Journey to the West (album)
Encyclopedia
Journey to the West is the soundtrack to the stage musical Monkey: Journey to the West
and is composed by English
musician Damon Albarn
(of Blur
and Gorillaz
fame) with the UK Chinese Ensemble
, the soundtrack itself is only based upon, but not a direct recording of the musical. The album was released as a download
, CD
, and double vinyl LP
in the United Kingdom
on 18 August 2008 by XL Recordings
. In the United States
, the album was released a day later as a download, while a CD was released on 23 September 2008.
, really. But we can’t call it that for legal reasons". Speaking of his decision to compose music for an opera, Albarn noted that, "This is composition, not songwriting, of course, I was aprehensive at first. But people who come from my normal discipline don't tend to go far enough. We want to bring more flavour to people's lives. And demystify opera to a degree, destroy its elitist angle. Then for people who do like opera, open them up to new forms of music, too. We want to bring a big cornerstone of Chinese culture
and present it to the West
. If we can do that, then we've succeeded."
Chen Shi-Zheng
, the man responsible for creating and conceiving the stage adaptation of Monkey: Journey to the West, explained that he "was looking for someone young and smart to work with. I didn't want to give Damon or Jamie too specific a brief because what was important in this project was that it was their sensibility we wanted. What Damon and I did agree on straightaway was that we didn't want pastiche Chinese music and on the last trip we made he found something he could latch on to."
Chen took Albarn and Hewlett to China
up to five times, Hewlett claimed that "we spent three years working on the opera, we totally immersed ourselves in Chinese culture." 18 months after starting work on the project, Albarn produced his first piece called "Heavenly Peach Banquet" which was a take on the style of music performed by female C-pop
acts. Talking about the piece, Chen said that "I find it very humorous, Hong Kong
pop is so pretty and naive. This is Damon pretending to be naive and you are laughing at him. Messy is a bad word, but he took a melody, messed it around and put noises into it, twisted and processed the sound so that none of it is as it seems."
In order to write the music, Albarn used the pentatonic scale
with the aid of a system he used consisting of five- and seven-pointed stars that he would rotate (supposedly at random) to produce unexpected combinations of notes. The decision to use this method came about after Albarn had been analysing the five-point communist star
and "visualised this star on the stage and it beginning to rotate and I started getting excited about that and 'how can I make that star rotate musically?'" Talking about the sound that he was aiming for, Albarn stated that, "it's very much a modern piece, it's not trying to evoke the time of legend at all. It's very much in sort of downtown Beijing
, Shanghai
or Tokyo
. It's very much the modern Asia
: slightly kooky, very colourful, quite sexy, but still a quite sinister place."
Albarn's orchestra included Chinese instruments such as the pipa
(sometimes called the Chinese lute
) and the Ondes Martenot
, which is an early electronic musical instrument
invented in 1928. With the help of his collaborators, Albarn managed to invented his own instrument a "klaxophone", featuring car-horns attached to a musical keyboard, which was purpose-built for the production by artist Gavin Turk
and was intended to reproduce the sounds of China's roads.
Backing up his decision to release the production's musical score, Albarn explained that "I wanted to put the album out so that there is a record, literally, of how I think of it in my head, but the music should stand alone because none of it was composed as an accompaniment to action. I wasn't going to start making music that drives the narrative, because that's just naff; it becomes like film music or cartoon music. 'Now they're running.' You can't really work like that. I just wrote an awful lot of music and slowly kind of put it together."
The album features a track which shares its name with the national anthem
of the People's Republic of China
, March of the Volunteers
, the piece is in fact an alternative, upbeat version of the anthem. The Japanese edition of the album features two bonus tracks, one of which is titled "Journey to Beijing" which was used by the BBC
alongside Hewlett's animation as a promotional link for its Olympics
coverage.
