Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I ventured on board the Gorillaz hype machine during Demon Days, their 2nd album and possibly their best to date. At the time I picked up the Deluxe version of Demon Days and loved the incredible quality of the package. With a great plastic slip, unique artwork and an entire mini-art book and DVD / CD it was truly an exceptional value as well as collector's piece.
When I saw the artwork for the Gorillaz latest album, 'Plastic Beach' I immediately thought of how great the last Deluxe edition had been and put in my pre-order. Upon it's arrival, the first thing that immediately struck me is how cheap it looked. Rather than any sort of slip case or plastic, everything in this "Deluxe" edition is cardboard. It looks terrible in comparison to the Demon Days deluxe package and basically it's a fold out cardboard piece with 2 sleeves that hold 2 smaller cardboard sleeves for the CD & DVD 'Making Of.' The saving grace for the packaging is the artwork, with vivid colors and images it almost provides the necessary incentive to pay about twice as much for this edition compared to the standard release.
With that said, I can't whole heartedly recommend this as a purchase. While the packaging is poorly made, the biggest disappointment by far is the included DVD. Prior to the release of Plastic Beach, I was lucky enough to see the music video for Stylo on youtube. It was great, with CGI Gorillaz members and even Bruce Willis. On the Demon Days deluxe edition, there was a nice variety of content included on the bonus DVD including the album's leading song in music video format.
On the Plastic Beach Deluxe edition, they have made a dire error that I feel should stop anyone who was a fan of the DVD in Demon Day's Deluxe from picking this edition up. As is becoming more of the norm these days, the producers of this package opted to include special downloadable and streaming content via the Gorillaz website rather than including said games, videos and more on the bonus DVD. In my opinion, this is incredibly disappointing and takes away from the actual physical package. The Demon Days DVD was solid and really made the purchase worthwhile ... the Plastic Beach is only a 45 minute "making of feature" that offers very little of the Gorillaz artwork or any mention of the Stylo video ... that's it, there is nothing else on the disc. I'm sure the bonus online content is quite good but down the road in 5 to 10 years, I'll still be able to pop in the Demon Days DVD and get everything in one convenient place, sadly the same cannot be said for this "Deluxe" edition.
For those on the fence about this edition, I say go with the standard and save your money ... only diehard Gorillaz fans will find the extras worthwhile and while the artwork on the packaging is incredible, the medium on which it is presented is cheap and disappointing.
2 1/2 stars out of 5 for the Deluxe edition(rounded up for Amazon.com)
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Deluxe version of Plastic Beach includes the standard 16-track CD as well as a 45-minute "making of" documentary DVD that provides online access to extra music, games and video.
Click here for more information about Plastic Beach (CD/DVD)
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