Plastic Beach

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Plastic Beach
The cover of the third Gorillaz album "Plastic Beach". An artificial island rests on the ocean during a sunset. Apart from the base, it is mostly mushroom-shaped. It contains a few palm trees and small buildings. At the very top is a large white building with many windows. Other objects in and around the island include a ship, a buoy, a lighthouse and a crate. The view shows the opposite side of the island from the "Experience Edition" cover. In the lower left corner are the uppercase words "Gorillaz Plastic Beach" on separate rows. They are white and in a thick, wavy font.
Studio album by Gorillaz
Released 3 March 2010 (2010-03-03)
Recorded June 2008 – November 2009, in New York City, Damascus and London
Genre Pop, hip hop, electronic
Length 56:46
Label Parlophone, Virgin
Producer Gorillaz
Gorillaz chronology

D-Sides
(2007)		 Plastic Beach
(2010)		 iTunes Session
(2010)
Damon Albarn chronology
All the People: Blur Live at Hyde Park
(2009)		 Plastic Beach
(2010)		 iTunes Session
(2010)
Singles from Plastic Beach
  1. "Stylo"
    Released: 26 January 2010
  2. "Superfast Jellyfish"
    Released: 9 March 2010
  3. "On Melancholy Hill"
    Released: 26 July 2010
  4. "Rhinestone Eyes"
    Released: 6 September 2010
  5. "Doncamatic"
    Released: 21 November 2010 (United Kingdom re-release only)

Plastic Beach is the third studio album by British virtual band Gorillaz, released 3 March 2010 on Parlophone and Virgin Records. Conceived from an unfinished Gorillaz project called Carousel, the album was recorded during June 2008 to November 2009 and produced primarily by group co-creator Damon Albarn. It features guest appearances by several artists, including Snoop Dogg, Gruff Rhys, De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Lou Reed, Mick Jones, Mark E. Smith, Paul Simonon, Bashy, Kano, Little Dragon and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.

The album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart, selling 74,000 copies in its first week. In the United States, it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 112,000 copies, and it also charted within the top-ten in several other countries. Plastic Beach received generally positive reviews from most music critics.

Background

Carousel

Creators of Gorillaz, musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, began working on a new Gorillaz project in November 2007 called Carousel,[1] which evolved into Plastic Beach, the group's third studio album.[2] In the November 2007 issue of Q, when asked what his top priority for 2008 was, Damon Albarn replied "Well, I'm doing the next Gorillaz thing, but it won't be called Gorillaz."[1] In the February 2008 Gorillaz-Unofficial interview, Jamie Hewlett elaborated on this, saying "I think the idea behind it is that it's like how The Who presented their movies – Tommy and Quadrophenia and so on. Those were presented as by 'The Who' even though none of the members of the band were in the movies. I don't think anyone from The Who was in Quadrophenia. But it's the same people working on it, that's the principle."[3] In a July 2008 interview with The Observer he also said, "Gorillaz now to us is not like four animated characters any more — it's more like an organisation of people doing new projects. [...] That's my ideal model — Gorillaz is a group of people who gave you this, and now want to give you new stuff."[4]

In the Observer interview, Hewlett said that there is "a new project which Damon and I are working on now, called Carousel, which is even bigger and more difficult than Monkey, and it isn't going to fit anywhere and no one's going to like it, ha ha ha! We've started work — I've done a lot of visuals and Damon's done a lot of music but we haven't figured out how they're going to fit together. I can't say much about it yet but it's sort of like a film, but not with one narrative story. There's many stories, told around a bigger story, set to music, and done in live action, animation, all different styles, well... originally it was a film but now we think it's a film and it's a stage thing as well and... look, it's basically us doing what the fuck we want without worrying about whether it's for a record company or a film company or whatever. So I'm not sure how it'll pan out, or even if it will happen. But Damon's written around 70 songs for it, and I've got great plans for the visuals, but right now, at this moment, it's still just a really good idea."[4] Carousel was to be about the mystical aspects of Britain.[2]

Concept

Damon Albarn got the idea for Plastic Beach while on a beach next to his house: "I was just looking for all the plastic within the sand", he said.[2] On 17 September 2008, Albarn and Jamie Hewlett announced that they would be doing another Gorillaz album in an interview with CBC News.[5] Hewlett said that from their work on Monkey, "we just learned more about what we do, musically and artistically. That's a great place to come at when we come to another Gorillaz album. It doesn't have to be animation and music".[6] Hewlett also expressed annoyance at having to draw the band members again: "I'm so fucking bored of drawing those characters. But then we had a moment where we had a new angle on it... I'm gonna adapt them".[5] In a later interview Hewlett said: "they'll be the same characters, but a little bit older and told in a different way".[7]