Two special editions box sets of the album were released. The "Deluxe" box set contains a 68-page booklet as well as a poster. It was originally limited to 2500 copies but has been repressed since then. The "Art" box set contains six exclusive tracks ("5 Point Star", "Living Sea Introduction", "The Dragon Queen", "Buddha's Palm", "Monk's Funeral" and "Volcano"). It was priced at £255 and was limited to 2000 copies. It also features an 80-page hardback book and four art prints (one of which was signed by Jamie Hewlett
). Additionally the first 500 orders also received a special Monkey Om Box which plays pieces of music composed by Damon Albarn.
at #5 on release, entirely in Mandarin
, it became the first album of its kind to chart in the United Kingdom
. It also reached #1 on the UK Indie Chart
.
Overall the album spent four weeks in the UK's Top 100 Albums, two of which were in the Top 40. The track Monkey Bee managed to enter the Top 200 of the UK Singles Chart
- on downloads alone - at #196.
, who listed 0 out of the 13 available reviews as "negative". IGN
gave the album an overall score of 9.5 (out of 10) and states "mixing Asian melodies with western electronic sounds is certainly nothing new, but the Monkey project is a broad collaboration with some of the most talented performers in Chinese opera, and the resulting mélange is appreciably more authentic than your average world beat record" and adds "the score ranks as the best rock opera ever written and deserves a place among the most audacious modern operas, regardless of genre. This is a brilliant and challenging composition that deserves to be celebrated." The Times
writer Robert Sandall awarded the album 5 stars out of 5, claiming that, "Albarn has really gone the distance in trying to master the indigenous pentatonic scale without abandoning the playful spirit he brought to Gorillaz." while viewing the album as sitting "roughly equidistant between East/West fusion pop and a contemporary classical work such as Adams’s Nixon in China
." URB echoed these thoughts, stating that "Monkey: Journey to the West is a testament to Albarn's versatility as a musician and his melodies' ability to avoid becoming losing their power in translation." The Guardian
gave the album four stars and insisted that "You can go a fair distance without encountering a tune, which is less of a problem when there is something to look at. But even during the occasional longueurs, it's hard not to marvel at the ambition on display here, hard to think of anyone who would dare attempt something similar, and impossible to imagine someone else pulling it off with more aplomb."
However, Keith McDonnell of musicOMH
, gave a rather mixed review of the record itself, rewarding it 2 stars out of 5 and viewing the release as "disappointing on every conceivable level" and states the album pales in comparison to the stage musical itself "I'd totally succumbed to its charm in the theatre, but I'd advise anyone approaching this CD to do so with caution, especially if you've not seen it in its glory in the theatre where it belongs." Online music and film webzine Tiny Mix Tapes
questioned the album's appeal, commenting that, "Albarn's thirst for musical adventure is commendable, but unless you're obsessed with his every move or have been dreaming of the day a former Brit pop king fuses the sensibilities of Eastern opera and Western pop, Monkey just doesn't warrant your full attention." PopMatters
writer Marc A. Price was slightly more positive, rewarding a 5/10 rating, while writing that "Other pop fans are more likely to see through the emperor's new clothes and call this for what it is: mostly weak but with a couple of monkey magic moments."
Despite Albarn's intentions for the album's music to "stand alone", Pitchfork Media
pointed out that, "The project still has the feel of an accompanying piece, with titles referencing the dramatization of the Chinese story and plenty of incidental music," although it was also noted that the album "works on a satisfying level as an experimental work or as art-pop."
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave it 3½ out of 5 stars and wrote that, "Journey to the West is perhaps best experienced on-stage, as it was meant to be heard in tandem with Chen Shi-Zheng and Hewlett's visuals, but heard as its own work, it's hard not to admire, if not exactly embrace, Albarn's achievement here, as his work is not only ambitious, it is serious and understated, the work of a true composer."
