Bongo Rock

3 Stars (8/15)

I wasn’t really in the mood for this but it was fine

The album itself is almost as imaginative as the title.

Bongos! Interesting album. Instrumental only

Bongo Rock was definitely an interesting album. I was thinking that this would be some kind of world album taking inspiration from South America or Africa but this one seemed to lean more towards funk rock and had a few covers on it. I enjoyed this album for the vibes it brought with all the guitars and of course, the bongos were always interesting too. However i could feel like this album could get rather repetitive especially considering it had parts which focused entirely on the bongos that went on for longer than i would have liked. It does make sense why those are there but those still weren't my favorite, However, it still is interesting enough to be a fairly enjoyable one. Best Song: Apache Worst Song: Dueling Bongos

Funky and energetic

I thought it would have more bongos anyway this is a fun one, nothing amazing, a little more interesting in its historical context than the actual album

Mucho mejor de lo que pensaba. Una falsa banda haciendo buena música y sentando las bases para samplear durante años. Las tres primeras canciones son para guardarlas y disfrutar: Apache, Let there be drums y Bongolia.

Aha! A one-hour and eighteen-minute sample of choices to the opening sequence of every 70's cop/detective show that aired at 10:00 PM. Listening, I could immediately visualize the detective, slightly overweight, in a cheap suit, chasing the bad guy down an alley in the city's red-light district. As the bongos really kicked in, the detective tackles the bad guy. Then the fisticuffs ensue, with a beat down going to the bad guy, as the tough guy detective bags another one. 3 stars; just because the above thoughts amused me.

background music, again...

and to think manu chao had the audacity to call himself king of the bongo bong

Lol, this is pretty dang cheesy. Not bad, but I'm pretty bongoed-out.

Apache is great, of course, and the overall sound is good fun. Some cool grooves, many of which you recognize from hip hop and break beat classics.

6/10

A lot of it's catchy. Recognise from Baby Driver. It's good. But I'm probably not gonna randomly choose to stick it on or pick out a track to listen to. Maybe it's too niche. Maybe I need to listen again some other time.

Some really good song but some really meh ones.

It was fun until it wasn't. That's a LOT of bongos. 10 6-minute songs is one thing, but 18??

Unfair ranking this on its own

A goldmine of samples that turns into one long drum solo pretty quickly. When it tries to do more than just bongo stuff, it feels like blues/classic rock ideas that have been done better elsewhere — just with bongos.

Better than you’d expect ✨

I'm glad I listened to this; it felt like I was listening to a piece of musical history; however I don't think it's something I will go back to again very often. I wouldn't change it if it came on but I wouldn't willingly put it on again, very often anyway. It's the best bongo album I've ever heard.

What crazy album! This was a good one but nothing I would have expected and also cool to find out where some samples came from!

I felt like I needed a smoking jacket and a proper drink. Could rock to this for many of on occasion. Loved the IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA rendition.

Fun with some recognizable songs

Okay...

I mean, who doesn't love their version of Apache. Who doesn't laugh and smile to a bongo-fied version of In A Gadda Da Vida? This is to a large degree a novelty album, but I assume it is included here because of its outsized presence in hip hop music - and if that's it, that's a good reason! It's a fun album - it gets old fast, but at worst it's harmless and the songs are fun and generally make you want to dance.

+

It was cool at first but got old after a while.

Pleasant. Not really innovative for the early 70s. Less so as most of the songs are covers. Still, a good listen. 3.5/5

How much bongo is too much bongo? This much bongo. It’s fun, for a while. Then you reflect on it and realise that underpinning the bongos is a cheesefest of the highest order. I can’t lie though, I kinda like it!

I was told there would be bongos. I was not disappointed.

This is either for you or not. For me it is not.

This is a rather long, instrumental album. Their skill at playing the bongos cannot be doubted. I recognised the opening track but I was indifferent overall.

That's nice, I guess, but do you have something worth more bongos?

Instrumental, not really my style

Really hitting me as a novelty album, not sure why it's on the list. That said it's more enjoyable than some of the other things on the list. Wavering between two stars for wtf and three stars because I don't really dislike it. Sounds like it was a helluva lot of fun to make this album anyway.

Now I know bongs can, in fact, rock. Neat concept, like SKAndalous Allstars. There were a lot of bongos.

The Bongos were a nice gimmick but idk listening to over an hour of bingo music made me kind of tired of Bongos tbh

All instrumental, covers of rock songs, fun

Really interesting, maybe too long for me but the different sound are really fascinating.

Told that this album was influential in break dancing music so that was cool to listen to through that lens. Not exactly my type of music though still.

I was fine for the first five tracks but it went on way too long

Entertaining enough listen for a Christmas day and I confess I enjoyed it but not creatively hard hitting.

