Reviews (page 5 of 9)
As a drummer/percussionist of 15 years, I love me a good bongo groove. However, it does not need to be slapped on 17 arrangements covering various popular songs that sound like they were meant for a high school band to play at basketball games. Also congas are superior.
5/5. Now this is that good stuff, this is what soundtracks are made out of. I know these are just regular tracks but I love that big band, multiple instruments tracks, like instrumental Chicago or Santana songs. The fun jams and bongos go crazy, this just hits that right energy I'm looking for in music to dance to. Was this a very inventive or original album? Not really. But it was fun as hell to listen to. If anyone else is reading this, and liked this album, you should check out Brown Sabbath, similar type of covers to Black Sabbath songs. Best Song: Apache, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Bongolia
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.
I was pleasantly surprised by this album- a lot of good covers and some original songs. Very 70s vibe- reminds me of a lot of movie scores from the time. Overall- I liked it a lot (especially as driving music). 3.5 to 4 / 5
When this appeared on my landing page I can't lie, my first thought was "here we go..." I was wrong. This was excellent. I recognised most tracks - I realise this album has been sampled to death. A genuine surprise.
8/10
Certainly a treasured historical document thanks to its influence on Hip Hop culture, but judged in a vacuum its just OK.
Orchestral rock with bongos and horns, it's a special audio experience.
Impressively modern sound
So bongo, bongo, bongo, I don't want to leave the Congo, oh no no no no no... No reference to this album, I just like fallout... I thought I'd hate this, but I didn't. Some cool moments on here. In a Gaddafi da Vida never gets old no matter the version😂 Give it a go at least once.
I like ur swag incredible bongo band
It's a bit unreal how good this is. I saw the title, thought okay here we go, and within a couple of minutes on the first song went "wait did Bowie sample this on The Next Day". What a rabbit hole to see how much this influenced and shaped so much music. Cool sound, but the creativity all over won me over a lot more than I expected. This is probably a 4 but my heart is voting today.
I was excited to see this pop up knowing it's relation to hip hop. Recorded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Such a snack of an album. A great easy listen, did about 4 listens today. Just really good energy. Last Bongo in Belgium was a stand out track for me.
Ihan vaan originellisuudesta +1
Early funk - recognized a lot of samples - but not sure how this beats out a lot of other albums for 1001 of all time.
Great
Weirdly enjoyable
I've spent a lot of time looking into the roots of hip-hop and rap. I found out about this album back in the mid 1990's and was able to buy a copy several years later (an original too, I don;t think it had been been re-released/re-pressed by then). As much as Apache is the most well-known track on the album, all of the tracks are really solid. It just reeks of the 1970's.
Jazzy bongos
Percussive bangers
nice groove
Good for them. Not for me.
I love this album. I have heard Apache a million times and even if I had not heard it before I would be familiar due to how much it was sampled in disco and hip hop. I will definitely listen again. 4/5
Great, Drum solo -1 star
Have to say, I was concerned when I saw the length of this album, but it's actually pretty great. Who knew the bongo could carry a whole album?
Perfectly fine just not my thing
whole lotta bongos
Прикольно
Jump on it! Nah, nah...all jokes aside this works better as a building block than a complete work
Less is defn more. Would have been happy just with Apache.
Bongo Rock Bongo bongo bongo bongo, bongo, bongo bongo bongo. Bongo. Bongo bongo bongo bongo bongo, bongo. Bongo bongo bongo. Bongo, bongo, bongo bongo bongo bongo bongo, bongo bongo bongo bongo. Bongo bongo bongo. Bongo bongo, bongo bongo, bongo bongo bongo bongo. Bongo bongo bongo. Bongo bongo bongo, bongo bongo. Bongo, bongo, bongo, bongo, bongo, bongo, bongo, bongo, bongo, bongo, bongo, bongo, bongo, bongo, bongo, bongo, bongo. Bongo, bongo. Bongo, bongo, bongo bongo bongo, bongo bongo…bongo. Bongo. TLDR; Bongo 🪘🪘 Bongo: Let There Be Drums
My overall issue, aside from the fact that I have a visceral hatred of bongos, is that if you say you're a bongo band don't bottle it. Nearly all the tracks swamp the bongos in the mix, and introduce a drum-kit centre stage. With one ear off the bongo, it's clear how lightweight these compositions/covers are. They all verge on the saucy feel of Benny Hill - I imagine the soundtrack to 'Confessions of a Window Cleaner' would sound very much like this. But the opening run of three surf rock tracks is of higher quality, and certainly gives it some credibility and some chutzpah. Before the bongo fatigue sets in.
