Bongo Rock

¿Es un álbum imprescindible un disco que contiene una fabulosa e influyente canción, otra igual de buena y luego más de lo mismo pero sin ese resultado? No. Tanto Let there be drums como Apache son dos temas excepcionales, que han sido empleados recurrentemente como samples (Apache ya se basa en el mismo tema de The Shadows) y que suena igual de frescos que cuando se publicaron. Sin embargo el resto del disco, aunque breve, se hace monótono y repetitivo. Apache jamás me cansaré de esucharlo. Supone un puente entre los instrumentale de los 50 y 60 con el Hip-Hop, con Safri-Duo, con Beats International y con cientos de canciones y bandas. Dark side of the moon, Catch a fire, Aladdin Sane, Raw power, Band on the run, New York Dolls, Aladdin Sane, Berlin, Let´s get it on, For Your Pleasure, Call me, A wizzard/a true star, Innervisions, GP, Tubullar Bells, Houses of the holy, Quadrophenia, Selling England by the Pound, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (y Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player), Killing Me Softly, For Your Pleasure...

Is this the album that launched a thousand hip-hop careers? Quite possibly. I had no idea what to expect from what appeared to be 80 minutes centred around bongo drumming, but mercifully, it was much more than that and funky as hell. It might actually be my favourite discovery yet from this challenge.

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

Enjoyed this way more than expected - so funky! - and props for providing the samples to some great hip hop tracks.

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.

This album is fantastic. I had no idea this is where a lot of drum samples came from.

I love this album more than life itself. The perfect expression of the 1970's. A bit cheesy, incredibly fun (yes, incredibly), slightly tipsy. I can imagine Fatboy Slim hearing these grooves and thinking "I'm going to base my entire career on this." Incredible.

This is fun, but not a whole lot to it.

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.

Sovitaan, että he keksivät hip hopin (jota he eivät keksineet). Kyllä Thaleskin keksi filosofian, mutta taitaa olla niin, että ihan muut henkilöt tekivät suurimman duunin (eikä Thales keksinyt filosofiaa).

this was a fun listen i can’t lie

bongolicious bongo songs hitting bongbastically hard? Ja bitte!

So the genre this falls under, which probably isn't included in the tags for 1001, is "gimmick". It's basically funk instrumentals, including some absurd covers ("Satisfaction" the most absurd), featuring bongos prominently. Think the middle part of "Jungle Boogie" where the only lyrics are "Jungle Boogie" over and over again, but slightly less organized. Which is fine, it's not unpleasant to listen to, but it also doesn't have much to offer except, says it right there in the band name, bongos.

This album was fucking slick and exciting. We need more bongos to make this world a better place. 4.3 stars

Enjoyable throughout

Ok I liked this waaaayyyy more than I thought I would

Imagine fucking on the beat to this. Favourite Songs: Apache, Let There Be Drums, Last Bongo in Belgium. Least Favourite Songs: Dueling Bongo's, Raunchy '73.

I like bongos, but not that much… 8/100 ⭐️

Zzzz

Er... Seriously? Not that it ain't a little fun, even if you're not a bongo buff or a hip hop producer digging crates for samples ideas... But, I mean, seriously? Like it's important that I listen to this once in my life??? Like, SERIOUSLY??? 2/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 7/10 for more general purposes (5 + 2) Number of albums left to review: 49 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 409 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 238 Albums from the list I won't include in mine: 305 (including this one) ---- Better albums released in 1973 (at least 45 of them): Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon Iggy And The Stooges - Raw Power Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells David Bowie - Aladdin Sane Stevie Wonder - Innervisions Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road The Wailers - Catch A Fire Can - Future Days Bob Marley And The Wailers - Burnin' ZZ Top - Tres Hombres Lou Reed - Berlin Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure New York Dolls - New York Dolls Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced Lehn-Nerd Skin-Nerd King Crimson - Lark's Tongue In Aspic Mott the Hoople - Mott Blue Öyster Cult - Tyranny And Mutation John Cale - Paris 1919 The Who - Quadrophenia Steely Dan - Countdown To Ecstasy Bruce Springsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. Wings - Band On The Run Free - Heartbreaker Genesis - Selling England By The Pound Tom Waits - Closing Time Hawkwind - Space Ritual Gram Parsons – GP Led Zeppelin - Houses Of The Holy Willie Nelson - Shotgun Willie* Tony Conrad and Faust - Outside The Dream Syndicate Neil Young - Time Fades Away Procol Harum - Grand Hotel Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Next Vangelis - L'Apocalypse des animaux Faust - IV Eno / Fripp - (No Pussyfooting) Kingdom Come - Journey The Beach Boys - Holland Roxy Music - Stranded Toots And The Maytals - Funky Kingston Todd Rundgren - A Wizard / A True Star Duncan Browne - Duncan Browne Sun Ra - Space Is The Place Alice Cooper - Billion Dollars Babies

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

Not so bad as expected

It’s entertaining to listen to, but I didn’t find it particularly outstanding. The bongos aren’t really a prominent feature (which is difficult to do, admittedly) but you can hear them. ‘Duelling Bongos’ is mostly done on a drum kit too. Probably won’t revisit this very often.

I was not expecting this, it was interesting indeed

They are kinda shredding on those bongos, i can't lie. Funky.

This was a cool listen. I'd heard Apache before of course, but the rest were first listens. The band is clearly very talented and I really enjoyed what they did here, especially the Inna Gadda Da Vida cover. Four stars.

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

I enjoyed it I can’t lie

Not as groovy as I was hoping, but still pretty fun!