Those bongos sure are bongoling. Bro i fucking love trumpets. This album slaps. Some songs did not hit but it was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be! For me it was a good background album. Some cover songs were fun to hear the bongo version, but some just didn’t hit at all, first half was a bit slow but picked up a lot toward the end.

Who could have known that all that was missing from my Saturday was an album of bongo music?!? Covers of Apache, In a Gadda De Vida, Satisfaction, Wipeout….the list goes on! The guitar, the horns, and synthesizers did a lot to help the songs along, but man was this a cool listen. Not sure this was a must listen to before I die album, but it was fun to take in on the ride.

A pretty enjoyable romp

Maybe the Incredibly Bongo Band has more bongos than one would really need. All of these tracks are individually fine. The performance is fine. There's just so, so much of it. Every track will follow the same pattern of setup, extended bongos + drums break, and then conclusion. It's fine - it works. But when it's this formulaic, going this much over an hour just isn't all that welcome.

++: Apache, Bongolia, Last Bongo in Belgium, Raunchy '73 +: Let There Be Drums, Dueling Bongos, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Bongo Rock '73 7,7/10

Fun idea, but got bongoed out five songs in

Very interesting. I liked hearing the original source of samples for some hip-hop classics, but this is not something I would listen to again.

Fun....sure... essential... nope!

Quite enjoyable listen. Mentally I was crashed out in someone’s conversation pit in 1970s Palm Springs.

certainly brings the bongos. good dance music i bet. i can see why this became a gold mine for hip hop. doesn't do a terribly large amount for me but is interesting enough to make me glad i checked it out. deserves to be one of the 1001? i think if this list took a strong bias towards hip hop this could work, given all that samples it, but otherwise no

So today I learned there is a limit to how long I can listen to bongos

I originally thought this was more of a beat record that was most well known for Rappers Delight, but there's some other rock tracks that have some notoriety. I liked the combination of drum sets and bingo battles.

babababongoooooooos 3/5

They sure weren’t foolin about bongos

That’s some mean jazz guitar from the Incredible Bongo Band. Enjoyed the listen, recognized some classics. Sharp Nine is top cut, but they’re all good. (2.55*s) Liked this drum session a lot better than the one from RonieSize!

I find it strange that multiple acts on this list named themselves Incredible ___ Band. I didn't expect much out of this as acts that tend to self-label themselves as incredible rarely live up to the namesake. All pretentiousness aside I was pretty pleased with what I got from Bongo Rock, though a little perplexed as it seemed pretty short on bongos in general (unless I missed something?). It's a fun detour down an instrumental alley with a couple funky jams and some nods to otherwise famous tunes (Apache, Gadda-Da-Vida). While I don't think I needed to hear this before I died I'm not mad that I did. Nice little slice of an alternate approach to the genre for 30+ minutes. I'd strip the Incredible moniker, but overall not a bad entry from the Bongo Band. This lands pretty much straight down the middle as there is plenty worse but plenty better on the list. 2.50 stars

Pretty fun album, although I think I was ready for it to be over when it was over. Not much to say except I liked it. 3.25/5

Bongers

Album slaps more than I thought it would. Hearing Apache brought me back to middle school dancefloors.

Friendsgiving vibes 🙏

It can't sustain itself over the entire runtime, but it's fun in small doses and as background music.

As the title and the name of the album suggest, this record features a lot of bongos. However, it is also full of relatively catchy instrumentals and guitar riffs in particular. While not spectacular, the concept is interesting.

More brass than I was expecting, what with the whole bongo gimmick

It’s exactly what it sells itself as. A whole lot of bongos. Not what I would ever choose to throw on for casual listening, but it’s well done 🤷‍♀️

I actually enjoyed this on a rainy day - made it a little brighter. Standouts were Kiburi, Part 1 and Sing Sing Sing

Not bad but so similar it was nothing amazing to me

This was really fun, but I do think that it feels like more of a showcase of cool ideas than actually exploring them. I just wish it were a bit longer, which I think would actually give this album a chance to really explore each idea it shows off in a lot more detail.

It's pretty interesting how an album can gain such importance after the fact, and not due to its own merits, but rather because it became an invaluable tool in early hip hop. On its own merits it's fine, but as a cornerstone of rap it's a super interesting heritage item.

483/1001

Je ne connaissais qu'un titre de ce groupe. Je n' ecouterais pas ça toute la journée mais ce n' est pas désagréable

Clearly influential but NMS as a standalone listen

I did not expect bongo renditions of The Rolling Stones or Iron Butterfly. That being said the album felt like it went on for too long.

A bongo cover album from the 70s was NECESSARY before I die?

bongoy

At least two out of the three words in this group's title are accurate. A good palate cleanser - not sure whether it's more than that.

Good but not all for me. Amazing performances!

It's like I am back in my childhood, watching Sport documentaries from the 70s-80s.

I suppose it is what it says on the tin. Bongo covers. I quite enjoyed it, it’s anything but dull thats for sure. It’s not really for me but can see the appeal.

