Bongo Rock

Turns out my tolerance for bongos is fairly low. Is there any need for a bongo enthused rendition of In A Gadda Da Vida 1.0/5.0 Best Song: apache

Oddly OK. although a little too long. I hear some many riffs from this album in other music...

Bongo Rock is not something I would personally go back to.

Thus is soundtrack stuff, so without film, there's no reason for me to listen to it - unless I'm shopping or maybe at the gym.

I can't really see how a bongo rock album is an album that I need to listen to. List is so odd

This album sounds like I’m in the crew gathering portion of a heist movie

Bongo covers. Grew tiresome quickly

Very cool bongo-focused tracks, can see how this album was heavily utilized in sampling in the decades following this album's release. Doesn't mean it's particularly worth listening to as an album, even if it is shorter. A neat novelty, but not much more

Not sure about this album, could only play once I feel, though would’ve been good live?

This was very different but I actually really enjoyed, surprisingly though, not enough bongos

C'était fun

Très plaisant, de la musique groovy de qualité. J'ai trouvé l'apparition de in a gadda très cocasse. On peut difficilement faire plus 70s, on est dans le kitsch ultra assumé.

Comique!

Fun, joyful instrumentals with full band instrumentation plus a good dose of bongos. Mostly covers, funky 70s vibe. I dig it.

First listen Saved 2/8 Top track: Apache

Ridiculous stuff, sort of sick, sort of incredibly annoying. I enjoyed more than i would like to admit

foundational

Listens: 2.75 Standout Tracks: In a Gadda Da Vida, Satisfaction (I Can't Get No), Apache (Grandmaster Flash Mix) I am not sure if "incredible" is the adjective I would use to describe the band. Was it interesting? Maybe. Were there Bongos? For sure. But was the whole package incredible? Not really. The covers were cool I guess (are they all covers?), but if I wanted to listen to the covers, I could just instead go listen to the actual songs made by the original artists. The album is also way too long. Perhaps that's because YTM retired the original album in favor of the 40 Years edition, with an extra 30-40 minutes of music. Either way, its good background music, but its gets tiring after 45 minutes.

Its main claim to fame seems to be as a quarry for hip hop producers to mine samples from. As an album, on its own terms, it's very much a one trick pony - the trick being "We've got bongos!!!" - and it's a bit difficult to see how that trick sustains 80 minutes of what could easily be needle drops from a Quentin Tarantino film. Fun in small doses - I mean, a bongo heavy version of Inna-Gadd-Da-Vida, is good for a few chuckles - but no more than that. Although the presence of a Grandmaster Flash remix of Apache on Spotify is noteworthy. But does it need to be on this list? I think we all know the answer to that.

This is great; a lot of it sounds like what The Ventures would be like if they were a Latin/soul band. And the rest is just solid; horns and Latin percussion and such - super fun stuff. I see that this is actually the soundtrack for a completely deranged-sounding movie (The Thing With Two Heads, which makes me want to find this film. It reminds. me a bit of the soundtracks for Bollywood movies during that period. Not as enamored of the covers (In a Gadda da vida and Satisfaction), but the rest makes up for that.

Not bad for an occasional listen or background music. Not sure how it makes the must hear list though!

3/5

Listen to 'apache' then sack it off. Some cool musical sequences which makes sense as it's sampled a lot in hip hop but an album of this?

Bad. It doesn't deserve any more explanation.

decent but the good parts are covers

Cool bongo, but too much bongo for me all at once

bingo bango bongo. funky

Sorry Mr. 1001Generator-guy think there's a glitch on your app, where's the 6th star button?

Really cool instrumental album, with 70’s cinematic grooves and vibes.

I expected a blacksploitation movie to find its way to my tv at any time during listening. It never happened. A shame, really, as I’d have enjoyed the music a lot more if it was in a movie, not just as music

This was a surprisingly fun album, I was not expecting to enjoy a bongo heavy band as much as I did. It had a heavy 70s vibe and I spent the whole time really enjoying myself. Its probably not entering regular rotation but since I did really enjoy it during my time listening, I feel comfortable with a four star rating.

Tämän levyn konsepti on mainio. Suurin osa covereista oli tuttuja.