Loved it
Rating: 8/10 So many bongos, bongos are good.
Cheesy but quite amazingly so. Some songs sound very contemporary, giving Skeewiff vibes. If you love bongos you will be in heaven with this album. I enjoyed it and will listen again. 3.9
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.
historical curiosity, given the later sampling. amount of bongos sufficient for a lifetime.
One of the tracks is called Last Bongo in Belgium, so you know that this is going to be a good time. And have a lot of bongos.
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 🫠
While some songs don’t need covering, this was a fun album. More like this.
So much bongo
#594. Bongo 3/5: bongo
This one was actually kinda fun! Take popular songs and play bongos to them. Like if Donkey Konga was made in the 1970s
Bongo me up a 3.5 stars
This was good. Just maybe a little too much bongo for this girl.
Crazy bongos
funky bongo beats
Bangin' on Bongos. A lot of bangin' on Bongos. How many Bongos where involved? Should I buy me a bongo myself? Was there maybe more space for more Bongos? This Album made me think a lot... about Bongos. This Album is my spiritual Bongo awakening. Trully clappin' and bangin' (3.5/5.0)
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.
Quite a mixed bag. I couldn’t manage it all. Great musicians, sometimes really grooving. Sometimes the foundation they’re jamming over is really, really boring (Bongo Rock). Kinda feels like it’s best for sampling, not listening to.
This album goes way harder than it has any right to. It slapped. It was great.
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.
There's no way that this is actually real. A bongo album. Is there a market for this? This is an album that we all MUST listen to before we die? Don't get me wrong, it's not bad. But it's all covers. The opener 'Apache' is essentially the song you know and love from The Sugarhill Gang. When looking through Wikipedia, I was not too surprised that there were many versions before this. I was absolutely shocked to my core to find out that The Sugarhill Gang actually covered Incredible Bongo Band when writing their version and that the bongo version is actually heavily sampled by a long list of artists and even called "hip-hops national anthem". So that's why this album is on the list, then. Anyway, the rest of this album is just funky background music, with a hell of a lot of bongo thrown in. The bongo doesn't particularly add anything and it the weakest bit of the whole of this instrumental album. I'd be a lot more intrigued if the bongos were the main focus of the album, but they're almost pushed to the background for the most part. Understandable I guess, as it's only a percussion instrument, but still. Don't go all in on bongos and not deliver on bongos. Despite the cool sounding music and the cool link to the song 'Apache', this is a gimmick album at best. This is definitely for someone, but it ain't for me I'm afraid.
Amazing. I don't care if they were covers, you could have told me these were the originals. Super sick. Saved.
Honestly as I see something called Bongo Rock I was a little eeee and I’m alright with it. It was intriguing and definitely something new but pretty cool. I definitely see influence and why people like it but I think after a while it’s not for me.
Turns out that there are, in fact, an *incredible* amount of bongos played on this album. Everywhere. To be fair, this is actually a pretty fun listen - especially noting how much of this was sampled later on. Fun background party album, upbeat, no annoying vocals to get in the way... Also to be fair if they had dialed back the bongos let's say ... 40% or so (honestly 50% would be better) it might have had a bit more impact when they actually did come in. Then again they'd have had to come up with a different band/album name so the whole thing falls apart with any sort of scrutiny... Still, I weirdly can't help but like this quite a bit even with far too much BONGO FURY. 7/10 4 stars
Yes, incredible.
Samples galore - but not something I'd listen back to again and again
Deze had ik niet op de lijst verwacht. Alleen om "Apache" natuurlijk al de moeite waard, maar de plaat is van begin tot eind ijzersterk. De samples vliegen je om de oren en drums klinken zo modern, nog altijd. Zelfs de lange "In a Gadda da Vida" cover pakt goed uit.