Fun

7,5/10

Fun, though I wouldn't call it incredible.

pretty solid instrumental album

6/10 - good bongos, some epic riffs, but a bit too long

7.0

AStro!

This is a fun album!!

Not much to say as it's all funk-rock instrumentals with plenty of bongos. It's cool just not something I am likely to revisit. Top Tracks = Apache & Last Bongo in Belgium

Its a good gimmick, but a gimmick nonetheless!

This is a wild thing to exist and it's really quite good! Would never listen to this but it would be a great film soundtrack.

This was a really fun listen. I saw it pop up and my heart sank, but this was really a solid good time.

Ironic considering we just purchased bongos for Bubba. Really great album, actually. I love good background music and although this is a LOT more upbeat than the lofi rhythms I'm used to, it's not bad. Probably weird to rank a bongos band over 3 stars tho?

molto divertente però mi è parso infinito

3.5 I enjoyed it.

This turned out to be a fun album with notable covers.

Var basicly med til at skabe hip-hoppen, breakbeat og DJ-kulturen (og drum and bass senere) Afrika bam. En af de mest sampled albums nogensinde og det startede som et kitsch studieprojekt som senere blev populært, da det var her man startede med at vende plader i New york (afrika bambasta, grandmaster flash osv)

Bongotastic

Amazing. It has all the hits you know and love, but performed with bongos.

It's pretty cool hearing bongos incorporated as a core component of a bands sound. I can only ever think of it being used in a "woah, so trippy dude" way during psychedelic breaks or freakouts by psych and prog bands I definitely feel like I'm familiar with Apache, feels like the kind of thing youd hear on 90s and 2000s British tv Some of these songs feel like vocals have been lifted out of them. Last Bongo in Belgium feels like it should have vocals harmonising with the horns and keys, so it feels weirdly incomplete. Vocals on even just a couple songs would have done the album some good, I think A fun listen Highlights: Apache

If you want Bongo Rock, this is where you should go. Had a little run in with this on my quest for more soul music 10 years ago, Last Bongo in Belgium is great. A full album of this is not tolerable. But again, for what it is, not bad.

I don't think the Bongos are really bringing a lot to the table here. It's not bad bongo-ing. It might even be great bongo-ing. Nevertheless, it is still bongoing.

Band and album name ain’t lyin’. That’s a lot of BONGOS. I think this album would have been a little cooler if they didn’t make it so much about the bongos. There are some good tunes on here. Biggest knock I have is that they’re all covers, so it’s hard to tell what this album is adding other than da bongos.

2/3

This was definitely a fun listen and I do like bongos so can't complain. I think it's funny that most of this album is just instrumental bongo covers of other songs. I don't know if I needed to listen to this before I die lol. But I did enjoy it. 7/10.

It's fun and funky. 3/5 #196

Quite fun as a game of 'spot the sample'. 1 hour 18 minutes of bongos though, that's objectively a lot of bongo 😬

Nice

Not bad It got me going YES

Funky and interesting. I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to but at the end of the day 1hr 20mins of bongos with no lyrics is a bit much for me

Interesting novelty, amazed that Tarantino hasn’t been all over it for his films.

Much better than expected. Just instrumental covers of songs that added bongos. Sounds silly but nothing was bad about it.

Fun little novelty album

Litt rart, men litt nice og

Nice background, but not my cup of tea

I like these bongos more than I thought I would. Apache is the obvious standout track and the rest isn't very interesting. The album art is 10/10.

It's a weird record, at first I thought it'd be just a gimmick with not much of interest, but it's very listenable. It works well as background music, and some of the covers are interesting ("In A Gadda Da Vida"), as they're pretty funky and fun versions of the songs. I won't talk about it's value as samples because it wasn't really the point of the album. But it's an interesting listen and it's better than I expected it to be.

Hippies going bongo, good montage music!

Lmao a Bongo album? Sure why not Best Song: Apache Rating: 5/10 Stars: 3/5

quite boring after three songs

If you like bongos then this is the album for you. 1 hour 17 minutes of unadulterated bongoism. I have never really listened to much bongo music before. Apache was good. After that, it was fine, but I was very conscious of the amount of bongos and nothing else.

Bongofied covers of your favorite 70s hits. Way better than you'd expect honestly!

i skipped this at first and put off listening to it for so long but today i thought, ok it's bongo time. this album contains many bongos and is v groovy and fun and now i'm all bongo'd out, thank you x

Obviously important to future music with the most sampled beats of all time. As an album though, it was ok. I like drums and can appreciate it, but it felt a bit one note. Also, half of the album on Spotify is the second album , the original track list stops after bongo rock. The drop off to kiburi felt noticable. Do yourself a favour and stop after bongo rock.