It wasn't bad, but it also wasn't good enough to be almost 1 1/2 hours. 2.5 / 5

not sure if its great because of its influence or if it was always so good that it became so iconic

It’s crazy how many times this record has been sampled! This is practically the bedrock of early hip hop. Really cool dive through musical history listening to this.

Well, in case you were wondering, there are bongos. Lots of bongos. Lots, and lots of bongos(but not Bongo Bongo from "The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time"). However, meshed with the rock(including one incredible cover song), it was bangin'. Favorite Track: "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".

You’d assume an album called "Bongo Rock" by a band named the "Incredible Bongo Band" would shove bongos down your throat no matter what. Luckily, it doesn’t. Instead of forcing every track into pure bongo overload, the record treats the instrument as a recurring character in a broader instrumental journey through different genres and styles.  Sometimes the bongos take center stage, like in the lengthy solo on the opener “Apache.” More often they sit in a supporting role, adding texture while the rest of the band carries the song. On a track like “Last Bongo in Belgium” they barely stand out at all. The album is quite self-aware about the ridiculousness of its concept, as exemplified by the track “Dueling Bongos,” where the little drums are pitted against a full drum kit. It feels like a small dog throwing itself at one three times its size. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, but not goofy. Outside the novelty of the idea, the music is actually competent. There’s a mix of covers and originals across different styles, and there are more than a few tracks I genuinely enjoyed. The decision not to make everything relentlessly bongo-centric was the right one. A stricter version of the concept would’ve been just a novelty joke. Still, bringing bongos slightly more into the limelight isn’t enough to make this feel groundbreaking. A decent to strong 3 in my book.

Not for me, didn’t find this interesting at all.

Great beats, great tunes, expertly performed, what’s not to love?

This kicks ass.

Oh yeah BONGOO! Ok lowkey too much bongo (3/5)

Well this was pretty damn awesome. Probably a 3.75

Here's a weird one. I remember Bongo Rock on the radio in the 1970s, and Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling used the IBB for its theme song. But it gets old pretty quickly!

This is fun. Shame they went with the comedy band, album and song names as it undersells the whole project really. Felt like a new take on some very familiar tunes.

GRAN NOME DELLA BAND. GRAN NOME DELL’ALBUM. BONGOLIA COME NOME DI UNA CANZONE SPACCA. GODO MI HA MESSO DI BUON UMORE. 3/5

On the face of it, and it’s practically all face, the bongo is a plain prospect. Often found in the corner of rooms or left spare on a shelf, it’s geometrically appealing and aesthetically earthy enough to tick a few objet d’art boxes – doubling as a musical instrumental only when strictly necessary, which has, admittedly, in my own experience, been almost never. We had a next door neighbour growing up, a sculptor who would turn breezeblocks into totem poles, tiki heads, miniature Easter Island giants, that sort of thing. At pains to ensure his soul patch wasn’t the only thing communicating his profound connectedness with the universe, he took his bongo playing very seriously. When the tree at the bottom of our garden fell down and damaged his shed, he poisoned our cats in retaliation for the insurance not covering as much of the damage as he’d have liked. Bongos have struggled in my estimations ever since, so imagine my delight when the Incredible Bongo Band – their made to order album of slamming breaks wedged into joyfully interpreted covers and half crazed originals – invited me to reconsider. Here was a record that, on the one hand, delighted in its own frivolity, demonstrably enjoying itself while blatantly pulling the piss (“Bongolia”, “Last Bongo in Belgium”). On the other hand, though, it’s also record that contains such dynamic splashes of rhythmic fury that it acted as a metronome for entire generations of hip hop and rap artists. And really, that’s the thing about bongos. What’s on the face of it an uncomplicated instrument is really something that, in the right hands, has transformative powers. Incredible. (In memory of Columbus and Cleo, you were loved.)

Some good tunes. You've gotta love bongo covers. Not my jam past the hits, Apache.

I didn't know I needed this in my life. What a wonderful album that left me wanting for more.

At first I was skeptical, then I let the groove take me. It bangs.

