release date: Dec. 25, 2010
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Gorillaz, Stephen Sedgwick
label: Parlophone - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 2. "Revolving Doors" - 3. "HillBilly Man" - 4. "Detroit" - 9. "The Snake in Dallas" - 10. "Amarillo" - 13. "Bobby in Phoenix" (feat. Bobby Womack)
4th studio album by Gorillaz [read: Damon Albarn] released only 7 months after Plastic Beach is an album, which actually showcases a much bolder change of style than one might expect. Albarn experiments, and here he has (luckily) left much of the experimental hip hop universe and instead digged into glitch pop, minimal house and electropop. Except from the two The Clash members Mick Jones (track #3) and Paul Simonon (track #12), and Bobby Womack (track #13), the vast crowd of featuring guest performers are as good as stripped down to Damon Albarn, who has composed, played and sang most of the tracks on his own.
Apparently, the entire album was recorded and mixed on Albarn's iPad during the American leg of the Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour (and more specifically the tracks were recorded from Oct. 3 to Nov. 2, 2010). Some critics point to the quick recording and production time when referring to the album as "outtakes" from Plastic Beach. Others just ignore it for being a commercial stunt. I think, they're both wrong, and it does contain fine music.
My first impression was an album of lesser interest than Plastic Beach and Demon Days, but most of all it really comes out as a document of Albarn's musicality - his interest for incorporating and playing with new styles in his broad musical universe, and, I think he has found a tone of his own. The thing is, with Albarn one has to come to terms with being confronted with new music, new influences, and in the end The Fall simply is more than just some sketches without being truly essential.
[ allmusic.com, The Guardian 3 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]