The original track listing was surprisingly enjoyable (and fun to realised how many of these tracks have been sampled), but by the end of track 8 my bongo tolerance (BT) had significantly decreased. My BT is much higher than my HT (harmonica tolerance) Hopefully neither my BT or HT will get tested again any time soon.

It's too much bongo for one sitting

Kind of like breakbeat 90's 00's stuff with bongos idk poo poo pee pee

This was definitely not on my radar in any way, shape, or form. That being said, it is an interesting and fun album. Hearing their cover of Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Davita should not be missed.

Fluide, funky et amusant, mais tourne à vide assez vide

azt hittem ez kurvameno lesz. közepes volt. aztán jött a 11. szám. satisfaction feldolgozás. ugy berageltem rajta hogy ki is kapcsoltam. csak azért nem adok rá 2-t mert érezhetően nagy zenei tudás van mögötte. de azért felbaszott

Classic stuff. Not something to listen to all the time, but definitely enjoyable.

Overall: 5/10 There's lots of bongos on this album. The songs are fine. Don't know what else to say, you get what you expect. Fav Song: Apache

Meh it was alright 3 stars

Partymusik Apache Kracher bzw Filmmusik für action drives

An incredible source of samples. But is it more than that?

Now this is what we call bongo. I'm the king of bongo, I'm the king of bongo bong. No manu chao to be seen here. Apache is an absolute banger. But the whole thing seems a bit too long.

Ironically I found this kind of light on bongos.

6/10 Favorite: Apache

Funky covers. Not sure I would revisit much as an album.

I liked this enough. Their version of Apache is fun and their version of In a Gadda da Vida is amazing. Overall not something I really need to put in my rotation.

Interesting, you can definitely tell like a million rap samples were made from this album so I get its inclusion, still 3/5

Fun and groovy! Listened at aleishas house while in my cast

So many bongo drums...this album of covers was great until it wasn't, somewhere around satisfaction. Neat little time capsule of 70s vibe, but a bit much to listen to all at once...

Instrumental versions of semi popular songs but with bongos. 5/10

My impression based on the name alone was not great, but this turned out to be better than I thought. It’s still not top-tier level stuff that needs to be included in the list, though. I could see this being the intermission music for a movie theater in the 70s.

Liked it. Had a 70s sound that I like. Great drums.

Yea, the bongos are there and this is pretty fun overall but it was too much for a full serving. 3 stars

these guys are so famous bc they opened the door to sampling in hip hop. Apache is massive - it's half an episode in the series the history of hip hop - it's been sampled countless times spanning genres. Big fun, great groove don't need a whole album of them b ut I get why they're on the list

Kitsch as high art. The funkiest damn soundtrack for a film that - as of this writing - has yet to be shot. And just fun fun fun. They had know idea what they hath wrought on the unknowing future.

What an Incredible Bongo Band.

Cohesive, not a track that sticked out as bad

On first blush, I absolutely thought I knew nothing of this artist. But... that first song, Apache, I know from the Fresh Prince. Also, it's great that they covered In A Gadda da Vida. I think this is really well recorded and unexpectedly fun. I'm not likely to return to this very often but I'm glad to have added it to my knowledge base!

Talented and interesting covers in Bongo style

This sounds like cheesy soundtrack music to a cheesy 70's movie. It's not really my thing but I didn't dislike it. Some of the covers were kind of fun. This would be better in smaller doses, it's a lot for one sitting. 2.5/5

I enjoyed it to start with, but like most people are saying it's a bit much to sit down and listen to in one go. I know the whole idea is BONGOS BONGOS BONGOS!!! But yeah... perhaps a few bongos too many.

Funky and more entertaining than I thought a bongo focused album would be. I immediately recognized parts MF Doom sampled for a few of his songs, and it makes sense. Overall just a good time.

That was fun! The covers were surprising, especially the instrumentals that I recognized. I’d never heard of this band - pleasant surprise.

good but not the type i like

3.5

A nice sunny listen, with lots of recognisable parts that have been sampled elsewhere. Probably won't come back to this though, but was good enough as a novelty.

It's alright

Sometimes you get an album - say, “Bossanova” by The Pixies - where, perhaps to your surprise, you find the title is completely unrelated to the contents therein. This is not one of those albums. (Pretty fun at first, though it overstayed its welcome. Honestly better than I expected.)

hressilegur trommusláttur og ábreiður af frægum lögum. til í meira. 3,5.

This was a good novelty. Not good enough for any new favourite tracks, but I appreciated hearing these songs covered in a relatively obscure bongoish manner.

Decent music but songs all sounds the same.

Early funk - recognized a lot of samples - but not sure how this beats out a lot of other albums for 1001 of all time.

Weirdly enjoyable

nice groove

Great, Drum solo -1 star

whole lotta bongos

Jump on it! Nah, nah...all jokes aside this works better as a building block than a complete work

It was only a matter of time that a bongo album popped up on this site. And I liked it.