Muy de hueva

Good background music

Decent funk, so so funky, but kind of played its hand really with the best tracks. And the final couple of tracks showed that this is the kind of album that only becomes the best version of itself when someone else gets their hands on it

I’m not sure why this album exists other than to assist the Beastie Boys

Det her va Et Valg. Æ e veldig usikker på ka slags valg det va av dem som laga musikken, men det va helt klart og veldig definitivt Et Valg.

I went into this expecting an obscure piece of 70s kitsch, and while that is undeniably what it is, you cannot talk about Bongo Rock without recognizing its massive footprint. "Apache" absolutely still goes hard as the breakbeat is practically woven into the DNA of hip-hop, and hearing where so many foundational samples originated gives the whole thing an immediate, infectious jolt. The studio musicianship is tight, the horns and fuzzy guitars have plenty of swagger, and there is an undeniable b-movie, crate-digger joy when tracks like "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" or "Bongolia" hit full stride. Outside of those undeniable grooves, however, the concept wears thin fast: you truly have to love bongos to make it through without feeling like you've been trapped in the 1970s on an infinite loop.

Covers of 60’s tunes

Very Austin Powers 60’s vibe

It truly was incredible

I have not heard this before, but I’ve heard a lot of these songs either in full or sampled in hip hop songs from the late 80s and early 90s. This has the version of Apache that was the ur-breakbeat from every breakdance showcase in the early 80s, which i was just thinking about a few days ago, and so many other breakbeats that are in drum and bass and rap and jungle songs I can recognize here. Crazy new thing I learned is this was put together for the soundtrack for The Thing With Two Heads, which is a ridiculously bad yet good horror movie. I haven’t seen it in years and I don’t remember the soundtrack being this awesome, so I’ll have to watch that again come halloween. Every track here is perfect and can’t be improved and it’s amazing this came from a low budget b-movie.

Go on then

I mean it’s groovy as hell but it is literally just an hour and 20 of bongos where the bongos don’t even feature that prominently

Pretty cool. Definitely lots of breaks that got sampled later.

3,5 Highlights: Bongolia, Last Bongo in Belgium

more like a 3.5 some of these covers i can see in a quentin tarantino movie lol

Bongos do rock. What an incredible bongo band. Hell yeah brother. This must be one of the most sampled recordings of all time. Even aside from the instantly recognizable “Apache”, beats from this must be all over hip-hop and breakbeat. I can only imagine the callouses you get with all this bongo playing. Also, the rest of the instruments sound fantastic. A breath of fresh air after a string of underwhelming albums.

The stole so much off the Beastie Boys

I loved this listen. Initially a bit daunted with 40 years of album on Spotify with a near 2 hour run time. For purposes of this rating I listened to the first 7 tracks only which correspond with original album. I favorited 3 tracks and was blown away by the extended final 1/3 of Inna gotta divita. In no good position of education or otherwise to judge the quality of the playing - in spots it feels like something anyone can do - but I do know the entire thing was entertaining and out me in a great mood. I listened during morning walk and at times felt like Kramer walking down street in technicolor dreamcoat. Gave serious consideration to scoring a 5 but that would require repeat listens to be sure. Only the absolute cream goes there. Stay tuned. 4/5

First track was really good, but the rest fails to rise up to that level again.

Olipa paskaa

Not my vibe

this kinda bangs what da hell Will I listen to again: 100%

A really fun listen! It’s got such a strong 70s B-movie vibe that I had to double-check if Quentin Tarantino ever featured them in his films, he surprisingly hasn't, but the raw funk energy fits right in with that aesthetic.

#481 / 1089 Heard before? ❌ Revisit? ✅ I'm kind of lost for words with this one. Really? Without listening to a single note, this is one of the albums I must hear before I die? I can see the story bears a lot of weight (originally made for a b-horror flick soundtrack, the music got noticed, recorded a full album and later a source of samples for quite important hiphop etc. artists), but I don't think this album actually carries the weight of these honorifics on it's own. It's more the story and legend than the music. It's got great groove, I will admit that, and I did like listening to this album, but most of it is still covers and it's definitely not played just on bongos. Lots of percussion, sure. I don't fukn know, 3/5... 4? Two is way too low tho.

