vocals back and forth things get more interesting, but just as with Snoop Dogg, I feel as though the guest spot could’ve been shelled out to a more deserving, lesser-known name. The 80’s ballad-esque “On Melancholy Hill” is another fun track, although it is a bit forgettable. It’s a harmless track, but I can’t deny it’s catchy. The next song, “Broken,” is in the same vain. It’s not going to be one of the songs that goes down in the history books as one of Damon’s greatest, but it is good within the context of
Plastic Beach.
The Mos Def driven “Sweepstakes” is another one of those tracks I can’t quite wrap my head around. I love the chaotic music, but I think Mos delivers some of the weakest stuff we’ve heard from him. The song pushes in at over 5 minutes, which is a bit of a feat for a rapper, and the constant repetition of the songs title is really off putting, especially at this point of the album. I don’t feel like a winner, regardless of how many times Mos Def says I am. However, following “Sweepstakes” is one of the albums greatest tracks. “Plastic Beach” features former Clash members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon along with Damon delivering cool lyrics. While the musical contributiones don’t scream “THE CLASH WAS HERE!” the thumping bass is certainly reminiscent of The Good, The Bad and The Queen. “To Binge” is another one of those sort of forgettable tracks, good but not great.
“Cloud of Unknowing” brings back Bobby Womack, who seems so genuine when singing along to the slower track that for once doesn’t kick in with drums and bass. It is a truly unique point of the album that Womack more or less gives himself. And the albums closing track “Pirate Jet” contains all the elements that made the rest of the album great, synthesizers layered above dub style bass with Albarn singing harmonies over himself. It is a good closer, it’s a great sendoff to the over produced world of Plastic Beach.
So overall, the album is good. To say it’s as good as
Demon Days is an overstatement, but as an album, there is certainly some purpose to what is going on. My problems come in three places here. Number one is the fact that while the synth lines are catchy and fun, they are abused to no end on this album. I understand it’s all part of the concept, but on both prior Gorillaz albums, there is no such repeating musical theme, and that’s what makes them two classic albums! My second complaint is the abundance of guest spots from big musical names. While they don’t entirely detract from the overall product, they don’t do much to add to it. The best guest spots are from prior collaborators and lesser known acts. What I loved about the prior records was the way the Albarn took lesser known people and put them on a pedestal, giving them the most exposure some of them have ever had. Del the Funky Homosapien and MF Doom have never seen such prominent sales numbers as on their Gorillaz tracks and Damon brought De La Soul back into the limelight after they had been underground for several years. I don’t listen to Gorillaz because of the guest stars, I listen because I love Damon Albarn’s songwriting. And while it is certainly very much sound on
Plastic Beach, the overflow of big names detracts from the product. And while it can be argued that the guest list is meant to compliment the plastic theme of the album, I think it’s plastic enough musically. My last complaint is that on the prior two albums, I felt as though I was in the world of 2-D, Russel, Murdoch and Noodle, but on this I feel like I am alongside Damon Albarn. I don't feel as swept into the world of these 4 characters as I once did, maybe it's because I'm older and I watched the making of DVD, or maybe it's because the characterization isn't as important as it once was.
All in all
Plastic Beach is a good album, and at this point of the year, a contender for the best. But alongside Damon Albarn’s other works with Gorillaz, Blur and other side projects, this album isn’t the greatest.