A fun listen but i can't say I had to hear it before dying.

It’s good. It’s cool. Doesn’t blow my mind, but definitely solid background in the right situations.

Worth a listen for hip hop samples i guess 🫠

So much bongo

#594. Bongo 3/5: bongo

This was good. Just maybe a little too much bongo for this girl.

Crazy bongos

funky bongo beats

About what I thought it would be. Had fun. Always tough to listen to just instrumental for so long though.

I really wanted to like this more than I did, and “Apache” at least is a five-star song. Hell, maybe most of the tracks here work in a playlist or otherwise standalone. But as an entire album, damn does it get a little samey and tiresome. And I must also admit that this one was an unfortunate victim of sequencing — after Fela Kuti and Ginger Baker’s live album yesterday, there was no way this would reach that album’s high bar. This album’s best quality is its status as a historical artifact, being the source of so many classic samples.

24/05/2025 It was okay, nothing special.

The bongo cover of In a Gadda Da Vida was pretty impressive. The bongos are a respectable instrument, but we weren't hugely interested in an album dedicated solely to them.

OMG this song. It's in like every movie and commercial since forever. Apache. I wonder what it means. 3 stars bc its overplayed, but its fun, maybe a 4 if generous.

Sounds like the soundtrack to a movie with a sentient Volkswagen Beetle

No singing but nice

C'était sympa

This should be a bit of a joke and yet, for many fans of electronic music, you’ll recognize many samples here. That’s not to say it’s a great listen. Just a great source of samples

Very nice funk, but kind of a novelty record.

3.5/5

Goofy fun with solid percussion.

I liked it fine, but I didn’t really see how it earned its spot on the list.

Enjoyable but gets a little dull after a while

WAT EEN OPENER!!! Blijkbaar een cover, zoals waarschijnlijk alles op dit album een cover is, maar ik vibe het nu al. Klein leugentje van Spotify: dit album komt uit 1973(!!!) en niet uit 2006. Apache is blijkbaar ontzettend belangrijk geweest voor hiphop. Het is vooral ook een hele funky plaat. Het is een jazzy, funky album met een hele hele hele boel bongo's. Dit album is letterlijk wat ik er van verwachtte, en precies wat ik hiervan wilde. Pfoeee ok, ik heb nu wel eindelijk een antwoord op de vraag: "Bestaat er iets als te veel bongo's?" En helaas is het antwoord Ja. Dat bestaat. Het vibet, het funkt, maar jezus ik ben na iets meer dan 3 kwartier toch echt wel klaar met de eindeloze bongo jazz vibe. FAVO: Apache, Bongolia, In a gadda da vida, Bongo Rock

honestly this bongo album had no right to be as good as it was. probably wouldn’t seek it out again but if anyone ever ws looking for some bongo jams i wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this

Surprisingly good for lawn mowing

Alright, it’s not even like this is awful, but this is the second day in a row where the album I got has been heavily featured as background music in VH1 clip shows from the 2000s. And, like, I love those clip shows. They are intrinsic to who I am as a person - but - the music on the background was not the selling point. I think we can aspire to more for our 1001 albums we gotta hear before we die. Third day in a row with mostly instrumental music which is cool I guess.

Thoughts before listening: I've seen this album referenced for years, but I don't know much about it. Some sort of African or Caribbean psychedelic rock or folk music maybe? Not really sure. Review: So yeah...Drum heavy instrumental covers of popular songs. It's okay to me and there is kind of a big band vibe that sounds good. Apparently this stuff was a big influence on the hip hop scene because of DJs paying this review. Thia is 3-stars.

An interesting album. It was quite funny to have heard it once. But that was about it. I probably won't listen to it again. 3/5

This was surprisingly enjoyable. Who knew the annoying guy by the campfire could make some solid tunes.

Some good songs here, but there is only so long a bunch of bongo covers can keep me entertained.

You know when you're at a house party with some friends and then the acoustic guitars come out, and the one friend with no musical ability grabs the old dusty bongos in the corner and starts hammering away? This album is that experience, except all these people are capable musicians. This is a collection of competently played and recorded cover songs but with percussion nobody asked for. Pro tip, the version of this album on spotify has 19 songs, but the original release (according to Wikipedia) only had 8 so stick with those unless you're looking for extra credit, or you're that bongo guy from the party jam.

They were so much more than just a bongo band, they were incredible

My first thought when I saw the album was oh no. But Apache started changing my mind, and the rest of the album was pretty decent. It’s definitely background music, but it’s fun background music

This started off strong with the first two tracks, then fizzled out quite a bit after that throughout the middle part and then picked it back up towards the end (for context - I listened to the original version of the album, not the extended one on Spotify). In general I'm not mad at this at all, it's entertaining enough, but without Apache and In A Gadda Da Vida (both of these are bangers) this would probably be sub-mid, I'd say. Also I gotta admit, just knowing the samples that came from this record added some extra points for me.