Sometimes the bongos were too quiet in the mix - I wanted consistently bongo forward from Bongo Rock. Is the soundtrack for Ocean’s Eleven etc. related at all to this album? I shan’t look it up.
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
Very enjoyable
No singing but nice
C'était sympa
Écoutable, assez sympa. Mais ça fait très musique d'introduction dans un film de détective des années 70 qui se déroule à Dallas par un chaud jour d'été. Alors que John Stevenson s'apprête à partir en vacances avec sa femme et ses deux enfants, son passé refait surface et bouleverse tous ses plans.
Album ennuyeux et il y a des reprises de masterpiece et elle sont bien moins incr que les originales. Cette album c'est un peu le gouvernement de Macron, il avait les clés en main, mais il a fait de la merde.
et bah c'est trop bien, voici mon premier 5
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
You gotta love when a band is straightforward about their identity, so much so that it's literally their name. Incredible Bongo Band is an incredible band that includes bongos as a feature of their arrangements. The album name, "Bongo Rock," tells you exactly what's on the album. No false advertising, no weird image or facade of the group, no deviation from what they say they are. They are Incredible Bongo Band, nice to meet you. But ok, points for being honest about your identity as a band. So what? How's them music? Fantastic. I'm already a big jazz and funk guy. I love me some great grooves, cool musical attitudes, and some instrumental melodies and solos. And drums? Well I'm a drummer so I'm biased, but I love a drum-centric album. This is amazing. Some great covers (In A Gadda Da Vida, really?!?), some cool originals, and some incredible bongos. I can't say a whole lot more. If you love jazz and/or funk, this is just a fun ride through some bongo-centric music. Four stars. Standout Tracks: Apache, Let There Be Drums, Last Bongo in Belgium, In A Gadda Da Vida, Raunchy '73
Break beats to make beats A funk album to inspire Next gen of music
I like bongos but not a full albums worth.
Very nice funk, but kind of a novelty record.
Fun!! Band Nerds meet some of the biggest hits of all time with an extra heapin' helpin' of Bongo on every track. I love it!
I didn't know I needed this.
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.
Kinda fuckin gas
Enjoyable but gets a little dull after a while
A lot of bongos
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
This is a new one on me, but I loved it. I actually ended up listening to a later release of it which is an extended version with a bunch of other tracks.
I've got to say. Of the two albums on the list from bands called the "Incredible [instrument] Band," this one is WAY better. Does that mean I prefer bongos to string instruments? Well, seeing as I literally play a string instrument myself, no. However, I do really like Bongo Rock, even if the album's name is only 50% true. This is not a rock album. It's definitely closest to funk, if anything. The bongo thing is true though. Very true, even. Michael Viner gets his Incredible Bongo Band to bongo all over the place with this album, and it's pretty good. It's all instrumental, but the instrumentation itself is quite strong. It's very fun and enjoyable. Somehow, I don't think there are too many bongos in this album. I think that, given the whole Bongo Band thing, the amount of bongos in this album is sufficient. There's also other instruments like horns and stuff that I enjoy just as much as the bongos. Of course, the thing that this album is known for nowadays is just how much it's been sampled over the years. I've reviewed albums before that revolutionized sampling by doing that thing amazingly. Stuff like Paul's Boutique, Endtroducing, and Since I Left You, you know? But I haven't talked about an album that's important to its history by being sampled as much as an album like Bongo Rock has. "Apache" is the clearest example of this. Apparently, this one song has been sampled over 800 times. That is insane. Of course, this isn't because of the album itself, right? Well, it kind of is. Had these musical compositions been utterly boring, I don't think this album would have the legacy it does. The compositions aren't boring though. I think the high quality and energy of these songs is what has intrigued producers for enough decades to put these songs to good use as sample material. Even on its own though, Bongo Rock serves as a solid collection of fun music. Light 4/5.
Sounded like crazy elevator music or tv show themes from the 70s.
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
7/10.