Albarn said in September 2008 that he wanted "to work with an incredibly eclectic, surprising cast of people".[8] As with previous Gorillaz albums, Plastic Beach features a number of collaborations with other musicians and music groups. The album features Snoop Dogg, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Kano, Bashy, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Gruff Rhys, De La Soul, Little Dragon, Mark E. Smith, Lou Reed, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Yukimi Nagano, sinfonia ViVA and The Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music.[9]

Recording

Albarn began recording material for a new Gorillaz album around June 2008.[10] He travelled to Beirut in March 2009 to record with the National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music.[11] The following month, he recorded with Derby-based orchestra sinfonia ViVa.[11] Grime MCs Kano and Bashy, who feature on "White Flag", both had the flu during recording. Kano said "We weren't feeling great, the music was out of our comfort zone, it could have been a complete disaster".[11] Bobby Womack knew nothing about Gorillaz and was initially unsure about the collaboration, however, his daughter liked Gorillaz and convinced him to do it.[12] Womack was told to sing whatever was on his mind during the recording of "Stylo". "I was in there for an hour going crazy about love and politics, getting it off my chest", said Womack.[11] After an hour of recording, Womack, a diabetic, started to pass out. He was sat down and given a banana, before waking up minutes later.[11] "Sweepstakes", the first song Mos Def recorded with Gorillaz,[13] was done in one take.[11] Mos Def described the song as "one of the greatest things as an MC that I've ever done".[13] Mick Jones and Paul Simonon completed their portion of the title track "Plastic Beach" in a day.[11]

"This record has only scratched the surface of [that] period of work and the sort of adventures we went on," he said. The unreleased material is "some really out-there stuff, which hopefully will see the light of day at some point". Among these is a song Gorillaz wanted to record with Engelbert Humperdinck. "He was supposed to do it, but then he declined, which was a real shame," Albarn explained to New York magazine. "It's a very dramatic song, very moving. Arabic strings. It's imagining Earth losing its gravitational pull and starting to fall." As it turned out, Humperdinck's manager had listened to the proposed selection and declined the offer for him without his knowing. Humperdinck later stated in an interview that his manager declining the collaboration offer was, "the most grievous sin ever committed," and that he would have gladly collaborated with the Gorillaz if he had known they asked.[14][15] With or without Humperdinck, Albarn insists the tune will eventually be released. "I'm going to finish that off," he said. "It just needs the vocal. We've made contact with Indian singer Asha Bhosle and I think it's definitely going to happen. I'll maybe duet with her; the song has these answering phrases."[16]

Several musicians who collaborated on songs for the album did not end up having all or any of their songs appear on the final album; some guests announced to have collaborated with the band do not feature on the album. British garage rock band The Horrors were invited to play on the album after Albarn heard their 2009 album Primary Colours.[17] They recorded a track with Albarn,[18] but no songs with the band appear on the final album. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Posdnuos of De La Soul said that the group had provided vocals on two songs for the album, "Electric Shock" and "Sloped Tropics".[19] De La Soul only features on one song on the album, titled "Superfast Jellyfish". Gruff Rhys recorded two songs — "Superfast Jellyfish" and "Leviathan". The latter, described by Rhys as "more of a night-time song, a three o'clock in the morning, speeding down the autobahn evading West German police-type track", does not feature on the album.[11] Mos Def said that he collaborated with Albarn on three songs;[13] however, Def only appears on two songs on the album. Albarn had previously announced that musician Barry Gibb would feature on the album but Gibb did not turn up to any recording sessions.[2] Animated Gorillaz bassist Murdoc said the band had collaborated with actress Una Stubbs.[10]

Music

Little Dragon feature on the track "Empire Ants". Yukimi Nagano (second from left) also contributes vocals on "To Binge".

Journalist Peter Paphides of The Times calls Plastic Beach a pop and concept album.[20] Allmusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes "Damon’s painstaking pancultural pop junk-mining [...] when hip-hop juts up against Brit-pop", adding that "the overall album accentuates moody texture over pop hooks.".[21] Pitchfork Media's Sean Fennessey writes that "ornate Village Green Preservation Society-style pop [...] dominates" the album, while commenting that "Albarn dips into Krautrock, funk, and dubstep, as well as the weary, more melodic music he's been perfecting for much of last decade—sort of an electronic take on baroque pop."[22] Danny Eccleston of Mojo views that the album reprises the "combination of stupid-fresh pop melody, 21st-century hip hop substructure and catholic cast of collaborators" of Demon Days.[23] Music writer Miles Marshall Lewis of The Village Voice perceives "funky electroclash" and "hip-hop inflections" in the album's music.[24]

Albarn said in an interview, "I'm making this one the most pop record I've ever made in many ways, but with all my experience to try and at least present something that has got depth."[2] He added, "I suppose what I've done with this Gorillaz record is I've tried to connect pop sensibility with ... trying to make people understand the essential melancholy of buying a ready made meal in loads of plastic packaging. People who watch X Factor might have some emotional connection to these things, this detritus that accompanies what seems to be the most important thing in people's eyes, the celebrity voyeurism."[2]

