Spacemonkeyz Vs. Gorillaz: Laika Come Home [Import]

Gorillaz | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 16, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Astralwerks
• ASIN: B000068CDY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,150 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #49 in Music > World Music > Reggae > Dub

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Sure, Gorillaz sounded original, but it was a pop project with all the constraints that went with it--can you imagine the six-minute remixed version of "Clint Eastwood" making it onto MTV? But that's exactly what makes Laika Come Home so good. It's a reimagined collection filled with bone-shaking dubscapes and enough reverb to transmit a message to the farthest edges of the universe. Listen to the "De-Punked" version of "Punk" with its meandering, decayed trumpet and computerized tweaks--hardly recognizable as the original--or the swinging old-school ska that crops ups on "5/4." The two-tone skank of "M1/A1" (with Terry Hall) sounds as if it should have been the original version, but the real killer tracks are those injected with dancehall vibes by DJ U Brown and Earl 16. Who says "you don't get paid for doing what you love?"--not Damon Albarn. --Caroline Butler

Product Description

Gorillaz Photos

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's 1979 all over again! Dub done well!, August 16, 2002

By 

punkviper (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Spacemonkeyz Vs. Gorillaz: Laika Come Home (Audio CD)

How long has it been since you heard a great dub record? For so long it seemed like dub was dead and gone forever. Yeah, portions of it have been incorprated into modern electronica (specifically: drum'n'bass) but I mean a good, fat bass, layin' on the horns, engulf it all in reverb thick enough they hear it across time kinda dub. Scratch Perry dub, King Tubby dub, even Mad Professor dub.

Well, enter this disc, and ka-pow you have your gift from the dub gods of Jah. Bad dub, especially nowadays when the perpetrators are so far removed from the original sound, is easy to do. But this, THIS is great dub, done by professionals who clearly know what makes a great dub record. Listen to "De-Punked" (dub mix of Punk from the original) and TELL me these guys don't know what they're doing! It's cosmic. This disc is everything G-Sides SHOULDA been. From head-bobbing to downright head-thrashing, this disc WILL move you, guarandamnteed. I'm listening to it as I type, and the brass sections are just incredible.

It's funny how people compared the Gorillaz album to the Clash's ahead-of-its-time melting pot triple-album Sandinista, and now we have dub versions of the Gorillaz tracks, just like there were sides of Sandinista that were nothing but dub versions of the album's own songs. It's great! Honestly, if you have any prediliction towards dub reggae AT ALL, you need to hear this. It's like a time-machine and a future-transducer all in one 12-track package. Makes me happy. Long live the dub!!!!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The naysayers either have innate bias or don't get it...., December 19, 2003

By 

Gary S. Fenstermacher "gfen" (bethlehem, pa USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Space Monkeys vs. Gorillaz: Laika Come Home (Audio CD)

...and that's ok, too.
Let's review the flaws, first:
1) Its the same songs, AGAIN.
2) Its nothing like the source material.

OK, downsides listed. Perfectly respectable downsides, yes, we all already own these songs once or twice. However, true to roots dub, that's sort of the point and its well represented here. And, since it is well represented here, its nothing like the original rock songs, its not even like the hiphop songs, its dub.

You get dub (real dub, not electronic thumpathumpa crap) when a producer would take the source material and manipulate it to create fresh music for the sound systems. Vocals out, lead insturments out, rhythm in. Up the bass, up the drums, and let it roll. Punch in a riff, punch in a word, then out again and run the whole thing through more reverb than you can shake a stick at. That's what you've got here. And its not just dub, but its fantastically well done dub. Its an album that's tuned for raving Gorillaz fans, dub fans, and ideally for people who are both. Or will become both.

This may not be the record for you, thankfully Amazon provides you with sound samples. Use them. What you hear is what you get, so stop whining about how much it sucks cause its the same songs over again or because its a style you don't like.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars new Classic Dub Reggae, August 19, 2004

By 

J. Brady (PAWLEYS ISLAND, SC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spacemonkeyz Vs. Gorillaz: Laika Come Home (Audio CD)

I bought this cd on a whim when it came out, having heard ( and seen the video for ) Clint Eastwood.I have since bought the original Gorillaz cd, and I must say I prefer this over the original, being a big fan of dub reggae and chill-out type grooves. This is AWESOME. If you have the original Gorillaz cd and appreciate the diversity of the songs, you will more than likely not get into this one, as the songs admittedly all sound somewhat the same, they all have a very laid back reggae groove to them. But I can highly recommend this for fans of dub reggae.