Professional ratings| Review scores |
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| Source | Rating |
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| Allmusic |   [1] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [2] |
| NME | 7/10[3] |
Laika Come Home is a Gorillaz remix album 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, the visual artist who worked with Damon Albarn for Think Tank's artwork and Demon Days producer Danger Mouse in an attack against Paris Hilton. Before the release of the album, the mix of Tomorrow Comes Today (Bañana Baby) was released in the single of Tomorrow Comes Today in February 2002.
Track listing
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| 1. | "Jungle Fresh" | "19-2000" | 5:28 |
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| 2. | "Strictly Rubbadub" | "Slow Country" | 3:41 |
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| 3. | "Bañana Baby" | "Tomorrow Comes Today" | 5:29 |
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| 4. | "Monkey Racket" | "Man Research (Clapper)" | 5:57 |
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| 5. | "De-Punked" | "Punk" | 5:20 |
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| 6. | "P.45" | "5/4" | 4:26 |
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| 7. | "Dub Ø 9" | "Starshine" | 5:17 |
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| 8. | "Crooked Dub" | "Sound Check (Gravity)" | 5:31 |
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| 9. | "Mutant Genius" | "New Genious (Brother)" | 5:02 |
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| 10. | "Come Again" | "Re-Hash" | 6:04 |
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| 11. | "A Fistful of Peanuts" | "Clint Eastwood" | 5:53 |
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| 12. | "Lil' Dub Chefin'" | "M1 A1" | 4:41 |
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| Total length: | 1:02:49 |
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| 12. | "Lil' Dub Chefin'" (with interlude) | 6:07 |
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| 13. | "Strictly Rubbadub" ("More Rubbadub" version) | 5:15 |
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| 14. | "A Fistful of Peanuts" ("More Peanuts" version) | 6:39 |
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| Total length: | 1:16:09 |
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Personnel
Musicians
- Damon Albarn – vocals (all tracks), piano (2, 3), stylophone (2), melodica (3, 4, 11), guitar (7, 8, 10)
- Spacemonkeyz – instrumentation, programming
- Miho Hatori – additional vocals (1, 10)
- Tina Weymouth – additional vocals (1)
- Michael Smith – horn, horn arrangements (1–3, 5, 6, 10–12), flute (11)
- Martin Shaw – horn (1)
- Dan Left Hand – bass (1)
- Jeff Scantlebury – percussion (1–3, 5–8, 10–12)
- Jaques Shythé – castanets (1)
- U Brown – vocals (2, 11)
- Dennis Rollins – horn (2, 3, 5, 6, 10–12)
- Dominic Glover – horn (2, 3, 5, 6, 10–12)
- Phil Soul – bass (2–4, 8, 10, 12)
- Earl Sixteen – vocals (3, 11)
- Stuart Zender – bass (3, 4), clavinet (4)
- Pete Collins – incendiary device (5)
- Simon Katz – guitar (6), organ (12)
- Brian Pisce – strings (8)
- Terry Hall – vocals (12)
Technical
- Gorillaz – production
- Tom Girling – production, engineering, Pro Tools
- Jason Cox – production, engineering
- Dan Nakamura – production (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
