Track Listing

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14504 in Music
• Released on: 2008-08-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .19 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
You could never accuse Damon Albarn of resting on his laurels. Whether it's forming 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

CD Description
Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett's first collaboration since Gorillaz supplies the theme for the BBC's coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as providing the score to the opera of the same name, which was a huge success and received extremely positive reviews. 'Journey To The West' is performed using both Western and traditional Chinese instruments, and sung in Mandarin, which adds to the authenticity already afforded to it by it's use of Ancient Chinese texts as a basis.

Customer Reviews

Magical and mysterious
What a gem of an album this is!

I haven't seen the show so on the music and music alone, I have to say that there are some genuinely beautiful moments on this album.
As for the so-called 'difficult' pieces, I agree these will not be everyone's cup of tea but I think many people, myself included, see them as curious little moments that demand re-listening to get your head around.

I like music that isn't just ear candy and actually has some substance and Damon has really achieved something here. Something that is totally different (thank God!) from everything else out there at the moment.

Monkey Magic, but not for everyone I see!
Having previously watched the BBC Imagine documentary about this project, but missing the chance to catch the opera in London, I was pleased this album was released. Personally, I was impressed as I'm a fan of Chinese culture, world music, and the genius of Jamie Hewlett. The major downfall, I thought, was that the track from the BBC Olympics ad is not included (I do realise that this is based on the opera, and not the spin-off Olympics animation, but had my hopes up that it may be on here).

good but great?
is this any good, yes. would it be any good without damon albarns name on it? yes but surely wouldn't make the light of day on western charts. its a great opeara score and the good thing is even without having seen the show, its easy to imagine how track names complement the music.. worth buying, still undecided.