Plastic Beach (Audio CD)

Crummy packaging This item was a gift, and I was disappointed to see it in a crummy cardboard cover - no plastic CD case. I imagine my friend loved the music, but it didn't look like I'd spent much on her present.

Shock and Bore! ... Sorry, but this album just washed over me, unlike 'Demon Days', or anything Damon Albarn has done with his late Blur work, which I thought was all pure genius, pure aural sculptural pleasure, but this? well, I was just hugely underwhelmed and wished I hadn't wasted my money if I'm honest because it all sounds the bloody same -every track!!

Bobby Womack is the Don Electro-pop is admittedly a very weak sounding way to describe the music on this album, and I must point out that it could have been spectacular if it wasn't for the lumpen slog of tracks 11 to 14, otherwise the first ten songs are at turns funky and stomping with excellent guest vocalists (Bobby Womack on 'Stylo' particularly so), and there's a real onslaught of addictive synthesized melodies and beats to this album that suggests it could appeal to anyone who even remotely has an interest in music. Recommended to people who want something quite universal and thumpingly cool.

Blissful Listened to this album as I drove along the Atlantic coast of Ireland. An album for all time. Blindingly brilliant and so full of heart and soul and wonderment.

Wow. Just... wow. I was sure that there were very few ways that Gorillaz would surpass the brilliant 'Demon Days'. But of course, the king of reinvention himself, Damon Albarn, proved me wrong. Whereas Demon Days was a manic, apocalyptic creation, Plastic Beach sees us waking up after the storm has passed, in a strange, brave new world. And what a world it is, packed with inspired guest appearences from people as diverse as Lou Reed, Mos Def, Bobby Womack and Mick Jones. Like a mad inventor, Albarn has finally emerged from his basement with a collection of cobbled together songs that simply shouldn't work. Yet they do. Perfectly. For me, the highlight of these collaborations are the pounding yet dreamlike Stylo and the floor shaking Glitter Feeze, featuring one of the albums most surprising, but best, guest appearences in the form of cult indie legend Mark E Smith. But it's not just about the celebrity guests, as the tracks solely done by Gorillaz are often just as good, if not better than the others. Rhinestone Eyes is a perfect mix of physchedelica and pop, while On Melancholy Hill, easily the albums best track, is one of the most beautifully perfect pieces of music I have ever heard. Just buy it!