Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[2]
NME7/10[3]

Laika Come Home is a remix album by British virtual band Gorillaz, released in July 2002. Unlike a typical remix album, it is done by just one group, Spacemonkeyz. It contains most of the songs from Gorillaz' first album, Gorillaz, but remixed in dub and reggae style. The album features Terry Hall, U Brown, Earl Sixteen and 2-D. One single, "Lil' Dub Chefin'", was released from the album on 22 July 2002, with moderate success. The limited edition was packed in digipak, featuring two hidden tracks. In 2004, the album was packaged with 2001's Gorillaz in a box set as part of EMI's "2CD Originals" collection. The album's title is a reference to Laika, the Soviet space dog, and the film Lassie Come Home. The album contains mixes of every song on the original album except "Double Bass", "Latin Simone (¿Que Pasa Contigo?)", and "Rock the House".

Background

The Spacemonkeyz appear to be first referenced before the album in the "Tomorrow Comes Today" video. During the video, in the background, a poster can be seen with three pictures of monkeys with spacesuits and the caption "Laugh now but one day we'll be in charge". The artwork is a famous piece of artwork by Banksy,[4] the visual artist who worked with Damon Albarn for Think Tank's artwork[5] and Demon Days producer Danger Mouse in an attack against Paris Hilton.[6] Before the release of the album, the remix of "Tomorrow Comes Today" ("Bañana Baby") was released on the "Tomorrow Comes Today" single in February 2002.

Track listing

Laika Come Home – Standard edition
No.TitleGorillaz originalLength
1."Jungle Fresh""19-2000"5:28
2."Strictly Rubbadub""Slow Country"3:41
3."Bañana Baby""Tomorrow Comes Today"5:29
4."Monkey Racket""Man Research (Clapper)"5:57
5."De-Punked""Punk"5:20
6."P.45""5/4"4:26
7."Dub Ø9""Starshine"5:17
8."Crooked Dub""Sound Check (Gravity)"5:31
9."Mutant Genius""New Genious (Brother)"5:02
10."Come Again""Re-Hash"6:04
11."A Fistful of Peanuts""Clint Eastwood"5:53
12."Lil' Dub Chefin'""M1 A1"4:28
Total length:62:36
Laika Come Home – Hidden tracks
No.TitleGorillaz originalLength
12."Lil' Dub Chefin'" (with interlude)"M1 A1"5:43
13."Strictly Rubbadub" ("More Rubbadub" Version)"Slow Country"5:14
14."A Fistful of Peanuts" ("More Peanuts" Version)"Clint Eastwood"6:39
Total length:75:44

Personnel

Musicians

  • Damon Albarn – vocals (all tracks), piano (tracks 2–3), stylophone (track 2), melodica (tracks 3–4, 11), guitar (tracks 7–8, 10)
  • Spacemonkeyz – instrumentation, programming, guitar, bass, drum programming
  • Miho Hatori – additional vocals (tracks 1, 10)
  • Tina Weymouth – additional vocals (track 1)
  • Michael Smith – horn, horn arrangements (tracks 1–3, 5–6, 10–12), flute (track 11)
  • Martin Shaw – horn (track 1)
  • Dan Left Hand – bass (track 1)
  • Jeff Scantlebury – percussion (tracks 1–3, 5–8, 10–12)
  • Jaques Shythé – castanets (track 1)
  • U Brown – vocals (tracks 2, 11)
  • Dennis Rollins – horn (tracks 2–3, 5–6, 10–12)
  • Dominic Glover – horn (tracks 2–3, 5–6, 10–12)
  • Phil Soul – bass (tracks 2–4, 8, 10, 12)
  • Earl Sixteen – vocals (tracks 3, 11)
  • Stuart Zender – bass (tracks 3–4), clavinet (track 4)
  • Pete Collins – incendiary device (track 5)
  • Simon Katz – guitar (track 6), organ (track 12)
  • Brian Pisce – strings (track 8)
  • Terry Hall – vocals (track 12)

Technical

  • Gorillaz – production
  • Tom Girling – co-production, engineering, Pro Tools
  • Jason Cox – co-production, engineering
  • Dan Nakamura – production (tracks 1–6, 8–12)
  • Spacemonkeyz – additional production, re-mixing
  • Pete Collins – assistance

Artwork

  • J.C. Hewlett – illustration
  • Mat Wakeham – art direction
  • Kate McLauchlan – design
  • Roland Hamilton – monkey photos

Charts

Chart (2002) Peak
position
French Albums (SNEP)[7] 118
UK Albums (OCC)[8] 108
US Billboard 200[9] 156
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[10] 6

Release details

The album was released in various countries in July 2002.

Country Date Label Format Catalogue
United Kingdom 1 July 2002 Parlophone CD 540 3622
LP 539 9821
Japan 3 July 2002 Toshiba-EMI CD TOCP-66045
United States 16 July 2002 Astralwerks CD ASW 40362
CD digipak ASW 40522

References

  1. ^ Laika Come Home at AllMusic
  2. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  3. ^ "NME Album Reviews - Space Monkeys vs. Gorillaz: Laika Come Home". NME. 12 September 2005. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  4. ^ "Laugh Now". Hexagon Gallery. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  5. ^ "Banksy artwork sets new benchmark". 26 October 2006. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Banksy's spoofing of Paris Hilton's debut album to go up for auction". Consequence. 26 December 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Lescharts.com – Gorillaz – Laika Come Home". Hung Medien.
  8. ^ Zywietz, Tobias. "Chart Log UK: DJ S – The System of Life". zobbel.de. Tobias Zywietz.
  9. ^ "Gorillaz Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
  10. ^ "Gorillaz Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard.