Monkey: Journey to the West began as an opera by Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett & Chen Shi-Zheng. It retold the story of the novel Journey to the West, with Damon & Jamie’s own influences; most notably the Japanese show Saiyūki (Monkey!). When shows would be performed, audiences asked if the soundtrack was available to buy, which led to Damon recording studio renditions of his score. However, he decided to rework each song into the style of Gorillaz; making it (in Damon’s words) a Gorillaz album in every aspect apart from the name. The opera ran from 2007 to 2009, with a brief return in 2013.

Music | Videos | Books

MUSIC

Journey to the West

Release date: 18th August 2008

Formats: Digital / CD / 12″ Vinyl

A studio adaptation of the opera’s score, reworking the music as if it was meant to be a Gorillaz album.

Tracklist:

Monkey’s World
Monkey Travels
Into the Eastern Sea
The Living Sea
The Dragon King
The 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
March of the Volunteers
The White Skeleton Demon
Monk’s Song
I Love Buddha
March of the Iron Army
Pigsy in Space
Monkey Bee
Disappearing Volcano

Monkey Bee

Release date: 2008

Formats: CD (Promo)

The only single from Journey to the West.

Tracklist:

Monkey Bee (Radio Edit)
Monkey Bee

Monkey Bee (Remixes)

Release date: 22nd December 2008

Formats: Digital

Tracklist:

Monkey Bee (Radio Edit)
Heavenly Peach Banquet
Monkey Bee (Kwes. Remix)
Monkey Bee (Diplo Remix)

Later…Live 2 with Jools Holland

Release date: 12th October 2009

Formats: CD

A live performance of Monkey’s World on a Jools Holland compilation.

Track:

Disc 2 –

16. Monkey’s World

VIDEOS

Monkey Bee (Music Video)

Journey to the East

This short was commissioned by the BBC for their coverage of the Beijing 2008 Olympics; it uses the song Journey to Beijing (TV Theme Song) and went on to win a BAFTA.

Feature One

National Geographic

YouTube Takeover

Intro.

The Making of Monkey

The Making of Monkey Bee

BOOKS

Journey to the West Booklet

Release date: 25th August 2008

This features artwork, lyrics, character bios & a plot synopsis for Monkey: Journey to the West. It’s included with Journey to the West (Deluxe Edition).