1. apache - 2 2. drumz - 1.5 3. bongolia - 2 4. belgium - 1 5. bongoz - 1.5 6. vida - 1.5 7. raunchy - 1 8. rock - 0 9. kiburi - 1.5 10. zing - 2 11. zatizfaction - 1 12. uuipeout - 1 13. bed - 1.5 14. pipeline - 1.5 15. dokey - 1 16. nine - 1 17. dooley - 1 18. apache - 2 19. belgium - 0
One of the more coked up novelty records in the history of coked up novelty records. Decently fun, but it gets old fast.
Pretty good groove. I appreciate what they were doing but a whole album was just but much for me.
"Bongo Rock” by Incredible Bongo Band is an album that clearly comes from a place of good intentions, aiming to celebrate rhythm and percussion with a bold, almost relentless energy. The grooves are lively and the production highlights the power of the drums, but what starts as exciting quickly begins to feel repetitive and one-dimensional.After a few tracks, the constant barrage of similar rhythms and ideas becomes tiring rather than engaging, turning what could have been a fun listen into a chore. At a certain point, the album felt so monotonous and boring that it was impossible to even make it halfway through, which says a lot about how exhausting the experience became instead of enjoyable.
I know this was a big influence for sampling in the hip hop community which is cool. The album wasn't for me though
Lots of instrumentals covers of famous tracks with lots of extra bongos? Who asked for that?
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.
muito bom, me surpreendi positivamente
Some iconic samples from this album, instrumental albums aren’t what I would expect to enjoy, but this one was fun
Good one!
I want to live in Bongolia! Liked Songs Added: Apache In A Gadda Da Vida
Sounded like a soundtrack to 80's police shows/movies....
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
I've gone 35.5 years without knowing this group existed. This album was amazing! I was worried when I saw it was bongo music and over an hour long... but not once I started listening! Unreal. Absolute 5. I could listen to that all day.
Super fun
This was surprisingly enjoyable. Who knew the annoying guy by the campfire could make some solid tunes.
BORING
Too much bongo for me but Apache and Last Bongo in Belgium are amazing!!
Some good songs here, but there is only so long a bunch of bongo covers can keep me entertained.
Enjoyed it, but a bit monotone after a while
APACHE!!
Correcto
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
meh
Does what it says on the tin. They are a band. They have bongos. They are incredible.
Not bad for an instrumental only album I guess and some cool riffs but there just wasn't a heap to it.
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.
Everybody bongo!!
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.
Be sure you listen to the original album with 8 tracks and not the rerelease with 26. I suspect all the reviews complaining about this album being too long were listening to the rerelease. Now, if 30 min of bongos is too much for you, I can respect that, but I thought it was pretty fun
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.
Great album. Enjoyed it
This is exactly what I was hoping for from this list -- something I never have heard, never would have sought out, and really enjoyed. Straight to the "to buy" list
Just a compilation, solid made but also nothing special
Cool album but kinda boring
3.5
How many bongos is too many bongos? If this album was made as a joke I would give it a 5.
I never heard it before. Perfect album. Apache and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida are the masterpieces.
That was fun!
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.
This was sick. Sometimes you just need some funky instrumental music to listen to and this delivers excellently in that regard.
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…
this is cool. i kept thinking damn they really used bongos on every single song and then i was like Oh yeah. i wish i had listened to this while going on some kind of quest or errand around the city because it would make me feel like i was in a movie probably. i guess i'll have to take it out for a spin another time
Yesterday I complained that the worst thing about Morrissey is his lyrics. Today I was blessed with an hour of funky-ass instrumentals!
I didn’t want to listen to it at first but then I realized it was straight FUNK!
I really liked this album
Why did the bongo player go to jail? Because he couldn’t stop beating one out. I like it… for a bit, but that is a very hard album to get through. Incredible amount of bongo. A couple of 4 or possibly 5 star tracks on their own, but as an album as a whole, not great. If I hear any more bongo this week, I think I’ll vomit.
This is one of the biggest "why is this on the list?" Of any. Waste of time. I could be listening to anything else right now but instead I'm listening to an album that's pretty much the backing tracks of other famous songs. I would give this a zero if it was possible Waste Of Time Feels like people rating it a 5 are maybe trying to be different, and fair play, if we were all the same how different would life be. This is trash
Smooooooooooth as hell but couldn't last a whole album, novelty wears off pretty quickly
bongo bongo
Whaaat?
