It is during this phase that we see some of the best artwork from Hewlett, which, when compared to Demon Days and Phase two, looks a lot more clean and stylistic. Despite being an animated band, the members age in real time which leads to a change and progression in artwork from co-creator, Jamie Hewlett. I mean come on, watching Noodle fire a machine gun on a sinking cruise ship while being shot at by fighter jets? That’s about as badass as it gets.Īnother thing that makes Plastic Beach and Phase three for the band so great is the artwork. “On Melancholy Hill”, (which is also my favorite Gorillaz’s song) “Stylo” was filmed as a live-action music video and features Bruce Willis, so that automatically makes it cool. Despite that, the few videos that did come out in this phase were amazing. To be fair, Plastic Beach suffered from budget cuts during its production, which as a result led to the scrapping of the music video for “Rhinestone Eyes” which, judging by the storyboard, would have been sweet. “Dirty Harry”, “El Mañana”, “Feel Good Inc.” and “DARE”? Even I know those were some great videos. Outside of the music, Demon Days beats Plastic Beach in one thing, and that’s music videos. While Demon Days was more of a commercial success, Plastic Beach was an artistic success for the band, and real fans will understand that. It’s clever, and the more you listen to the album, the more it will grow on you. Plastic Beach takes on a rather humanitarian approach by providing insightful commentary and taking a stance on ideas such as pollution, war, battling addiction and much more. While Demon Days is also a conceptual album, it feels more like a collection of songs rather than an album with a story. Guest artists such as Snoop Dogg, De La Soul, Mos Def, Bobby Womack, Little Dragon, Lou Reed from The Velvet Underground, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon from The Clash, and even The National Orchestra for Arabic Music star throughout, showcasing the band’s diversity and arsenal of different styles and genres.Īnother thing that Plastic Beach does better is feed into an actual theme. They established this style with their self-titled album in 2001, extended it in Demon Days, and then perfected it in Plastic Beach. One of the things that make Gorillaz unique is their constant collaborations with several different artists. Plastic Beach also manages to close out the album a lot stronger than its predecessor, thanks to Bobby Womack who provides the beautiful vocals to “Cloud of Unknowing” before finally ending with the chilling yet poetic track, “Pirate Jet” which is guaranteed to give you goosebumps. “Orchestral Intro” sets up the rest of the album smoothly, while also segueing perfectly into “Welcome to The World of The Plastic Beach”. When comparing the opening tracks to both albums, Plastic Beach has Demon Days beat by a mile. “On Melancholy Hill”, “Stylo”, “Empire Ants” … I could go on and list every track off Plastic Beach, but I won’t.
Its songs are often overshadowed by their more popular tracks such as “Feel Good Inc.” and “DARE” off Demon Days, which has diverted attention away from their other stuff. When it comes to the music, Plastic Beach is severely underrated. That being said, I’ll also be defending the band’s Phase three timeline, which not only includes the album but everything else associated with it. There is a lot more to Gorillaz than just the music. However, the way I see it, Plastic Beach took everything that Demon Days did right, and brought it to a whole new level. Let me start off by saying that both Demon Days and Plastic Beach are amongst my favorite albums.
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