Gorillaz: Plastic Beach (2LP) [PARLOPHONE]

Why you'll love it

Plastic Beach brought together Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Lou Reed, Little Dragon and the Clash's Mick Jones and Paul Simonon. "On Melancholy Hill" and "Stylo" are fan favourites, and it went to No. 2 in both the UK and the US.

This edition

• 2LP set, 16 tracks
• Parlophone pressing of the 2010 album
• Self-produced by Damon Albarn

About the album

Gorillaz evolved from a novel pop-culture conceit on the part of its creators (Damon Albarn of Blur and his cartoonist pal Jamie Hewlett) into a rather visionary multimedia pop project on 2005's excellent second album Demon Days, and the pair still seem deliriously aware of the creative possibilities afforded them by pulling the strings behind a "virtual band" on the follow-up. Plastic Beach, which arrived in March of 2010, plays like a logical extension of the globally minded pop and hip-hop mashup-ery of its predecessor.

It's a little vaguer with the hooks, perhaps, between instant keepers like the self-descriptive "On Melancholy Hill" and "Superfast Jellyfish," but the hooks are there if you put in the time. And once again it's a testament to the purity of the Gorillaz vision that the impressive guest list (Lou Reed, Mos Def, De La Soul, Bobby Womack, Snoop Dogg, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, Little Dragon, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of the Clash, the Fall's Mark E. Smith and the Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music) just kinda falls into that vision and plays along rather than showboating within it. Gorillaz coulda been just a gimmick, but the work speaks for itself.

Also at Kops: more Gorillaz on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Parlophone, a reissue of the 2010 album.