Its bongos whats not to like 3.8/5

Totally unexpected and silly and fun

A treasure chest for samplers for sure. Grooves are cool, the sound is nice and full and the album has good moments. As a whole however, the thing gets pretty boring for me.

Cool very different

Very fun to listen to. Including a very important cover of Apache. Definitely didn't get bored at all!

- The album is okay, I guess... for an album of (mostly) instrumental covers. I'd rather just listen to the originals, and the originals on here weren't that engaging. - Definitely relieved the album wasn't just bongos - the cover and title had me worried. - Don't love the tone of the synth when that comes in, but the other instrumentation is fine (with some good guitar!)... except that I find drum solos (in general) and bongos (in particular) tedious. Also don't love that percussion whirring sound on Bongolia. - What would be the right occasion for this? The drum solos are too manic and the keys (and song choices) too cheesy to make this enjoyable background music, and it's not even remotely interesting enough to be in the foreground. I really don't understand why this is on the list. - Grateful the album is short.

Really fun. Basically a soundtrack for an early Tarantino movie, for all the good and bad that brings. A very enjoyable listen, but personally will only ever be soundtrack/ background music for me. Sort of a tangential thought, but I wish guitar players would stop thinking they’re the only melodic voice in bands.

Absolutely insane that, what is essentially a novelty covers record, bangs this hard.

Needed some pre-party music on Saturday, something easy with fun moments that could be left to blend into the background. 'Bongo Rock's delivered the goods. Easily as good as the Bends.

high 2 did this get on here just because that one song was sampled

Huge first tune, rest broadly listenable. But pretty uninspiring.

One of those ones I’m sure is influential and a pretty enjoyable listen, some talented musicians and tight horns. Rocks and diamonds though, Apache is brilliant, always love hearing a famous sample, then ‘Raunchy 73’ sounds like the backing to an opening level in crash bandicoot, as does a lot of the album. Sounds ridiculous to say but maybe a bit too much bongo at times, ‘duelling bongos’ was the point at which I had had enough bongos, pls end the bongos. Enjoyed the album but won’t be back in a hurry.

More bongos please

Enjoyed it more than I thought i would after seeing the name, but at an hour 20 it was a bit of a slog.

Wow! Who knew you could do so much with bongos…

Some nice bops and familiar tunes

Started so well. Echoes of Sons of Kemet. Then it became more like a 1970s TV theme show Love Boat. Very mixed feelings.

Starts with such a classic it's almost felt clichéd. Apache is such a banger to start with, incredibly high production. Let there be drums unfortunately sounds like an Austin power movie and can't shake it off Rolling Stones cover of satisfaction sounds like a community project of middle-aged middle England retirees with empty nest syndrome. Perhaps amusing at the fringes of a carnival for 20 minutes. But a 75 minute opus is unnecessary and self-indulgent

Fun but not overly so. Maybe I expected more from the Incredible Bongo Band, but what I got was a bit of bongo, not a bongo centered piece. I'm not sure I would have liked that more.

What a weird ass thing to take all your rap samples from; I never bothered to think that those might actually be samples and not just a way to avoid using the original songs and paying a full licensing fee or whatever. This was fun but mostly a novelty. I think the best part about it is that these are all live instruments; there's no drum machine in here, which would have made it soulless. Other than the obvious bongos, the person on the regular drum kit was like a metronome; really tight. This was fun.

Difficult to listen to this without thinking of it as advert or TV music. Possibly a victim of it's own cohesiveness, it's influential and has been absorbed into the general musical vernacular. The music itself is solid, well structured and satisfying, but I can't imagine listening to it again other than as a background accompaniment for a family dinner.

🥁🖐️🪨🪘🎵

check out my fucking bongo

Another album I never would have found. This one was totally fun but got a little old after a bit. Had no clue Apache came from this. Solid 4 stars

I first popped this up on Spotify and thought “omg, 77 minutes of bongos!?” While it was entertaining at times, and they’re super talented, just was a bit too much. The cover-style songs were among the most fun.

Ret groovy. Tænk at bongo kan det. Kan arbejde til det, men gider ikke lytte aktivt igen.

Bongo Rocks! Det var sgu sjovt