It's fun, but I don't want an album of this. It's a side not an entree.
This is really good, I wasn't expecting much but another pleasant surprise from this list. Good funky instrumentals with lots of vibrancy and energy, very fun music. And the bongos themselves aren't too much really, they're only 1 element other than a single track which is only percussion. You can hear the early roots of hip-hop's genesis in this, not just because of how their version of Apache has been sampled either. An important album but a great listen too
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.
I enjoyed this. But at bottom, it’s just a compilation cover album of other unique tunes played in a unique way, with big brass and bongos. Really incomparable to a regular release album.
Идеальный саундтрек к экшн фильмам и тот самый семпл из песни Ивана Дорна. В целом, мне нечего больше добавить к описанию данного альбома. Он звучит намного свежее своего возраста, и как минимум оригинальная версия, состоящая из 8 треков, за одно прослушивание хорошо воспринимается, подходит для прослушивания под разный вайб. Рекомендую каждому ознакомиться с этим альбомом. Прикольные 4/5.
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
The novelty wore off pretty quickly for me
When this came through I was sceptical...an album of bongo music? Then as I listened and read up, I realised this inadvertently bacame the jumping off point for hip hop. So many great beats and influential elements
4 out of 5. A wonderful celebration of our favorite little pair of drums.
Some good hits
Didn't think I would enjoy this as much as I did.
Está bueno, es todo un instrumental rock/ambiental/a veces de película y basado todo en bongós.
Awesome takes on classic songs.
A bunch of familiar tunes that I didn't realize had bongos in them, or that could be played this way so well? A nice little album to listen to during my work day.
... ... ... OK. ... I did not hate this album musically. However, BONGO rock by the Incredible BONGO band ought be... ... IDK? DRUM music perhaps, or at the very least percussion heavy. I would suggest the vast majority of this album was harsh brass and heavy 70's style guitar riffs, punctuated on occasion by legit and pretty sublime percussion. However (!) most of the instrumental bits that were not featuring drums drowned out the percussion, sometimes completely. But the Incredible Bongo Band is not a bongo band! They are a band that happens to have a pretty good bongo player who shows up towards the end of several songs. "Bongo" rock this is not. It is ... rock(ish) with occasional bongo beats. I came for the percussion and was left with ... a pseudo-70's rock album... I guess?
Never has an album been built on such a groove. Groove is essential to Bongo Rock. Rhythm leads all. Is it a funk album? Sure, but it's also a blueprint and a key record for how hiphop would develop its use of sampling. Incredible drum breaks on this album, with fun percussion to boot.
Kinda fun. 3 stars
Love bongos, naturally this is a hit
When I saw the name Bongo Rock and the fact that this album is an hour and 20 minutes, I full assumed this was about to be terrible. What a surprise! The Incredible Bongo Band lived up to their name with a catchy, funky, and just plain fun record. Favorites: In A Gagga Da Vida, Kabuchi, Sing Sing Sing
Another great reason for using this app. I would NEVER have listened to an album called Bongo Rock. Never! It's huge fun, but really good....and has been sampled sooo many times! Loved it
Meh
Eee
Good
A percussion dominated funk band that covers In A Gadda Da Vida? What’s not to love?
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.
Goofy AF 70s badass cop show soundtracks FTW! Loved it.
3.5 The highs are high. Its fun. It is the basis for a thousand hip hop and breakbeat samples.
Bongos
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.
🪘
I went into this one expecting to give a sarcastic review about the influence of the humble bongo. The concept is a bit ridiculous but this album really delivers! "Apache" is the stand out track and may sound familiar to many. Any wedding DJ should take note if they need to get people energized again. The whole album sounds like it could be the soundtrack to a 70s action movie (which tracks as the songwriter was also a movie producer) with the simple addition of bongos to make it all danceable. The novelty does wear off a bit as it goes on. "Apache" itself is worth an easy 5 stars, but the rest doesn't quite match that.
Very little of this is truly bad, but I most certainly did not need to hear it before I died. 3/5
Okay look, the composition here is objectively good. HOWEVER, I have no interest in listening to this for 15 mins let alone the full run time.