Monkey: Journey to the West
Monkey: Journey to the West is a stage adaptation of the 16th Century Chinese novel Journey to the West, by Wu Cheng'en. It was conceived and created by the Chinese actor and director Chen Shi-zheng with the British musician Damon Albarn and British artist Jamie Hewlett.-Development:In 2004,...
and is composed by English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
musician Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn is an English singer-songwriter and record producer who has been involved in many high profile projects, coming to prominence as the frontman and primary songwriter of Britpop band Blur...
(of Blur
Blur (band)
Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...
and Gorillaz
Gorillaz
Gorillaz is an English musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters...
fame) with the UK Chinese Ensemble
UK Chinese Ensemble
The UK Chinese Ensemble is an internationally recognised UK Chinese music ensemble that was founded in 1994 by Chinese virtuosi resident in Britain. The ensemble seeks to promote a wide variety of traditional repertoires as well as exploring contemporary styles...
, the soundtrack itself is only based upon, but not a direct recording of the musical. The album was released as a download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
, CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
, and double vinyl LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on 18 August 2008 by XL Recordings
XL Recordings
XL Recordings is a British independent record label owned by Richard Russell. It originated as a 1989 offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records.Though only releasing an average of six albums a year, XL Recordings has worked with The Prodigy, Radiohead, The White Stripes, Dizzee Rascal, M.I.A., Vampire...
. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the album was released a day later as a download, while a CD was released on 23 September 2008.
Background
Damon Albarn made a point in an interview with Gorillaz-Unofficial that the Monkey project was supposed to be "GorillazGorillaz
Gorillaz is an English musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters...
, really. But we can’t call it that for legal reasons". Speaking of his decision to compose music for an opera, Albarn noted that, "This is composition, not songwriting, of course, I was aprehensive at first. But people who come from my normal discipline don't tend to go far enough. We want to bring more flavour to people's lives. And demystify opera to a degree, destroy its elitist angle. Then for people who do like opera, open them up to new forms of music, too. We want to bring a big cornerstone of Chinese culture
Culture of China
Chinese culture is one of the world's oldest and most complex. The area in which the culture is dominant covers a large geographical region in eastern Asia with customs and traditions varying greatly between towns, cities and provinces...
and present it to the West
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
. If we can do that, then we've succeeded."
Chen Shi-Zheng
Chen Shi-zheng
Chen Shi-Zheng 陳士爭 born in 1963 in Changsha, Hunan, China) is a New York-based theater director.Having earned a BA from the Hunan Art School in Traditional Opera, he received his MA from the Tisch School of Art at New York University...
, the man responsible for creating and conceiving the stage adaptation of Monkey: Journey to the West, explained that he "was looking for someone young and smart to work with. I didn't want to give Damon or Jamie too specific a brief because what was important in this project was that it was their sensibility we wanted. What Damon and I did agree on straightaway was that we didn't want pastiche Chinese music and on the last trip we made he found something he could latch on to."
Chen took Albarn and Hewlett to China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
up to five times, Hewlett claimed that "we spent three years working on the opera, we totally immersed ourselves in Chinese culture." 18 months after starting work on the project, Albarn produced his first piece called "Heavenly Peach Banquet" which was a take on the style of music performed by female C-pop
C-pop
C-pop is an abbreviation for Chinese popular music , a loosely defined musical genre by artists originating from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Others come from countries where the Chinese language is used by a large number of the population, such as Singapore and Malaysia...
acts. Talking about the piece, Chen said that "I find it very humorous, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
pop is so pretty and naive. This is Damon pretending to be naive and you are laughing at him. Messy is a bad word, but he took a melody, messed it around and put noises into it, twisted and processed the sound so that none of it is as it seems."