3 stars

Laughed out loud multiple times when listening to this, because so many bits and pieces of it have been used in trailers and samples. Had no idea so many of them all came from one album. Truly delightful.

I ain't mad at this album, but the inclusion of bongos on pretty much every track seem a tad excessive. Is this considered funk? It doesn't seem like it, but it's definitely groovy. It’s not bad but it’s not necessarily very original either.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. Sometimes the bongos and drums got a little out of hand, but overall it was a good one.

Just a compilation, solid made but also nothing special

3.5

Fun! I like the horns and the funk bongo beat, and the grandmaster flash apache remix. Gets a little repetitive in the last half of the album, with all the bongo covers of 70s rock hits.

Solid album with a branding problem. What kind of an album name is “Bongo Rock”?? And the artist name “Incredible Bongo Band” is no better. It makes it sound like the type of baby music that would be played during a gymnastics class for 1-2 year olds. The album kind of ripped though, except for 3-4 songs having nearly the same beat as Apache (I guess you can only get so creative with Bongos). The brass and bongos were bumping

Better than I expected.

can i be real with you…i kinda thought it needed more bongos…

bongo bongo

I expected a novelty album. And it sort of is. I mean... A (insert slightly off-kilter instrument here)-oriented cover of Satisfaction is as novelty as it gets. But. It's an enjoyable listen. Very much so.

Essentially, this is a record of some more or less good 70s-style rock songs with bongos added. It gets a bit boring after some time.

Catchy

Está bueno, es todo un instrumental rock/ambiental/a veces de película y basado todo en bongós.

Kinda fun. 3 stars

Good

This album walked so that “Bongos” by Cardi B ft Megan thee Stallion could run.

For a brief moment in time, I was really into Drum Break Compilations™️. (I actually don’t know if that’s their official name, the Internet has really no information on this niche of a niche of a niche, I’m just going off of what I learned when I started crate digging ~2010.) The main ones I grabbed were Drum Library and Ultimate Breaks and Beats, but I know there’s others: Dusty Fingers, Sticky Breaks, Planet of the Breaks. These comps varied from straight-up acoustic drum breaks with no other background instrumentation to more traditional sample fodder with a full band, sometimes even bordering on DJ mixes in and of themselves. These records are nerd shit– exclusively appealing to budding transgender DJs or obsessive hip-hop fans. I fell into both categories. The thing is, no one ever actually goes out of their way to listen to these albums as stand-alone records. They’re meant to be libraries of curiosities, or source material to build actual music on. Bongo Rock is the original Drum Break Compilation™️. It may not contain the most popular breaks ever [“Amen,” “Funky Drummer,” etc.], but listening to it is a constant onslaught of, “Oh, shit, wait, I know this break!” for anyone with even a passing knowledge of Golden Age hip-hop. That is incredibly cool, and shows just how influential this album is from a literal, technical perspective. I won’t lie, either, it’s a pretty fun album to listen through. I think a song like “Apache” holds up, I think “Dueling Bongos” is as engaging as a dueling drum solo can be, I think the cover of “In A Gadda Da Vida” is cute, and I enjoy this from a passive, background listening perspective. So it’s pleasant enough while it’s on– or, as pleasant as a bunch of bongos and drum solos can ever be– and it’s historically important. But, again, like all Drum Break Compilations™️, I’m never going to listen to this on its own. I’m never going to play this at a party, even. It’s a fun curio, a valid historical footnote, and a lot better than you would expect. It belongs here, but like, it’s not amazing. It’s literal kitsch. That’s cool, but that’s about all I can give it. Still, the historical importance combined with the fact that it’s far from bad makes it a fine addition and a tolerable listen. But you’re not going to have your mind blown by the Incredible Bongo Band, babes. Keep your expectations low, vibe out for a half hour, and move on.

Enjoyable.

Album 689 of 1001 Incredible Bongo Band - Bongo Rock (1973) Rating : 2.5 / 5 I like this but must admit that it grew a bit repetitive after several tracks. Some fun instrumentation and some great studio musicians included after a few it just became more of background music to me.

🪘

Cool sounds especially on songs with organ and horn section. Nice addition to 60s guitar instrumental rock.

Fun

Jazz.. now with bongos! Interesting for the, her I've heard this in a soundtrack! songs

Fun instrumental music

Favorite Track: Apache

It’s a decent gimmick, but a gimmick nonetheless.

Entirely intriguing for 7 minutes and then you got to move on. You can come back to it for another 7 or so after 15 minutes. That being said, you have to give all of Last Bongo in Belgium a listen in one 6:55 sitting, it will change your life. Trust me, I'm already a better human being for having done so. The In A Gadda Da Vida cover is a delight. In all seriousness, this is fun and funky, and it will make you a better human being, or at least a more groovy one.