The first time Albarn went to Mali, he was taken to a landfill where he saw people "taking every little bit, a little bit of fabric to the fabric regenerators, or the metal and the cans to the ironsmiths and the aluminium recyclers, and it goes on and by the time you get to the road, they're selling stuff."[2] When Albarn went to a landfill outside of London to record the sound of seagulls for the album, he noticed a juxtaposition between the way the two countries dealt with rubbish.[2] "They've got more snakes... like adders, grass snakes, slow worms, toads, frogs, newts, all kinds of rodents, all kinds of squirrels, a massive amount of squirrels, a massive amount of foxes, and obviously, seagulls. [...] This is part of the new ecology. And for the first time I saw the world in a new way. I've always felt, I'm trying to get across on this new record, the idea that plastic, we see it as being against nature but it's come out of nature. We didn't create plastic, nature created plastic. And just seeing the snakes like living in the warmth of decomposing plastic bags. They like it. It was a strange kind of optimism that I felt... but trying to get that into pop music is a challenge, anyway. But important."[2]

Albarn says the album maintains a lot of the melancholy from Carousel.[2] He worked hard on making his lyrics and melodies clear on the album.[2] "Loads of orchestral stuff" was recorded but only a fraction made it onto the final album.[2] On 14 January 2009 Damon Albarn appeared on BBC Radio 1 with animated bass player Murdoc Niccals and played a selection of songs including four demos for Plastic Beach they included: "Electric Shock" which features Derby-based Orchestra sinfonia ViVA (though this songs does not appear on the album though has certain elements of it used on the "Rhinestone Eyes" track), the then demo for "Stylo" known formally as "Binge" and the demo for "Broken".

Release and promotion

On a black background is red uppercase text in a thick wavy font. The top line says "Gorillaz", the second line says "Plastic" and the third line says "Beach".
The Plastic Beach logo used in promotional videos
The iTunes edition of Plastic Beach makes up for a total of four different covers, all showing different angles of the Plastic Beach under different lighting in order to give the effect of day, evening, twilight and night. Photographs by Tristan Oliver.

A new picture of the band was published on 9 December 2009 on the cover of the UK edition of Wired magazine. On 14 January 2010, Albarn made an appearance as a guest DJ on BBC Radio 1, premiering demos of three new Gorillaz songs — "Electric Shock", "Broken" and "Stylo".[25] "Stylo" went to be heavily edited in its final version, while "Broken" remained mostly unchanged. "Electric Shock" did not make the album, though samples of the song were used in "Rhinestone Eyes", as well as the intro orchestral separated into bonus track "Three Hearts, Seven Seas, Twelve Moons".

On 20 January 2010, the official Gorillaz website was heavily revamped to fit the Plastic Beach theme. Over a period of time, a numerous amount of short clips were posted on the site, mainly showing various shots of a large Plastic Beach model backed by segments of new Gorillaz music. Out of the 13 short clips, only two of the clips had audio that would eventually end up on the album. The tracks were "White Flag" and "Pirate's Progress" (an extended version of the Orchestral Intro found on the album). Also on the website was a countdown timer, which on 23 February 2010 counted down to zero. After a significant delay, a new full Kong studios-esque interactive Plastic Beach "Beachsite" was uploaded onto the website, opening certain sections of Plastic Beach to be visited by guests.

On 21 January 2010, Gorillaz member Murdoc "took over" NME Radio and Yahoo! Radio. He played a 45-minute set of songs while providing exposition on the story of Gorillaz. A total of five broadcasts were uploaded online, leading to the release of the album. All five are now available on the official Gorillaz website.

Similar to the previous album, short animated "idents" have been released for fictional band members Murdoc, 2D, Russel, and the Noodle cyborg. The first depicts Murdoc fleeing from an unknown, rifle-wielding assailant (featuring a clip of "Three Hearts, Seven Seas, Twelve Moons" in the background), and the second depicts 2D's abduction and transportation to Plastic Beach by a masked figure featuring (with a snippet of the instrumental version of "Rhinestone Eyes"). The track can be found as a bonus track along with "Pirate's Progress" on the iTunes Deluxe edition. Russel's ident has him stomping off of the edge of a pier and diving into the ocean, presumably headed to Plastic Beach for reasons unknown. The fourth feature a zoom in on the cyborg, its face plate open. A fifth ident has been released, showing a luxury cruise sail being bombarded by torpedoes coming from planes flying above it. A crew member rushes over to cabin 13 to warn a passenger, who is revealed to be Noodle (wearing the oni mask), that the cruise is under attack by pirates and he was told to escort her to the lifeboats. Noodle then grabs her briefcase and opens it, revealing a gun, and passes the crew member while heading out, presumably to face the pirates. Noodle's ident acts as a trailer to the "On Melancholy Hill" music video, which was released on 15 June.