Really good album.
Cool sounds especially on songs with organ and horn section. Nice addition to 60s guitar instrumental rock.
This is a horrible novelty album.
I couldn't finish it. Too miche, too repetitive.
Funky and hella fun! 4.5 stars
Fun
This is just fun. And sounds like a sampler’s paradise
Makes me wanna bongo some more!
i am def growing more fond of instrumental albums throuout this journey, i gave gatz some strong 4s and 3s just last week , ive enjoyed jazz albums and have highly rated a lot of progressiv erock bongo rock is the bedrock of a lot of hiphop - my fav genre and i can appericiate that .. as a whole however, and as a standalone album it doesnt do enough for me
It was indeed an incredible bongo band. Never seen bongo get used this well. Kinda gets boring towards the end of album tho
"Let There Be Drums" - great track. Loving the beats and the riffs. Also love the Last Bongo in Belgium Breaker Mix. The rest of the stuff I can take or leave. Great to dance to though.
Jazz.. now with bongos! Interesting for the, her I've heard this in a soundtrack! songs
This album fucks! Immediately, Apache stands out (shoutout Fresh Prince of Bel Air). Last Bongo In Belgium is awesome. In A Gadda Da Via is a song that Nas sampled on Hip Hop Is Dead and I'm a little disappointed he took out the horns that make this song more fun. I'm putting this one as a solid 4 that approaches 5-status.
Fun instrumental music
With the album name Bongo Rock by the Incredible Bongo Band and songnames like Bongolia and Dueling Bongos, I wasn't sure if there would be enough bongos on this album. Luckily, my heart could rest easy. After about 3 songs, I was wondering to myself: "You know what song would be really improved by the addition of several Bongos? In A Gadda Da Vida!" And whaddaya know? It's right there. I think every second of this album has been sampled later, but to call that the redeeming factor?
Pretty funky. Альбом несомненно повлиял на всю современную музыку, можно хоть и сейчас разбирать его по составным.
I like listening to drums.
Platan byrjar á banger útgáfu af Apache og það er erfitt að toppa það, enda dalar hún smá með síðri lögum sem fylgja í kjölfarið, en þetta er samt þétt, töff og mjög skemmtilegt heilt yfir.
This was a ton of fun. I could listen to 6 hours of this stuff.
If you’re into bongos, this is for you. I’m not. 2 stars.
Favorite Track: Apache
It’s a decent gimmick, but a gimmick nonetheless.
Oh, so THIS is where all those samples came from. Solid. 5/5
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.
OK... the arrangements are pro, but they wear after a few songs. How is this anything more than a novelty album? I don't care how many hip hop bongo samples it produced. Is a K-Tel record next on the list?
Damn, this thing is awesome, and I'd never even heard of it before today. I'd certainly heard that first track, having been sampled in literally hundreds of hip-hop songs. I can see how some critics dismissed this as kitsch, but I think it holds up as quality party music. Some of the covers of more famous songs (Satisfaction, Inna Gadda Davidda) aren't quite as successful as some of the more obscure covers, but I'm not complaining. The performances and grooves are first-rate. This thing makes me feel nostalgic for a time I never experienced. This album, like the movie Full Metal Jacket, is an interesting study in how well it has aged, thanks to a changing culture they had nothing to do with (this album as a goldmine for sampling, FMJ as a goldmine for memes). Not sure what else to say about it, but it was the perfect remedy for a cold and depressing morning.
I loved this. Got a real kick when I realized what was actually going on. Fun and bobby. Great music for cooking dinner on a cold winter night.
I wasn't sure what to rate this. I won't give it a 5 as its mostly covers but... Imagine if an alien came to Earth and said "We have been studying the instrument known as bongos from afar. Bring me your best bongo album or I will vaporize you. The fate of your entire planet rests on my opinion of this album." It would be this album. It has to be the best album to have bongos in every track. It's a 4. Fuck it actually let's go 5.
Oh boy
Es cualquier cosa
This was just a very fun album. Mostly covers but with some mad bongos and electric guitar and horns instead of singing. I was bopping the whole time
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.
I also stopped listening after Bongo Rock. Was sick of the album by then so felt no need to continue. Pretty boring. Good band name though.