I’m not sure how much I needed to hear Cover versions with Bongos. How it made it onto the list I really don’t know but it was fine as background music. Made me remember the time that a friend bought a horse and rang me up to ask what was the name of the famous Shadows’ song because she wanted to name the horse after it but couldn’t quite remember the title. If only Apache the horse had a friend called Bongo. Apache’s predecessor was a horse called Donovan (another musical reference) but he kicked me in the head… All this rambling because I’m unsure what to think about an album that is ostensibly fine but am being told it’s a must-listen. I think I’d rather spend time with the pony.

Needed more bongos

Accidentally listened to all the bonus tracks and got very bored. But I think I would’ve enjoyed it if I’d stopped after the original tracks.

(3.5/5 for me) nice instrumental songs

like half the tracks are named for some kind of bongo pun, but once you get past that, the actual music can be listened to and accepted seriously bongo rockers in the house tonight

Good listen.

Wow, how many rap groups have sampled from this album? I'd say more than a few. Good stuff here. I prefer lyrics more than just instrumentals, but it's fun to listen to. 3/5

Fav: Last Bongo In Belgium Least Fav: Dueling Bongos Dare I say, too many bongos?

Bongo rock by Incredible Bongo Band from the 70s, I guess I was not surprised how it sounded. It is a unexpected gold mine of breakbeat samples and that's probably what is most famous for. not much to say about it. nice groove, Bongos, sounds like the soundtrack to a 70s movie, Bongos, a bit too long, Bongos and of course a lot of Bongos.

A fun and interesting listen. Not amazing though.

"More bongo!"

Honestly not terrible, but boring after the first few songs. Feels like pep band music with bongos instead of quads, and I don't necessarily mind being someone who played in pep band back in the day.

Very good instrumental music

ta weno, veo su influencia en mucha otra musica aparte de ser un disco bastante entretenido a aparte. 68/100

almost a 4 but not quite

A little of this is frankly amazing. Over an hour borders on trying.

Mostly instrumental, focused on but not limited to the percussion. I would guess it had a huge influence in the future of funk, disco, hip-hop, and so many other genres. I enjoyed it more that I would have guessed. 7/10

Solid jams. Definitely felt like a novelty, but I enjoyed listening to it at times. Feels like good background music.

2.5 stars. A bunch of instrumental beats sampling and covering various songs. It's fine as background music but I wouldn't go out of my way to play any of it again.

For reviewers complaining about the length; go look at the original track listing on Wikipedia. It's 8 tracks - 33 minutes, and should be rated on that basis. For what it's worth, I found this fun, if gimmicky.

3.6

Surprisingly and contrary to everything, not enough bongos. Pretty fun for a gimmick album, but I don't think I'll ever return to this.

Interesting album by a band I’d never heard of in my life, which has definitely been sampled a lot. Not sure if I’d revisit but cool to have listened

Fun

Quite odd but fun to listen to. Not really sure why it's on this list but I enjoyed it, although I wouldn't listen to any of these tracks again in all likelihood

I would’ve survived without it.

Without Bongo Rock, we may not have some of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time. Best Songs: Bongolia, Last Bongo in Belgium, In A Gadda Da Vida Worst Songs: Dueling Bongos

Ein bisschen Spaß mit Bongos und Trömmelchen. „Apache“ und „Wipeout” sind ok und von wem Mick nun die Inspiration zu “Satisfaction” hatte ist nun auch sonnenklar.

Classic. I’ve heard many of these songs before, and obviously I’ve heard them sampled in old-school hip-hop.

Amplify those bongos 10 fold

Tavallaan ihmettelen tämän paikkaa listalla, mutta huomaan nauttivani bongo-covereista tosi paljon. Etenkin In A Gadda Da Vida on suorastaan tehty tälle bändille. Soittaisin tätä mun kahvilassa. Kaikin puolin soittimia soitetaan hyvin, mutta eipä tämä kutsu keskittymään itseensä koko tunniksi.

Even though it was my first time listening to Bongo Rock all the way through, it felt familiar. The album has had such a huge influence on early hip hop, electronic music, and DJ culture, particularly with its breakbeat rhythms. You hear so many of these bongo and conga samples throughout DJ mixes over the years—it’s like this album became the backbone of that scene. It’s definitely a key part of music history, but I have to say, by the time you get through the whole album, the endless bongo rhythms can start to feel a bit much.

apache- 5. the bongo solo goes hard actually let there be drums- 4 bongolia- 5 or 6 last bongo in belgium- 5 dueling bongos- 5 in a gadda da vida- in the garden of eden baby dont you know that i love youuu. 6 raunchy 72- 5 or 6 bongo rock- 5 i have to admire the dedication to bongos

I was not expecting this, it was interesting indeed

Because of the bongo theme, the variety is very limited.

3.5/5. You just know Richard Feynman probably dug this shit.