On 26 February 2010, a "minimix" of the album was made available on the official website to download for free.[26] The minimix is an eight-minute composition of songs from the album, a number of which had not been previously released.

"Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach", "Rhinestone Eyes" and "White Flag" were premiered on the Australian radio station Triple J on 28 February 2010, in respective order, at one hour intervals. On 1 March 2010, NPR debuted the entire album via streaming.[27] Later on in the day, the album also become available for streaming at Guardian.co.uk.[28]

Singles

The album has produced four singles as of November 2010.

Reception

Commercial performance

Plastic Beach debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart with first week sales of 74,000 copies.[29] The album also debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, having sold 112,000 copies in its first week, of which 62,000 were digital copies.[30][31] As of 25 March 2010, Plastic Beach sold 8,136 copies in Japan and debuted at seventeenth place on the Oricon albums chart. Selling 13,822 copies in France, Plastic Beach debuted at second place on the SNEP albums chart.[32]

Critical response

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [21]
The A.V. Club B+[33]
Entertainment Weekly B[34]
The Guardian [35]
Mojo [23]
Pitchfork Media 8.5/10[22]
Q [36]
Rolling Stone [37]
Slant Magazine [38]
Spin 7/10[39]

Upon its release, Plastic Beach received generally positive reviews from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 77/100 from Metacritic.[40] Allmusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it "the first Gorillaz album to play like a soundtrack to a cartoon", writing "which isn’t entirely a bad thing, because as Albarn grows as a composer, he’s a master of subtly shifting moods and intricately threaded allusions, often creating richly detailed collages that are miniature marvels."[21] Q's David Everley described it as "some of the most forward-thinking pop you'll hear this or any year."[36] Mark Beaumont of BBC Music called Plastic Beach "not just one of the best records of 2010, but a release to stand alongside the greatest Albarn’s ever been involved with and a new benchmark for collaborative music as a whole."[41] Pitchfork Media writer Sean Fennessey called Damon Albarn's compositions "blatantly gorgeous", stating "The one-time Blur frontman has transcended some of the post-modern artifice of this project, and created the group's most affecting and uniquely inviting album. Joke's over, Gorillaz are real".[22] Andy Gill of The Independent gave it 4 out of 5 stars and wrote favourably of its guest contributors, particularly Mos Def and Bobby Womack on the track "Stylo".[42] Drowned in Sound writer Wendy Roby gave it an 8/10 rating and stated "past the pop songs, past the soaring (and let’s not make any bones about it, this album soars in places) this is a supremely clever album."[43] Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield cited it as "Gorillaz's third excellent album in a row".[37]

However, Los Angeles Times writer Mikael Wood gave the album 1½ out of 4 stars and stated "Too many of these 16 hazy, half-crazy tracks sound like undercooked studio goofs".[44] Wood panned its second half and wrote that it "plays like one long, jammy drone, with none of Albarn's melodic or lyrical gifts on display".[44] Danny Eccleston of Mojo commented that "Albarn and co's eco-parable is loud but not clear."[23] The Washington Post's Allison Stewart viewed its content as excessive, writing "Plastic Beach, long and synth-crazy and diffuse, can be a slog, a potentially great album suffering from an excess of everything."[45] Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt viewed its "sonic drift" as "dull, and even dispiriting" in the album's second half, stating "In the end, Beach offers a vision of the future as digitised kitsch: groovy, yes, but lonely too".[34] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times viewed its music as "thin and inconsequential, car-commercial electronic funk and tension-free hip-hop", while writing "It’s an appealing mess, moving at a fever pitch until swelling to something like an enthused climax. But still, a mess".[46] Nick Annan of Clash gave it a 7/10 rating and stated "Of course, there’s a lot [sic] here to take in and maybe it just needs a fair few listens to fully digest it – the sign of any album worth its salt."[47] The Guardian's Alexis Petridis commended Damon Albarn for his "kaleidoscopic musical ambition", and wrote "Not all of Plastic Beach's concoctions work... but there's something hugely impressive about Albarn's ability to coax artists out of their comfort zone."[35]

