Rocktrospectiva: The Formidable "Plastic Beach" Turns 15

Released on 3 March 2010, "Plastic Beach" was the third studio album by the British virtual band Gorillaz, it was conceived from an unfinished project called Carousel, the album was recorded from June 2008 to November 2009, and was produced primarily by group co-creator Damon Albarn. It features guest appearances by such artists as Snoop Dogg, Gruff Rhys, De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Lou Reed, Mark E. Smith, Bashy, Kano, and Little Dragon. The album spawned three singles "Stylo", "Superfast Jellyfish" & "On Melancholy Hill".

The album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and on the US Billboard 200. It was the first album in which the cartoon characters were not the main pieces, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett decide to take a step forward creating the group's most affecting and uniquely inviting album. No more joke's. Gorillaz are real.

This Gorillaz album in the first place wasn't meant to be one. Hewlett told The Observer:, "Gorillaz now to us is not like four animated characters anymore, it's more like an organization of people doing new projects." The project was to be called Carousel, presented by, but not performed by, Gorillaz. It never panned out. So Albarn devised Plastic Beach, a loose enviromental-song cycle warning against disposability. 

Albarn dips into Krautrock, funk, and dubstep, as well as the weary, more melodic music he was performing for much of last decade, sort of an electronic take on baroque pop. Albarn sounded more comfortable as a leader here. The standout "On Melancholy Hill", he recalls the swooning strains of one of his heroes, Scott Walker. And when he shares or cedes vocals, he has the good sense to turn things over to luminaries like Lou Reed who appears magnificently dry-throated on "Some Kind of Nature" and Bobby Womack so good on first single "Stylo", better on the twangy "Cloud of Unknowing", while effortlessly integrating them into the sound.

The group blended pop with hip-hop over their last two albums, but on Plastic Beach, things are the other way around. The rap moments here feel almost needlessly idiosyncratic amidst the lusher treatments. Snoop Dogg's appeared on "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach" which was an incongruous introduction to an album that has nothing to do with Snoop Dogg. De La repeat themselves on the faux jingle "Superfast Jellyfish". Grime MCs Kano and Bashy compellingly play pass-the-baton on "White Flag", but only after disrupting an absorbing intro and outro by the Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music. Only on "Sweepstakes" is Mos Def able to assimilate into the production.

Albarn is more natural when working in the kind of ornate Village Green Preservation Society-style pop that dominates Plastic Beach. His collaborations with Little Dragon, "Empire Ants" and "To Binge" are two of the most arresting things here-- they're airy, elusive, and amazingly beautiful. It's been years since Albarn has written anything as blatantly gorgeous. 

Plastic Beach received generally positive reviews from critics; some called their third excellent album in a row" and some of the most forward-thinking pop you'll hear this or any year, a brilliant concept album, full of perfect pop singles, noticed  that the band's trademark brand of electro-funk-hip-pop is more focused, with tighter production and more sure-fire hooks, although some others called it a non-sense album and a such a completely mess.

 

Plastic Beach Track List:  

1. Orchestral Intro

2. Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach with Snoop Dogg

3. White Flag with Bashy and Kano

4. Rhinestone Eyes 

5. Stylo with Mos Def featuring Bobby Womack

6. Superfast Jellyfish with Gruff Rhys featuring De la Soul

7. Empir Ants with Yukimi Nagano

8. Glitter Freeze with Mark E. Smith

9. Some Kind of Nature with Lou Reed

10. On Melancholy Hill

11. Broken 

12. Sweepstakes with Mos Def

13. Plastic Beach 

14. To Binge with Yukimi Nagano

15. Cloud Of Unknowing featuring Bobby Womack 

16. Pirate Jet