I like bongos but a whole album of them is too much
More songs need a Vibraslap in them, and for that reason I love Bongolia. Caught me on a good day, stopped after Bongo Rock as that's the original release. It's nothing special but it's fun.
- wow it's literally all bongos i thought it was just a name - ON IT JUMP ON IT
surprisingly fun album. not shocking that it is very bongo forward. feels like a bit of a joke, but it's also fun as hell to listen to. it's not incredible and has a bizarre cover of 'in a gadda da vida'
(3.5/5 for me) nice instrumental songs
middling at best. Tired in places. Repetitive in all ways.
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
All covers, but pretty good. Great for background music while working.
Percussion
Wow this album fucks. Really digging the funk and their commitment to bongos. Opener is immediately familiar, but didn't put my finger on it until the horn breakdown -- Dodgeball used Jump On It, which samples Apache prominently. Last Bongo in Belgium is an absolute jam. Cooking some hash and just vibing. Also realizing this was sampled by Beastie Boys on Paul's Boutique for Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun. Had my hands full for the rest of the album. But made for some great background music while cooking. Solid 4 / 5
4.5 stars. This album was a great listen. All instrumental and it kinda kicked some ass.
Not sure what to expect going into this one. Damn that's a lot of bongos. In all seriousness I did not expect this to be so proggy/funky but I liked it a lot. Felt like Fela Kuti/Ginger Baker at times and Emerson/Lake/Palmer at other times. A couple knocks on this album is it feels very long and very homogenous for what I would really like in an album. Sure some of these solos rock, but hearing them straight for an hour makes them get a bit tired. The bad didn't nearly outweigh the good though. Pretty much brought it from a mid/high 4 to a mid/low 4.
The bongos absolute rock. I was afraid going into this album that it was going to be strictly bongos and no other instrument, but I was completely mistaken. That was some awesome funk/horn/bongo combo explosion for 30 straight minutes. The In a Gadda Da Vida cover was awesome. Not normally something I think I would give a 5 but this was such a unique and fun album that I absolutely want to hear again
Pretty solid funky instrumentals all around. Nas covered In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida in his song Thiefs Theme. What a jam. Been on some heaters recently with a bunch of 4's. Could just be dat holiday spirit though.
Good listen.
This was… kind of exactly what I imagined. Pretty unimaginative instrumental renditions of vaguely popular songs with the gimmick being that there are some bongos chucked in there as well. Except the bongos are weirdly low in the mix for quite a few of the songs, so the main gimmick isn’t even that prevalent. Duelling Bongos is the only exception, which sees presumably two (maybe more - maybe there’s a whole army of them) bongoists trade off bars of solos, like a rap battle between two beatboxers with restricted timbral repertoire
As advertised
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?
I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Great covers.
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.
Nie jest źle, ale już raczej nigdy do tego nie wrócę. Ale bardzo fajnie było się dowiedzieć że rap stoi na piosenkach z tego albumu, szczególnie Apache. Gdybym nie wylosowała tego albumu to pewnie nigdy bym się o tym nie dowiedziała.
"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.
The bongos are bongoing on this bongo album. Very bongoie. Top 3 Favorites: Apache, Bongolia, In A Gadda Da Vida No bad songs but Dueling Bongos is a just lil repetitive. 3.50-4.00/5
Very good instrumental music
Awesome funk!
Sounds like a bongo overloaded sample collection in a good way.
hearing Bongo Rock impresses upon me that almost all the crate diggy modern funk (The Budos Band and most artists releasing singles on Colemine Records) owe their existence to The Incredible Bongo Band and projects like it -- studio soundtrack work that just so happens to have a good beat you can lift from it for hip hop. it makes me wonder; do these groups, who often have the same formula of letting the drums hang and filling the space with horn fills and the infrequent Spaghettified library music guitar riff, take inspiration from this brand of funk, or do they take inspiration from its use as sampled material? do the Budos Band, talented and fun as they are, make jazz-funk or do they reverse engineer hip hop? is it loving tribute or simulacrum? anyway, great record. sample something from this if you're stumped.