In order to write the music, Albarn used the pentatonic scale
Pentatonic scale
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave in contrast to a heptatonic scale such as the major scale and minor scale...
with the aid of a system he used consisting of five- and seven-pointed stars that he would rotate (supposedly at random) to produce unexpected combinations of notes. The decision to use this method came about after Albarn had been analysing the five-point communist star
Red star
A red star, five-pointed and filled, is an important ideological and religious symbol which has been used for various purposes, such as: state emblems, flags, monuments, ornaments, and logos.- Symbol of communism :...
and "visualised this star on the stage and it beginning to rotate and I started getting excited about that and 'how can I make that star rotate musically?'" Talking about the sound that he was aiming for, Albarn stated that, "it's very much a modern piece, it's not trying to evoke the time of legend at all. It's very much in sort of downtown Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
or Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. It's very much the modern Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
: slightly kooky, very colourful, quite sexy, but still a quite sinister place."
Albarn's orchestra included Chinese instruments such as the pipa
Pipa
The pipa is a four-stringed Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments . Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12–26...
(sometimes called the Chinese lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
) and the Ondes Martenot
Ondes Martenot
The ondes Martenot , also known as the ondium Martenot, Martenot and ondes musicales, is an early electronic musical instrument invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot. The original design was similar in sound to the theremin...
, which is an early electronic musical instrument
Electronic musical instrument
An electronic musical instrument is a musical instrument that produces its sounds using electronics. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical audio signal that ultimately drives a loudspeaker....
invented in 1928. With the help of his collaborators, Albarn managed to invented his own instrument a "klaxophone", featuring car-horns attached to a musical keyboard, which was purpose-built for the production by artist Gavin Turk
Gavin Turk
Gavin Turk is a British artist and one of the Young British Artists . He often uses his own image in life-size sculptures of famous people.-Life and work:...
and was intended to reproduce the sounds of China's roads.
Backing up his decision to release the production's musical score, Albarn explained that "I wanted to put the album out so that there is a record, literally, of how I think of it in my head, but the music should stand alone because none of it was composed as an accompaniment to action. I wasn't going to start making music that drives the narrative, because that's just naff; it becomes like film music or cartoon music. 'Now they're running.' You can't really work like that. I just wrote an awful lot of music and slowly kind of put it together."
The album features a track which shares its name with the national anthem
National anthem
A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, March of the Volunteers
March of the Volunteers
March of the Volunteers is the national anthem of the People's Republic of China , written by the noted poet and playwright Tian Han with music composed by Nie Er. This composition is a musical march...
, the piece is in fact an alternative, upbeat version of the anthem. The Japanese edition of the album features two bonus tracks, one of which is titled "Journey to Beijing" which was used by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
alongside Hewlett's animation as a promotional link for its Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
coverage.
Two special editions box sets of the album were released. The "Deluxe" box set contains a 68-page booklet as well as a poster. It was originally limited to 2500 copies but has been repressed since then. The "Art" box set contains six exclusive tracks ("5 Point Star", "Living Sea Introduction", "The Dragon Queen", "Buddha's Palm", "Monk's Funeral" and "Volcano"). It was priced at £255 and was limited to 2000 copies. It also features an 80-page hardback book and four art prints (one of which was signed by Jamie Hewlett
Jamie Hewlett
Jamie Christopher Hewlett is an English comic book artist and designer. He is known for being the co-creator of the comic Tank Girl and co-creator of the virtual band Gorillaz.-Biography:...
). Additionally the first 500 orders also received a special Monkey Om Box which plays pieces of music composed by Damon Albarn.
Commercial performance
Journey to the West entered the UK Albums ChartUK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
at #5 on release, entirely in Mandarin
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
, it became the first album of its kind to chart in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It also reached #1 on the UK Indie Chart
UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...
.
Overall the album spent four weeks in the UK's Top 100 Albums, two of which were in the Top 40. The track Monkey Bee managed to enter the Top 200 of the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
- on downloads alone - at #196.