Giving it 3 out of 4 stars, Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot viewed the album as "slightly less immediate" than previous Gorillaz albums, but praised Albarn's execution, writing "Albarn’s great talent is in bringing together seemingly mismatched elements from different cultures, genres and generations and creating something wonderful".[48] Despite writing that it "runs out of steam toward the end", The A.V. Club's Noel Murray gave Plastic Beach a B+ rating and perceived it as a "more urgent and less fiddly" improvement over its predecessors.[33] Uncut gave it 4 out of 5 stars and called it "a brilliant concept album, full of perfect pop singles."[49] NME gave Plastic Beach a 7/10 rating and stated "So what is Gorillaz at the start of a new decade? [...] What it definitely still is, though, is good music."[50] In a generally positive review, Miles Marshall Lewis of The Village Voice wrote favourably of its "guest stars and gravitas", calling the album "by turns atmospheric ('Glitter Freeze'), capricious ('Pirate Jet'), and electronically funky ('Rhinestone Eyes')".[24] Despite writing that it "isn't an artistic triumph or grand satirical gesture", PopMatters writer Michael Kabran gave the album a 7/10 rating and called it "an enjoyable ride and is the best place to start if you just want a taste of Albarn’s post-Blur musical prowess and Hewlett’s animation wizardry".[51] Spin's Jon Dolan called it "a jumble" and commended Albarn for his production.[39] In a rave review of the album, Huw Jones of Slant Magazine praised Albarn's musicianship and wrote "Plastic Beach provides the almighty shakeup that pop music has needed for some time".[38] Pete Paphides of The Times stated "this concept group has delivered its most fully realised concept album".[20] Robert Christgau picked out two songs from Plastic Beach ("Some Kind of Nature" and "Superfast Jellyfish") as choice cuts ().[52]

Pitchfork Media placed it at number 35 on its list "The Top 50 Albums of 2010".[53]

Track listing

No. Title Length
1. "Orchestral Intro" (featuring Sinfonia ViVA) 1:09
2. "Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach" (featuring Snoop Dogg and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble) 3:35
3. "White Flag" (featuring Bashy, Kano and the National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music) 3:42
4. "Rhinestone Eyes"   3:19
5. "Stylo" (featuring Bobby Womack and Mos Def) 4:29
6. "Superfast Jellyfish" (featuring De La Soul and Gruff Rhys) 2:54
7. "Empire Ants" (featuring Little Dragon) 4:43
8. "Glitter Freeze" (featuring Mark E. Smith) 4:02
9. "Some Kind of Nature" (featuring Lou Reed) 2:59
10. "On Melancholy Hill"   3:53
11. "Broken"   3:16
12. "Sweepstakes" (featuring Mos Def and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble) 5:19
13. "Plastic Beach" (featuring Mick Jones and Paul Simonon) 3:46
14. "To Binge" (featuring Little Dragon) 3:55
15. "Cloud of Unknowing" (featuring Bobby Womack and Sinfonia ViVA) 3:05
16. "Pirate Jet" (featuring The Purple, the People, the Plastic Eating People) 2:32
Total length:
 56:46

Personnel

Gorillaz

  • 2D – vocals, keyboards
  • Murdoc Niccals – bass guitar, drum machine
  • Cyborg Noodle – guitars

Musicians and others

  • Damon Albarn - vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass, drum machine
  • Bashy – vocals on track 3
  • Jason Cox – engineer
  • De La Soul – vocals on track 6
  • Mos Def – vocals on tracks 5 and 12
  • Gorillaz – producer
  • Jamie Hewlett – artwork
  • Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – additional brass on tracks 2 and 12, track 11 (live)
  • Mick Jones – additional guitar on track 13
  • The Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music – orchestra on track 3
  • Kano – vocals on track 3
  • Yukimi Nagano – vocals on tracks 7 and 14
  • The Purple, the People, the Plastic Eating People – choir
  • Essam Rafea – conductor
  • Lou Reed – vocals on track 9
  • Gruff Rhys – vocals on track 6
  • Andre de Ridder – conductor
  • Paul Simonon – additional bass on track 13
  • sinfonia ViVA – orchestra on tracks 1, 15, 17 and 18
  • Mark E. Smith – vocals on track 8
  • Snoop Dogg – vocals on track 2
  • Stephen Sedgwick – programming
  • Simon Tong – additional guitars
  • Gabriel Manuals Wallace – additional drums
  • Fredrik Wallin – additional keyboards on tracks 7 and 14
  • Howie Weinberg – mastering
  • Hakan Wirenstrand – additional keyboards on tracks 7 and 14
  • Bobby Womack – vocals on tracks 5 and 15
  • Zombie Flesh Eaters – design

Charts

Chart positions

Chart (2010) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[57] 1
Austrian Albums Chart[57] 1
Belgian Albums Chart[57] 1
Canadian Albums Chart<ref name=http:"Canadian charts">"Gorillaz Plastic Beach". Canada: jam.canoe.ca. 25 March 2010. </ref> 3
Czech Republic Albums Chart[57] 6
Danish Albums Chart[57] 1
French Albums Chart[57] 2
German Albums Chart[57] 3
Icelandic Albums Chart[58] 4
Irish Albums Chart[57] 4
Italian Albums Chart[57] 12
Chart (2010) Peak
position
Mexican Albums Chart[59] 10
Dutch Albums Chart[57] 8
New Zealand Albums Chart[57] 4
Norwegian Albums Chart[57] 6
Polish Albums Chart[57] 7
Portuguese Albums Chart[57] 4
Spanish Albums Chart[57] 24
Swedish Albums Chart[57] 10
Swiss Albums Chart[57] 2
UK Albums Chart[57] 2
US Billboard 200[30] 2
Brazilian Albums Chart[57] 2

