Laika Come Home Explained

Laika Come Home
Type:	remix
Artist:	Spacemonkeyz and Gorillaz
Cover:	Laika Come Home.png
Released:	1 July 2002
Recorded:	2000–2002
Length:	75:44
Label:	Parlophone/EMI (UK) Astralwerks/Caroline/Virgin/EMI Records (US)
Chronology:	Gorillaz
Prev Title:	G-Sides
Prev Year:	2001
Next Title:	Demon Days
Next Year:	2005

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,^[1] the visual artist who worked with Damon Albarn for Think Tank's artwork^[2] and Demon Days producer Danger Mouse in an attack against Paris Hilton.^[3] 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.

Personnel

Musicians

• Damon Albarn – vocals, piano, stylophone, melodica, guitar
• Spacemonkeyz – instrumentation, programming, guitar, bass, drum programming
• Miho Hatori – additional vocals
• Tina Weymouth – additional vocals
• Michael Smith – horn, horn arrangements, flute
• Martin Shaw – horn
• Dan Left Hand – bass
• Jeff Scantlebury – percussion
  • Jaques Shythé – castanets U Brown – vocals
• Dennis Rollins – horn
• Dominic Glover – horn
• Phil Soul – bass
• Earl Sixteen – vocals
  • • • Stuart Zender – bass, clavinet Pete Collins – incendiary device Simon Katz – guitar, organ Brian Pisce – strings
• Terry Hall – vocals

Technical

• Gorillaz – production
• Tom Girling – co-production, engineering, Pro Tools
• Jason Cox – co-production, engineering
• Dan Nakamura – production
• Spacemonkeyz – additional production, re-mixing
• Pete Collins – assistance

Artwork

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

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
			2×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. Web site: Laugh Now. 2021-08-31. Hexagon Gallery.
2. News: 2006-10-26. Banksy artwork sets new benchmark. 2021-08-31.
3. Web site: 2018-12-26. Banksy's spoofing of Paris Hilton's debut album to go up for auction. 2021-08-31. Consequence.
4. Web site: Chart Log UK: DJ S – The System of Life. Tobias Zywietz. zobbel.de. Zywietz, Tobias.