You could never accuse Damon Albarn of resting on his laurels. Whether it's forming ... more
supergroups (The Good, The Bad & The Queen), working with cult animators (The Gorillaz) or making music with musicians from Mali, the former Blur frontman has nurtured ...
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Monkey's World Monkey Travels Into The Eastern Sea The Living Sea The Dragon King ... more
Iron Rod Out Of The Eastern Sea Heavenly Peach Banquet Battle In Heaven O Mi To Fu Whisper Tripitaka's Curse Confessions Of A Pig Sandy The River Demon Marc...
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You could never accuse Damon Albarn of resting on his laurels. Whether it's forming ... more
supergroups (The Good, The Bad&The Queen), working with cult animators (The Gorillaz) or making music with musicians from Mali, the former Blur frontman has nurtured a restless, questing spirit not normally encountered in Britop stars. As if to underline his diverse interests, he now turns his attention to Chinese theatre.Monkey: Journey to the Westis a theatrical collaboration between Albarn (music), Jamie Hewlett of Gorillaz fame (designs, costumes) and Chinese opera specialist Chen Shi-Zheng. The show itself is an explosive 90-minute circus featuring Chinese acrobats, martial arts experts and contortionists, though the album condenses the experience into 22 songs lasting an hour or so. Recorded in London and Beijing with a mix of European and Chinese musicians,Monkey ...is a genuine attempt at East-West fusion. Featuring a dizzying array of instrumentation--rock guitars, electronics, harps, mandolins, drum machines, strings, plinky-plonk keyboards, giggling girls, chants, even pigs--it's the sort of project that could so easily have gone awry. Yet Albarn, who allegedly mastered the Chinese pentatonic scale, seems to have made it work. Songs like the fluttery "Heavenly Peach Banquet" and the wistful "The Living Sea" are utterly beguiling, and stand in stark contrast to guitar-heavy behemoths like "Battle in Heaven" and the climactic "Monkey Bee." These longer songs are punctuated with incidental pieces such as "Iron Rod", "Into the Eastern Sea" and "Out of the Eastern Sea". While such interludes may distract from a 'normal' album experience, there's enough melodious charm and imaginative whimsy scattered throughout to satisfy even ardent skeptics.--Paul Sullivan
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
You could never accuse Damon Albarn of resting on his laurels. Whether it's forming ... more
supergroups (The Good, The Bad & The Queen), working with cult animators (The Gorillaz) or making music with musicians from Mali, the former Blur frontman has nurtured a restless, questing spirit not normally encountered in Britop stars. As if to underline his diverse interests, he now turns his attention to Chinese theatre. Monkey: Journey to the West is a theatrical collaboration between Albarn (music), Jamie Hewlett of Gorillaz fame (designs, costumes) and Chinese opera specialist Chen Shi-Zheng. The show itself is an explosive 90-minute circus featuring Chinese acrobats, martial arts experts and contortionists, though the album condenses the experience into 22 songs lasting an hour or so. Recorded in London and Beijing with a mix of European and Chinese musicians, Monkey ... is a genuine attempt at East-West fusion. Featuring a dizzying array of instrumentation--rock guitars, electronics, harps, mandolins, drum machines, strings, plinky-plonk keyboards, giggling girls, chants, even pigs--it's the sort of project that could so easily have gone awry. Yet Albarn, who allegedly mastered the Chinese pentatonic scale, seems to have made it work. Songs like the fluttery "Heavenly Peach Banquet" and the wistful "The Living Sea" are utterly beguiling, and stand in stark contrast to guitar-heavy behemoths like "Battle in Heaven" and the climactic "Monkey Bee." These longer songs are punctuated with incidental pieces such as "Iron Rod", "Into the Eastern Sea" and "Out of the Eastern Sea". While such interludes may distract from a 'normal' album experience, there's enough melodious charm and imaginative whimsy scattered throughout to satisfy even ardent skeptics. --Paul Sullivan
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You could never accuse Damon Albarn of resting on his laurels. Whether it's forming ... more
supergroups (The Good, The Bad&The Queen), working with cult animators (The Gorillaz) or making music with musicians from Mali, the former Blur frontman has nurtured a restless, questing spirit not normally encountered in Britop stars. As if to underline his diverse interests, he now turns his attention to Chinese theatre.Monkey: Journey to the Westis a theatrical collaboration between Albarn (music), JamieHewlett of Gorillaz fame (designs, costumes) and Chinese opera specialist Chen Shi-Zheng. The show itself is an explosive 90-minute circus featuring Chinese acrobats, martial arts experts and contortionists, though the album condenses the experience into 22 songs lasting an hour or so. Recorded in London and Beijing with a mix of European and Chinese musicians,Monkey ...is a genuine attempt at East-West fusion. Featuring a dizzying array of instrumentation--rock guitars, electronics, harps, mandolins, drum machines, strings, plinky-plonk keyboards, giggling girls, chants, even pigs--it's the sort of project that could so easily have gone awry. Yet Albarn, who allegedly mastered the Chinese pentatonic scale, seems to have made it work. Songs like the fluttery "Heavenly Peach Banquet" and the wistful "The Living Sea" are utterly beguiling, and stand in stark contrast to guitar-heavy behemoths like "Battle in Heaven" and the climactic "Monkey Bee." These longer songs are punctuated with incidental pieces such as "Iron Rod", "Into the Eastern Sea" and "Out of the Eastern Sea". While such interludes may distract from a 'normal' album experience, there's enough melodious charm and imaginative whimsy scattered throughout to satisfy even ardent skeptics.--Paul Sullivan
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Some good tracks Disadvantages: Some weak tracks
I'm not usually a big fan of soundtrack CDs. Sometimes they work and the music is evocative of a great film or television series. But often, the music tracks are too varied and you'll find you like some and hate others.