End of year charts

Chart (2010) Rank
European Top 100 Albums [60] 30
UK Albums Chart[61] 40
US Billboard 200[62] 89

Certifications

Region Certification
Australia (ARIA)[63] Gold
Canada (Music Canada)[64] Gold
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[65] Gold
France (SNEP)[66] Platinum
Ireland (IRMA)[67] Gold
United Kingdom (BPI)[68] Platinum

Chart precession and succession

Preceded by
Recollection by k.d. lang		 Australian Albums Chart number-one album
15 March 2010 – 22 March 2010 		Succeeded by
Down the Way by Angus & Julia Stone

Release history

"Plastic Beach" was released in a total of six editions, many of which contain a multitude of exclusive features. These are shown below:

Standard edition Experience edition Japanese standard edition Japanese experience edition iTunes standard edition iTunes deluxe edition
Standard 16 tracks Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Bonus track: Pirate's Progress No No Yes Yes No Yes
Bonus track: Three Hearts, Seven Seas, Twelve Moons No No No No No Yes
Stickers & Poster No No Yes Yes No No
"Making of Plastic Beach" DVD No Yes No Yes No No
Access to exclusive online content[note 1] No Yes No Yes No Yes
Lyrics No No Yes
(physical booklet)		 Yes
(physical booklet)		 Yes
(digital)		 Yes
(digital)
Notebook Partial Yes Partial Yes Partial Yes
Stylo music video No No No Yes No Yes
Access to iTunes LP Features No No No No No Yes
T-shirt[note 2] Depends Depends No No No No
  1. ↑ Content such as wallpapers and screensaver(s) offered may vary depending on the edition.
  2. ↑ The T-shirt offered varies depending on the edition.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lynskey, Dorian (December 2007). "Damon Albarn". Q (Bauer Media Group). 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 Morley, Paul (27 November 2009). "Paul Morley's Showing Off... Damon Albarn" (MP3). The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 November 2009. Retrieved 29 November 2009. 
  3. ↑ "Jamie Hewlett: The Gorillaz-Unofficial 2008 Interview". Gorillaz-Unofficial. February 2008. Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2008.  All four members of The Who appeared on-screen in Tommy, with Roger Daltrey starring in the title role.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kermode, Mark (20 July 2008). "The year of the monkey". The Observer (UK). Archived from the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2008. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Liss, Sarah (17 September 2008). "Simian city". CBC News. Archived from the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2010. 
  6. ↑ Frenette, Brad (22 September 2008). "Gorillaz Monkey around: Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett on their new album". National Post. Archived from the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2008. 
  7. ↑ Birrell, Ian (7 November 2008). "Monkey business: Artist Jamie Hewlett reveals how he created his anti-hero". The Independent (UK). Archived from the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 23 December 2008. 
  8. ↑ Rayner, Ben (23 September 2008). "Gorillaz pair collaborates on Mandarin-language opera". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2008. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Phillips, Amy (20 January 2010). "Gorillaz Reveal Full Album Details". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on 21 January 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2010. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Stokes, Paul (23 January 2010). "Unfinished monkey business". NME: 6–7. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 Davis, Johnny (March 2010). "Yo Ho Ho". Q (Bauer Media Group) (284): 44–52. 
  12. ↑ Greene, Andy (9 April 2009). "Gorillaz Attempt to Draft Bobby Womack For Upcoming Album". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2010. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 DJ Semtex (interviewer); Mos Def (musician) (11 December 2009). "50 Cent & Mos Def Drop In On Semtex". Hip Hop With Semtex (BBC Radio 1Xtra). Archived from the original on 31 January 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2010. 
  14. ↑ "Engelbert Humperdinck Sets Gorillaz Story Straight". Undercover.fm. 12 November 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2011. 
  15. ↑ Adam (24 March 2010). "Interview". Gorillaz Unofficial. 
  16. ↑ Michaels, Sean (28 April 2010). "Gorillaz planning two more Plastic Beach albums?". The Guardian (London). 
  17. ↑ "Damon Albarn enlists The Horrors for new Gorillaz album". NME. UK. 1 September 2009. Archived from the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2010. 