Bongo covers. Am I supposed to be impressed or entertained by bongo covers? If I wanted that I’d just go downtown in any major U.S. city to listen to the guys beat on buckets.
Uuu kakvo dobro iznenađenje!! Mooožda sam nekad negdje slučajno čula, na dijelove mi je poznato ali generalno ne znam za njih i nisam slušala. Bila sam skeptična čitajući opis, ali ovo mi je baš baš fino sjelo, dosta mi djeluje drugačije i unique i to mi je fora. Najdraže pjesme su mi In A Gadda Da Vida i Last Bongo In Belgium 👌🏻 iako Spotify nešto jede govna pa mi je izbacio krivu verziju albuma u kojem ima 17 pjesama umjesto 8, pa sam usput poslušala još tih par i recimo Kiburi mi je odlična, a ima tu još baš finih peglica. Sigurno ću se vraćati ovome. 4/5 ili 8/10.
Skroz neloše. Kao kombinacija nekog bongo bluza, hard fanka, soula. Vjerujem da bi ovo lajv kidalo Puno bongosa na jednom mjestu je previše čakraški, ali kad se ovako skombinira s bendom zvuči skroz dobro! In a gadda da vida mi je super stvar. Zamišljam si nekog korumpiranog detektiva dok glumi da rješava neki zločin za koji je već dobio novce da zatvori jedno oko
4/10 Ovaj album mi uopce ne pripada ovdje. Bend koji je radio obradu neke stvari za neki film je odlucio snimiti cijeli album (vecinom) obrada. Samo zato cu drasticno sniziti ovome ocjenu. Inace ovo uopce ne zvuci toliko lose + Last Bongo in Belgium i Kiburi pt.1 su mi zanimljive, ali ovo mi je za stavit na promenadu u Karlovac za dan grada, a ne na popis najboljih albuma ikad. Toliko o tome, next.
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
Def gotta see the Thing with two Heads. Although I have a feeling the soundtrack is better than the movie. I really like this. Not sure how this doesn’t get a rock genre tag.
Loved the vibes
Good action/family movie soundtrack
Solid jams. Definitely felt like a novelty, but I enjoyed listening to it at times. Feels like good background music.
bongos for sure
go to whosampled, look up incredible bongo band, enjoy also - getting The Incredible Bongo Band and The Incredible String Band in the same week is pretty funny
Over an hour of covers of other people's music, rife with the overuse of generic bongos. I can see this album being interesting in music history for sampling, inspiration, etc, but I don't truly believe I needed to hear it before I shuffled off this mortal coil. It's fine, it just goes on for entirely too long without introducing anything other than "hey, remember this song?"
Feel like I’m in Starsky and Hutch
A little bit of that goes a long way.
Incredibly niche and a little samey. “Apache” still slaps though.
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.
Why, yes, I did do the hip thing in my driver’s seat. Why do you ask?
That's a lot of funky bongo to get through in one sitting. Works better in a Steven Soderbergh soundtrack.
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.
Þetta rokkaði reyndar fáránlega mikið. Kom skemmtilega á óvart. Brjáluð beats. Útgáfa þeirra af Apache hafði gífurleg áhrif á Hip-Hoppið.
Needs more bongo
Lekker man, goed album Lekker veel samples Ook leuk om puur instrumentaal album te hebben
Starts awesome but then tapers a bit towards the end. It has some very cool standout tracks though and they make up for the record’s flaws.
Pity we can't get the original version of streming
3.6
This stinks
What in the everloving fuck was this and why would anyone think it should be listened to before I die?
I was pleasantly surprised by this. It was a good funky album that I enjoyed listening to. The name was super off putting and I thought it was just gonna be weird.
I didn’t really need to hear this
Those bongos were pretty incredible
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
Should be called incredible band with bongos
Genuinely surprising how good this is
Pretty cool!
3-4 Apache!
Ok, un album di solo bonghi magari non va ascoltato per tempi prolungati, ma ha qualche chicca, tipo "apache"
I would’ve survived without it.
Strangely, I really enjoyed this album.
Nice music
Trumpet drums guitar. You can hear so much of what influenced future artists in this album
I couldn’t finish this album. It was easy listening muzak with added bongos. It was too much. I didn’t like it at all.