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This article is about the studio album. For other uses, see Plastic Beach (disambiguation).

Plastic Beach is the third studio album by English virtual band Gorillaz. It was released on 3 March 2010 in the United Kingdom by Parlophone and in the United States by Virgin Records.

Information[]

Conceived from an unfinished project titled Carousel, the album was recorded from June 2008 to November 2009 and was produced primarily by group co-creator Damon Albarn. It features collaborations with Snoop Dogg, Gruff Rhys, De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, Lou Reed, Mick Jones, Mark E. Smith, Paul Simonon, Bashy, Kano, Little Dragon, Sinfonia ViVA and The Syrian National Orchestra For Arabic Music.

Upon its release, Plastic Beach debuted at #2 on the UK Albums Chart (where it sold over 74,432 copies in its first week of sales) and the US Billboard 200 (where it sold over 112,000 copies in its first week of sales), and also peaked within the top ten of several other countries. It received generally positive reviews from critics, appearing on various lists of the best albums of 2010 by several publications, and has sold over 1.45 million copies worldwide. Four singles were released from Plastic Beach: Stylo, Superfast Jellyfish, "On Melancholy Hill, and Rhinestone Eyes, along with the minor single White Flag.

The album has four different variations of the cover art: a daytime one, on the many vinyl pressings (logo on the left side) and on the Japanese standard CD (logo on the right side); an afternoon one, on the standard CD and most digital releases; a dusk one, on the iTunesW Digital Deluxe Version and a nighttime one, on the Experience Edition CD and the iTunes standard version. An animated cover, alternating between the times of the day, is also present on Apple Music.

Track Listing[]

Standard Edition[]

CD, Vinyl, Cassette & Streaming
No. Title Length
1. 'Orchestral Intro' (feat. Sinfonia ViVA) 1:09
2. 'Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach' (feat. Snoop Dogg & Hypnotic Brass Ensemble) 3:36
3. 'White Flag' (feat. Bashy, Kano & The Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music) 3:43
4. 'Rhinestone Eyes'   3:20
5. 'Stylo' (feat. Mos Def & Bobby Womack) 4:32
6. 'Superfast Jellyfish' (feat. De La Soul & Gruff Rhys) 2:55
7. 'Empire Ants' (feat. Little Dragon) 4:44
8. 'Glitter Freeze' (feat. Mark E. Smith) 4:03
9. 'Some Kind of Nature' (feat. Lou Reed & The Purple, The People, The Plastic Eating People) 3:00
10. 'On Melancholy Hill'   3:54
11. 'Broken'   3:17
12. 'Sweepstakes' (feat. Mos Def & Hypnotic Brass Ensemble) 5:20
13. 'Plastic Beach' (feat. Mick Jones & Paul Simonon) 3:47
14. 'To Binge' (feat. Little Dragon) 3:56
15. 'Cloud of Unknowing' (feat. Bobby Womack & Sinfonia ViVA) 3:06
16. 'Pirate Jet' (feat. The Purple, the People, the Plastic Eating People) 2:32
Total length:
56:46

Bonus Tracks[]

Japanese Version CD
No. Title Length
17. 'Pirate's Progress' (feat. Sinfonia ViVA) 4:02
Total length:
60:48
iTunes Digital Deluxe Edition
No. Title Length
17. 'Pirate's Progress' (feat. Sinfonia ViVA) 4:02
18. 'Three Hearts, Seven Seas, Twelve Moons' (feat. Sinfonia ViVA) 2:14
Total length:
63:02
Reissued Digital Downloads
No. Title Length
17. 'Doncamatic' (feat. Daley) 3:20
Total length:
60:06

Experience Edition[]

DVD
No. Title Length
1. 'The Making Of Plastic Beach'   35:00

Unmastered Album[]

The unmastered version of the album, from a rare promo CD titled "Music For The Next Album", contains the full transitionless versions of all songs from the album, as well as Pirate's Progress in the place of Orchestral Intro (but retaining the seagull sounds from the beginning of the final track).

Instrumental Album[]

The instrumental album contains the full transitionless versions of all tracks from the album, as well as Pirate's Progress in full, but strangely lacks the song Sweepstakes.

Personnel[]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the Experience Edition of Plastic Beach.