But I decided to buy the soundtrack CD to Ashes to Ashes, because the music is integral to the television series and while watching it, I often remarked on how good the music was. Ashes to Ashes is set in 1981 when I was 11-12 and fairly regularly buying singles, so I did think it would be worth buying this album.
The 1980s theme of the series is great and it is reproduced well in this CD. The album has twenty songs from the time, plus a couple of short interludes and the theme tune to the TV series. It lasts a total of 69 minutes.
The CD is a Digipak version, whereas I really prefer the more sturdy box. It ...
Advantages: Lovely music, tracks your toddler will recognise Disadvantages: Short, will annoy you after a while
contains the original songs which make it into the television show, so it is music which is going to be instantly recognisable to anyone who watches the show. I like that all the songs are included as I can choose to play either Harry's favourite songs or just let the CD run right through and let him listen to the lot if I'm feeling particularly generous or in a good mood. It is called "A Musical Journey", presumably because it takes us on a journey through the Night Garden introducing its characters and all the music featured on the show.
The cover artwork isn't particularly eye-catching which I was surprised by. I would have expected it to show an enormous picture of one of the characters on the front to grab the attention of toddlers walking by but instead, it features a navy blue sea scene, much like at the start of the programme ...
Advantages: Fantastic Full-Length Dance Classics Disadvantages: A few substandard fillers...
I've got all the Back To Love compilations from Hed Kandi of of "classic tracks that gave birth to a whole generation of clubbers", and was listening to this one (well, both CD's in this double-pack actually) in my car earlier today, so though't I'd let you know what I thought...
---
CD1
1. "You're gonna miss me" - Turntable Orchestra (original mix)
Classic "italian house" piano, and a great baseline
2. "Love will find a way" - Victor Romeo feat. Latrice Brown
Nothing special about this one really, a bit of a filler really...
3. "See the day" - Ann Consuelo (Stonebridge mix)
What a vocal ! And more italian piano.
4. "Aftershock" - Slave to the Vibe (12" club mix)
Maybe it's this extended 12" mix (that Hed Handi is all about), but I remember this track being much better...
5. "Push the feeling on ...
Product Information for "Monkey - Journey To The West [Digipak] - Various Artists" »
Product details
Title
Monkey - Journey To The West [Digipak]
Performer
Various Artists
Genre
World Music
Sub Genre
Chinese
Release Date
18/08/2008
Original Release Year
2008
Label / Distributor
XL / PIAS UK/Sony DADC
Guest Artist(s)
Various Artists
Pieces in Set
1
Studio / Live
Studio
Stereo
Stereo
Format
Performer
EAN
634904038823
Additional notes
Album Notes
In 2007, Blur/Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn took on the ambitious task of writing the music for an operatic adaptation of JOURNEY TO THE WEST, a Chinese novel from the 16th century, combining Chinese motifs with electronica and rock flavoring. This soundtrack to the stage piece is not actually a verbatim recording of the show's music, but rather a reinterpretation based on the original. It's a wild ride, as Chinese choral voices and traditional-sounding melodies share space with floating ambient textures, freaky electro-acoustic dischord, syncopated electronic beats, and contemplative settings that could almost be labeled New Age if not for the overwhelmingly unconventional context into which they've been placed. Trace elements of Gorillaz can be heard here, but JOURNEY TO THE WEST is undoubtedly an outward expansion of Albarn's aesthetic.
Album Reviews
Mojo (Publisher) (p.110) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Albarn's mastery of the largely non-harmonic Chinese instrumentation -- lots of delicately plucked pipas and gu-zhengs, gongs, cymbals and cellos -- seems impressively intuitive....File under 'brilliantly out-there'."
Titles on disc 1
1.
Monkey's World
2.
Monkey Travels
3.
Into The Eastern Sea
4.
Living Sea
5.
Dragon King
6.
Iron Rod
7.
Out Of The Eastern Sea
8.
Heavenly Peach Banquet
9.
Battle In Heaven
10.
O Mi To Fu
11.
Whisper
12.
Tripitaka's Curse
13.
Confessions Of A Pig
14.
Sandy The River Demon
15.
March Of The Volunteers
16.
White Skeleton Demon
17.
Monk's Song
18.
I Love Buddha
19.
March Of The Iron Army
20.
Pigsy In Space
21.
Monkey Bee
22.
Disappearing Volcano
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since
27/08/2008
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