For those of you who haven’t heard of this release from the world’s greatest cartoon band I’m here to enlighten you about Gorillaz’s newest release The Fall. Damon Albarn the musical man behind Gorillaz recorded this album on his I-Pad (with some minor mixing in England by Stephen Sedgwick) during the American leg of the Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour. The Fall was released on Christmas as a free download to Sub-Division members of the Gorillaz fan club. Everybody else meanwhile can stream the album online by simply giving an email address. It was finally released in physical form on April 18th. So in a way I’m both late and early reviewing this album. But enough of the backstory about this album let’s cut to the chase what do I think of it? Let me tackle each song individually…
The Fall Track List
- Phoner to Arizona- 3 out of 5 stars
- Revolving Doors- 5 out of 5 stars
- Hillbilly Man- 2 out of 5 stars
- Detroit- 4 out of 5 stars.
- Shytown- 4.5 out of 5 stars
- Little Pink Plastic Bags- 3.5 out of 5 stars.
- The Joplin Spider- 2.5 out of 5 stars
- The Parish of Space Dust- 4 out of 5 stars
- The Snake in Dallas- 4 out of 5 stars
- Amarillo- 4.5 out of 5 stars
- The Speak it Mountains- 3 out of 5 stars
- Aspen Forest- 3.5 out of 5 stars
- Bobby in Phoenix- 5 out of 5 stars
- California & The Slipping of The Sun- 3.5 out of 5 stars
- Seattle Yodel- 1 out of 5 stars
My overall reactions to the album is that its a solid release. Now while its not as strong as the previous three studio albums its still a good album considering the time and technical restraints this album had to overcome. It should be noted that I’m a little bias in this review because I was lucky enough to see Gorillaz at the Detroit stop of the Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour. This album blends the hip-hop elements of their first album Gorillaz and mixes it with the dark tones and themes of Demon Days. There is also a lot of instrumental tracks on this album and even the songs with lyrics are ok at best. Although considering this was made in 32 days I would say the album does have a some what coherent vision. That vision is Damon describing his experiences along the roads and cities of the American tour.
The songs they get right they get really right Revolving Door,Detroit, Shytown, Amarillo, and Bobby in Phoenix were excellent regardless of the technological constraints and I still find myself singing along with them to myself.
“Bobby in Phonix”- Gorillaz feat. Bobby Womack
A photo I took of Gorillaz live at the Fox Theatre Oct 13th
However, with some of the songs such Seattle Yodel (just a random guy yodeling wtf), Joplin Spider, and Hillbilly Man it feels like they were musical concepts scrapped together to fill out the rest of the album. For those of you looking for a radio friendly album this isn’t for you.For those of you looking for a musical diary of Gorillaz then give this a listen.
Final Album Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Here’s a link to stream the whole album for free.