Critical response
The album met with generally positive reviews, based on an aggregate score of 69/100 from MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, who listed 0 out of the 13 available reviews as "negative". IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the album an overall score of 9.5 (out of 10) and states "mixing Asian melodies with western electronic sounds is certainly nothing new, but the Monkey project is a broad collaboration with some of the most talented performers in Chinese opera, and the resulting mélange is appreciably more authentic than your average world beat record" and adds "the score ranks as the best rock opera ever written and deserves a place among the most audacious modern operas, regardless of genre. This is a brilliant and challenging composition that deserves to be celebrated." The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
writer Robert Sandall awarded the album 5 stars out of 5, claiming that, "Albarn has really gone the distance in trying to master the indigenous pentatonic scale without abandoning the playful spirit he brought to Gorillaz." while viewing the album as sitting "roughly equidistant between East/West fusion pop and a contemporary classical work such as Adams’s Nixon in China
Nixon in China (opera)
Nixon in China is an opera in three acts by John Adams, with a libretto by Alice Goodman. Adams' first opera, it was inspired by the 1972 visit to China by US President Richard Nixon. The work premiered at the Houston Grand Opera on October 22, 1987, in a production by Peter Sellars with...
." URB echoed these thoughts, stating that "Monkey: Journey to the West is a testament to Albarn's versatility as a musician and his melodies' ability to avoid becoming losing their power in translation." The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
gave the album four stars and insisted that "You can go a fair distance without encountering a tune, which is less of a problem when there is something to look at. But even during the occasional longueurs, it's hard not to marvel at the ambition on display here, hard to think of anyone who would dare attempt something similar, and impossible to imagine someone else pulling it off with more aplomb."
However, Keith McDonnell of musicOMH
MusicOMH
musicOMH is a United Kingdom-based website which publishes independent reviews, featues and interviews from across all musical genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.-History:...
, gave a rather mixed review of the record itself, rewarding it 2 stars out of 5 and viewing the release as "disappointing on every conceivable level" and states the album pales in comparison to the stage musical itself "I'd totally succumbed to its charm in the theatre, but I'd advise anyone approaching this CD to do so with caution, especially if you've not seen it in its glory in the theatre where it belongs." Online music and film webzine Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes
Tiny Mix Tapes is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, as well as its mix tapes generator.-History:Originally called Tiny Mixtapes Gone to Heaven and...
questioned the album's appeal, commenting that, "Albarn's thirst for musical adventure is commendable, but unless you're obsessed with his every move or have been dreaming of the day a former Brit pop king fuses the sensibilities of Eastern opera and Western pop, Monkey just doesn't warrant your full attention." PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
writer Marc A. Price was slightly more positive, rewarding a 5/10 rating, while writing that "Other pop fans are more likely to see through the emperor's new clothes and call this for what it is: mostly weak but with a couple of monkey magic moments."
Despite Albarn's intentions for the album's music to "stand alone", Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
pointed out that, "The project still has the feel of an accompanying piece, with titles referencing the dramatization of the Chinese story and plenty of incidental music," although it was also noted that the album "works on a satisfying level as an experimental work or as art-pop."
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave it 3½ out of 5 stars and wrote that, "Journey to the West is perhaps best experienced on-stage, as it was meant to be heard in tandem with Chen Shi-Zheng and Hewlett's visuals, but heard as its own work, it's hard not to admire, if not exactly embrace, Albarn's achievement here, as his work is not only ambitious, it is serious and understated, the work of a true composer."
Track listing
Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalogue number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
18 August 2008 | XL Recordings XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label owned by Richard Russell. It originated as a 1989 offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records.Though only releasing an average of six albums a year, XL Recordings has worked with The Prodigy, Radiohead, The White Stripes, Dizzee Rascal, M.I.A., Vampire... |
Download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
XLDL 388 |
| CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
XLCD 388 | |||
| 25 August 2008 | The Vinyl Factory | LP Gramophone record A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove... box set |
VF001 | |
| United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
19 August 2008 | XL Recordings | Download | |
| 23 September 2008 | CD | XL-388-2 | ||
External links
- Monkey: Journey To The West (official album site)