Gorillaz[]

Musicians[]

  • Damon Albarn - vocals, instrumentation
  • Sinfonia Viva - orchestra ("Orchestral Intro", "Cloud of Unknowing", "Pirate's Progress"[1])
    • André de Ridder - conducting, orchestral arrangements ("Orchestral Intro", "Cloud of Unknowing", "Pirate's Progress")
    • James Redwood - orchestral arrangements ("Orchestral Intro", "Cloud of Unknowing", "Pirate's Progress")
  • Snoop Dogg - vocals ("Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach")
  • Gabriel Wallace - additional drums ("Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach", "Rhinestone Eyes", "Superfast Jellyfish", "Some Kind of Nature", "Sweepstakes", "Pirate Jet", "Pirate's Progress")
  • Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - additional brass ("Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach", "Sweepstakes")
  • Bashy - vocals ("White Flag")
  • Kano - vocals ("White Flag")
  • National Orchestra for Arabic Music - orchestra ("White Flag")
  • Essam Rafea - conducting, orchestral arrangements ("White Flag")
  • Mos Def - vocals ("Stylo", "Sweepstakes")
  • Bobby Womack - vocals ("Stylo", "Cloud of Unknowing")
  • De La Soul - vocals ("Superfast Jellyfish")
  • The Purple, the People, the Plastic Eating People
    • Gruff Rhys - vocals, additional guitar ("Superfast Jellyfish"), choir ("Some Kind of Nature", "Pirate Jet")
    • Wayne Hernedez - choir ("Some Kind of Nature", "Pirate Jet")
    • Janet Ramus - choir ("Some Kind of Nature", "Pirate Jet")
    • Wendi Rose - choir ("Some Kind of Nature", "Pirate Jet")
    • John Gibbons - choir ("Some Kind of Nature", "Pirate Jet")
    • Ladonna Harley-Peters - choir ("Some Kind of Nature", "Pirate Jet")
    • Sharlene Hector - choir ("Some Kind of Nature", "Pirate Jet")
    • Lucy Randell - choir ("Some Kind of Nature", "Pirate Jet")
    • Marion Powell - choir ("Some Kind of Nature", "Pirate Jet")
    • The Bullitts - choir ("Some Kind of Nature", "Pirate Jet")
    • Yvonne Stevens - choir ("Some Kind of Nature", "Pirate Jet")
  • Little Dragon
    • Yukimi Nagano - vocals ("Empire Ants", "To Binge")
    • Håkan Wirenstrand - additional keyboards ("Empire Ants", "To Binge")
    • Fredrik Wallin - additional keyboards ("Empire Ants", "To Binge")
  • Simon Tong - aditional guitar ("Empire Ants", "Glitter Freeze", "Cloud of Unknowing")
  • Mark E. Smith - vocals ("Glitter Freeze")
  • Lou Reed - vocals, additional guitar ("Some Kind of Nature")
  • Mick Jones - additional guitar ("Plastic Beach")
  • Paul Simonon - additional bass
  • David Coulter - additional Jew's harp ("Pirate Jet")
  • Stephen Sedgwick - programming
  • Daley - vocals ("Doncamatic")

Technical[]

  • Gorillaz - production
  • Jason Cox - recording, mixing
  • Stephen Sedgwick - recording
  • Josh Shultz - recording ("Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach")
  • Chris Jackson - recording ("Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach")
  • Ted Chung - recording ("Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach")
  • Michael Makowski - recording assistance ("Stylo", "Some Kind of Nature", "Sweepstakes")
  • Howie Weinberg - mastering

Artwork[]

Sample credits[]

  • Superfast Jellyfish contains samples from the Swanson advertisement for frozen breakfast sandwiches and an episode of Natural World, "Sperm Whales: Back from the Abyss", narrated by David AttenboroughW.

Gallery[]

PB3 PBStickerSheet PB BC
The full image gallery for Plastic Beach (album) may be viewed at Plastic Beach (album)/Gallery.

Booklet[]

Trivia[]

  • Plastic Beach is currently the only Gorillaz album to feature the band's studio/home on the cover art.
    • It is also the second album not to feature any of the members on the cover, the first being D-Sides.
  • The booklet artwork for the album has an image of 2-D sitting on a boat holding a picture frame containing the artwork to David Bowie's 1971 album Hunky Dory.
  • This album also has the most unreleased tracks.
  • The cover for the experience edition and the iTunes deluxe edition show the back of the island while the US and Japan standard editions show the front.
  • The cover of the album is also a background image for Gorillaz Wiki.

Navigation[]

  1. "Pirate's Progress" is an extended version of "Orchestral Intro"
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