  18. ↑ Mar, Pete (interviewer); Furse, Tomethy (band member); Webb, Spider (band member) (14 June 2009). The Horrors Interview with B-Sides (flv). B-Sides. Retrieved 14 June 2009. 
  19. ↑ Vozick-Levinson, Simon (28 May 2009). "De La Soul's Posdnuos on their Nike mix, their next album, and working again with Gorillaz". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2009. 
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Paphides, Pete (5 March 2010). "Gorillaz: Plastic Beach review". The Times. Times Newspapers. Retrieved 2011-09-18. 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2010). "Plastic Beach - Gorillaz". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Review. Retrieved 2011-09-18. 
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Fennessey, Sean (10 March 2010). "Gorillaz: Plastic Beach | Album Reviews". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2011-09-18. 
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Eccleston, Danny (April 2010). "Gorillaz, Plastic Beach (Parlophone)". Mojo (Bauer Media Group): 99. Retrieved 2011-09-18. 
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Lewis, Miles Marshall (9 March 2010). "Gorillaz Get Serious". The Village Voice. Village Voice Media. Retrieved 2011-09-18. 
  25. ↑ Cochrane, Greg (15 January 2009). "Gorillaz tracks debuted by Damon". Newsbeat (BBC Radio 1). Archived from the original on 22 January 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2009. 
  26. ↑ "Plastic Beach – Album Mixtape 2010". Gorillaz. Retrieved 28 February 2010. 
  27. ↑ Daniel Kreps. "Gorillaz Debut New "Plastic Beach" Track "Superfast Jellyfish" : Rolling Stone : Rock and Roll Daily". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 28 February 2010. 
  28. ↑ "Gorillaz – Plastic Beach: Exclusive album preview". The Guardian (London: Guardian News and Media Limited). 1 March 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2010. 
  29. ↑ Sexton, Paul (18 March 2010). "Gorillaz Scores Third Euro Chart No. 1". Billboard. 
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Caulfield, Keith (17 March 2010). "Ludacris Lands Fourth No. 1 Album with Battle of the Sexes". Billboard. Los Angeles, California, United States of America. Retrieved 18 March 2010. 
  31. ↑ Grein, Paul (17 March 2010). "Week Ending March 14, 2010: Hendrix Tops Elvis". Chart Watch. Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 19 March 2010. 
  32. ↑ "gorillaz_news: Plastic Beach #2 in USA / other chart news (UPDATE with some more positions)". gorillaz-unofficial.com. 17 March 2010. 
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 Murray, Noel. Review: Plastic Beach. The A.V. Club. Retrieved on 10 March 2010.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Greenblatt, Leah. Review: Plastic Beach. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 10 March 2010.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Petridis, Alexis (4 March 2010). "Gorillaz: Plastic Beach | CD review". The Guardian (United Kingdom: Guardian News and Media Limited). Retrieved 10 March 2010. 
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Everley, David. "Review: Plastic Beach". Q: 104. April 2010.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Sheffield, Rob (1 March 2010). "Plastic Beach : Gorillaz : Review : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. United States. Archived from the original on 23 March 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2010. 
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Jones, Huw. Review: Plastic Beach. Slant Magazine. Retrieved on 10 March 2010.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Dolan, Jon (1 March 2010). "Gorillaz, 'Plastic Beach' (Virgin)". spin.com. United States: SPIN MEDIA LLC. Retrieved 10 March 2010. 
  40. ↑ "Plastic Beach reviews at Metacritic.com". CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved 26 April 2010. 
  41. ↑ Beaumont, Mark (26 February 2010). "BBC – Music – Review of Gorillaz – Plastic Beach". United Kingdom: British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 10 March 2010. 
  42. ↑ Gill, Andy. Review: Plastic Beach. The Independent. Retrieved on 10 March 2010.
  43. ↑ Roby, Wendy (8 March 2010). "Gorillaz – Plastic Beach / Releases / Releases // Drowned In Sound". drownedinsound.com. United Kingdom: DrownedinSound.com. Retrieved 10 March 2010. 
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 Wood, Mikael. Review: Plastic Beach. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 10 March 2010.
  45. ↑ Stewart, Allison. Review: Plastic Beach. The Washington Post. Retrieved on 10 March 2010.