Solid groovey background music

Take you're favorite songs of all time, add bongos, divide by the square root of funk, and you got Bongo Rock

This backstory on this one is extremely weird. The concept is extremely dumb. But it made me bob my head and go “ya” a few too many times.

Unbelievable vibes coming from this one but by the end of it, I was ready for it be finished

Confession: I resisted listening to and reviewing this album for a while because I felt I had other priorities, but this was quite enjoyable! One of those albums that I'm sure would work for our algorithmic-playlist-friendly age if it wasn't for the band's tragically uncool name (I don't care how open your heart is, you gotta wince a little at the name Incredible Bongo Band; it doesn't read as "hidden gem.") It's definitely not seven-dollar-mocha-core, but a bar that does $18 cocktails and has bathrooms with fun, IG-ready wallpaper? For sure. You could see how hip-hop heads would take this and run with it. Listeners will note "Apache," which was once described as hip-hop's national anthem, as well as "Last Bongo in Belgium" which have both been used in iconic tracks from Grandmaster Flash and the Beastie Boys. But frankly, I'm surprised that someone like Quentin Tarantino didn't add a cut from 'Bongo Rock' to one of his already impressive soundtracks. One last sign to give this album a proper shot? Jim Gordon is the drummer. Jim Gordon, he of 'Layla' coda fame. Let's look up his Wikipedia pa--oh. B+ (but a sturdy B+)

This starts off quite fun, but goes on for far too long and you just feel bongoed out by the end. I think I'd enjoy each track individually, but there's 19 of the bongtastic bastards for nearly 80 minutes of bonging. I'll definitely put some of the tunes on my wake up playlist, but I don't think I ever want to sit down and listen to the whole thing again. Three Bongos out of a Wagner.

Even as a drummer, I found this too much drums - not by much, but just a wee bit too much. Enjoyed it a bit, and spotting samples that were used elsewhere was great fun. 3 stars

Dueling Bongos was fun because it sounded like when you're downtown in a larger city and there are people drumming on buckets to busk for money and it sounds cool and you kind of want to stop and listen, but you never have any cash on you so you can't stop because that would be rude, so you just try to get a free listen as you walk away.

Unexpectedly enjoyable funk, but most of the songs are instrumentals. Tim loved it.

plenty of funky grooves here, wouldn't listen to the whole thing in one session though. the bonus breakbeat tracks are well worth checking out too. 3.5

I don’t have a specific number for how many bongos are too many bongos but this is pretty close

Incredibly entertaining and the bongos are predictably excellent but like…. A whole hour long album of bongos starts to feel excessive very quickly.

incredible!, incredible bongo band!!!!!!! this album is unexpectedly fire finding out that MASSIVE ATTACK??? SAMPLED LAST BONGO IN BELGIUM ON ANGEL????? HOLY MOLY! my brain exploded and started pouring out of my eyes, ears and nose i also don't care if this is basically a bongo cover band because they kinda cooked here, maybe every song should have bongos on it.... 3/5 could be lower only due to the fact that its deeply annoying to sit through a full hour of this without a lot of tonal differences between tracks (bongos being the feature definitely contribute to this lol, which makes so much of this forgettable by default) because i originally was going to give this a 4 but as it went on, i got a bit bored....

ok boomer

Good, but I feel it stretches out the schtick a bit too much. It's not an album that earns a listen in its entirety in one sitting. Standout track: Apache

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would but I can't go any higher than a 3.

So this album was fun. Apache has been sampled a few times and never knew this was it's origin. Have to say by the end I was tired of the signature 70s drum beat. I found myself wanting to do the running in place dance for most of this. Helped me clean the house.

Strange but in good ways. I expected a drum circle but was pleasantly surprised by how much this album rocks.

so. many. bongos. I like it for productive background music lol

This album rips but I have no idea how it made it on this list lol

3/5

Speciaal. 2.8

Incredible? As in, "not credible"? I'll concede that many of the tracks here are very catchy, especially in the album's first half. The horn arrangements are pretty standard and unrevolutionary, but they're also tight jams. The main issue arises when we start comparing the covers to the originals, and see that just about everything in the Incredible Bongo Band's version is worse. Satisfaction, while still a solid track, doesn't live up to the Rolling Stones' original in the slightest. Sing Sing Sing is just too low energy to be even comparable to the brilliant original. And many of the bongo-based tracks, which are (probably?) originals, sound quite similar to one another. 3/5 Key tracks: Apache, Last Bongo in Belgium, Dueling Bongos, Bongo Rock, Bongolia

Instrumental. Funk, rare groove, R&B. Amena. Un poco cansino al final.

It sounds nice and different, but not something that will change my life.

There’s some really fun stuff here but I really didn’t need over an hour of it.

Works as good background music. Other than that, there isn't much use.

Original ! Bonne découverte, mais un peu lassant sur la longueur. => 3/5