  46. ↑ Caramanica, Jon. Review: Plastic Beach. The New York Times. Retrieved on 18 March 2010.
  47. ↑ Annan, Nick (26 February 2010). "Gorillaz – Plastic Beach". clashmusic.com. United Kingdom: Clash Music. Retrieved 10 March 2010. 
  48. ↑ Kot, Greg. Review: Plastic Beach. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on 10 March 2010.
  49. ↑ Columnist. "Review: Plastic Beach". Uncut: 85. April 2010.
  50. ↑ Columnist. "Review: Plastic Beach". NME: April 2010.
  51. ↑ Kabran, Michael. Review: Plastic Beach. PopMatters. Retrieved on 10 March 2010.
  52. ↑ "CG: Gorillaz". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved 7 April 2012. 
  53. ↑ "Staff Lists: The Top 50 Albums of 2010 | Features". Pitchfork. 2010-12-16. Retrieved 2012-03-05. 
  54. ↑ "Gorillaz Plastic Beach [Deluxe Edition] Japan CD/DVD SET (496408)". Eil.com. Retrieved 16 December 2010. 
  55. ↑ "Plastic Beach by Gorillaz – Download Plastic Beach on iTunes". Itunes.apple.com. 5 March 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2010. 
  56. ↑ "Gorillaz Plastic Beach UK CD/DVD SET (497316)". Eil.com. Retrieved 16 December 2010. 
  57. ↑ 57.0 57.1 57.2 57.3 57.4 57.5 57.6 57.7 57.8 57.9 57.10 57.11 57.12 57.13 57.14 57.15 57.16 57.17 57.18 "Gorillaz – Plastic Beach – Music Charts". acharts.us. United States of America: αCharts. 17 March 2010. 
  58. ↑ "Plötutíðindi". Iceland: plotutidindi.is. 25 April 2010. 
  59. ↑ "Gorillaz – Plastic Beach". Mexico: AMPROFON. 20 March 2010. 
  60. ↑ European Top 100 Albums : Jul 07, 2013 | Billboard Chart Archive. Billboard.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-07.
  61. ↑ "End Of Year Charts: 2010". UKChartsPlus. Retrieved 2011-08-10. 
  62. ↑ "Best of 2010 - Billboard Top 200". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-12-31. 
  63. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2010 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. 
  64. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Gorillaz – Plastic Beach". Music Canada. 
  65. ↑ "Danish album certifications – Gorillaz – Plastic Beach". IFPI Denmark. 
  66. ↑ "French album certifications – Gorillaz – Plastic Beach" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. 
  67. ↑ "Irish album certifications – Gorillaz – Plastic Beach". Irish Recorded Music Association. 
  68. ↑ "British album certifications – Gorillaz – Plastic Beach". British Phonographic Industry.  Enter Plastic Beach in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Go
  69. ↑ "gorillaz_news: Japanese Plastic Beach release details revealed". Gorillaz-news.livejournal.com. Retrieved 28 February 2010. 
  70. ↑ "iTunes Store – Gorillaz – Plastic Beach (Deluxe Version) – Plastic Beach (Deluxe Version)". Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 28 February 2010. 
  71. ↑ "Plastic Beach: Gorillaz: Amazon.de: Musik". Amazon.de. 9 September 2009. Retrieved 28 February 2010. 
  72. ↑ "Plastic Beach (Deluxe Version) by Gorillaz – Preorder Plastic Beach (Deluxe Version) on iTunes/IE". Apple Inc. Retrieved 2 March 2010. 
  73. ↑ "Gorillaz's Plastic Beach CD – Buy Plastic Beach by Gorillaz at Mighty Ape". Mightyape.co.nz. Retrieved 1 March 2010. 
  74. ↑ "Plastic Beach (Deluxe Version) by Gorillaz – Preorder Plastic Beach (Deluxe Version) on iTunes/NO". Apple Inc. Retrieved 2 March 2010. 
  75. ↑ "Plastic Beach (Deluxe Version) by Gorillaz – Preorder Plastic Beach (Deluxe Version) on iTunes/SE". Apple Inc. Retrieved 2 March 2010. 
  76. ↑ "Plastic Beach (Deluxe Version) by Gorillaz – Preorder Plastic Beach (Deluxe Version) on iTunes/DK". Apple Inc. Retrieved 2 March 2010. 
  77. ↑ "Plastic Beach: Gorillaz: Amazon.fr: Musique". Amazon.fr. Retrieved 7 March 2010. 
  78. ↑ "Plastic Beach (Experience Edition): Gorillaz: Amazon.co.uk: Music". Amazon.co.uk. 9 September 2009. Retrieved 28 February 2010. 
  79. ↑ "Gorillaz – Plastic Beach – Music – WantItAll.co.za". Wantitall.co.za. Retrieved 7 March 2010. 
  80. ↑ "Plastic Beach (W/Dvd): Gorillaz: Amazon.ca: Music". Amazon.ca. Retrieved 1 March 2010. 
  81. ↑ "Gorillaz - Plastic Beach - Preorder page - hyangmusic.com". hyangmusic.com. South Korea: hyangmusic.com. Retrieved 8 March 2010. 
  82. ↑ "CD: PLASTIC BEACH – GORILLAZ – POP". livrariacultura.com.br. Brazil: livrariacultura.com.br. Retrieved 14 March 2010. 

External links

Gorillaz
Studio albums
Compilations
Remix albums
EPs
Video releases
Singles
Other songs
  • "5/4"
  • "Rockit"
  • "Hong Kong"
  • "White Flag"
Other releases
Major collaborators
Voice actors
Tours
Related
Articles
Projects
Labels
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.