Lame

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

Didn’t know I needed this album to be so productive. I might take up bongos.

Solid groovey background music

Very glad I came back to listen to this. It makes me regret giving out 5 stars all Willy nilly before because this albums 5 is watered down by the others.

Funky!

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

Hello, Incredible Bongo Band? Give me all the bongos you have... no, that's too many...

It answered the question I always had: “can there be an album with too many bongos”

Levy selkeästi parempi kuin etukäteen osasi pelätä. Apassi ylivertaisesti paras. 2,49*

Hauska ja mukaansatempaava. Erittäin viihdyttävä.

when a pure vibe becomes pure doozie. this band ain't just the song "Apache", it is also incessant energy that keeps levelling and levelling

album cover with "Bongo Rock" in quotes is very funny record company executive recruiting musicians for a bongo project is funny, in that pathological businessman way of 'funny'. did Michael Viner play anything on this? being part of a sample library for early hip hop is very cool. 'this slaps' is a hilarious review. unfortunately I do not think this 'slaps' in a way that is not literal. I think I am going 2, because being a source for a drum beat used by good artists isn't enough to call it good. HOWEVER I do think prolific samples deserve a spot on an essential listening list. bongos: slapped. (⌐■_■)

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.

Clásico

Groovy beats. Very nice drums!

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

These bongos, do indeed, rock.

So much fun! Just a cool album end to end. Love the drum beats. 4.5/5

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+)

Para ser ouvido novamente e levado pra discussão na aula de bateria.

very nice and easy listening! it looks like a \"giaguaro\" record :) - 4 stars

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.

Cool album.

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

Actually really great

Absolutely boring nonsense

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....

Feels like I wasted 3 hours on this album, but turns out it was only 1h18m. Absolutely unnecessary.

Chouette, un album de reprises instrumentales avec bongo, en plein mon genre d'albums... Qui écoute ça régulièrement ? Qui pense que c'est un album marquant qui mérite d'être souligné comme ça ? Honnêtement, c'et une farce. J'ai entendu des trucs pires, mais c'est tellement pas impressionnant. Tellement d'albums méritent plus une place que ça. 3/10

Too many bongos

Too many bongos

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

this is weirdly great workout music…who would have thought!

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

inc

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.

Unusual bongo rock

Apache! This album is one hell of a good time.

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

As it's own album, it's whatever. The bongos were, despite being the headliner, the least interesting part of the record for me. Taking into account its influence, given it helped the Sugarhill Gang, and hip hop as a whole, gain traction? Second to none. So many samples from throughout hip hop history come from here. This is probably the album I respect the most in this whole list thus far.

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

8/10 An extremely pleasant surprise. A novelty album centred around bongos and other drums shouldn’t go this hard Funky instrumental psychedelic rock played by a group of talented musicians who are obviously having a good time. I did too So many of the songs are familiar from prominent samples Great vibes, great brass section Best: Apache

What a trip. Totally fun, and I only knew them from 80s hip hop samples. It added to my funk and happy songs playlists.

Fun instrumental band. Fun listening to the album.

What an oddly awesome and interesting record!

3/5

Just a bunch of covers mainly, so not bad but also really not important

Speciaal. 2.8

Mildly amusing, but no more. 1.5 stars but rounded up to 2 for novelty. This is what I imagined Richard Feynman's office sounded like

Very good, did not know they made those iconic songs

Not what I wanted a Bongo band album to sound like but it’s a change from the norm, I will say that. I was expecting hippy bongo jamming but got funk bongo jamming. I was surprised to already know “Apache” with the song “Jump on it” clearly influenced by it. For the genre, this is a passing grade. This is a perfect background soundtrack for anything. Maybe not a funeral Maybe not during sex….well, I guess it could be. I must still have Bon Jovi ringing in my head. This is really a fun album. You forget that there’s no singing on it and that is usually important to me. Whatever, this is good, listen to it Choice cut: Dueling Bongos

A loud audible groan when I saw this pop up, but this is WAY better than I was expecting. This is some FUNKY shit. I am way digging these bongos (just as well really) and some of these covers (like Apache) are BAD ASS. I thought I would finally answer the question of "how many bongos is too many bongos?", but you know what? I haven't. We need more bongos if anything. More. Bongos.

Funky! Bongo bounce baby! Apache rules.

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.

I've got better things to do with my time than listen to extended bongo cover versions. I'll give it a couple points for some interesting percussion but this is one of these rare ones where I gonna call it done after the fourth song.

Coole Filmmusik. Die einzelnen Stücke sind mir zu lang - macht aber nix 😁

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

This is an oddity. Super cool. Just shows how Post-Modernity has reshaped the world.

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

Surely this has been setbreak music. If it hasn't it totally should be

Why? Why on gods green earth is this an album I MUST listen to??

Mint

An 8-second sample you must listen to before you die

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

At the start of the album I was thinking I might rate this a 4. I was really enjoying it. Also definitely recognized this album gets sampled a lot. Then it just started to drag on too long, with too much of the same sound. However, overall still a fun listen I don't regret. Very specific to a time, and one I do think I will revisit sometime.

Doesn't really work as an album though the individual songs are pretty enjoyable. As an album it is just too long. As an album this would be 2 stars, but the individual songs are worth 4 stars. So lets compromise at 3 stars.

Where the samples come from! I can’t say I listened *too* closely but it seemed like fun.

The title is not lying… it is incredible….to start with…. then it’s starts to tail off to a sort of muzak vibe by the end of the album… however the first part of the album is so incredible I still give it 4 stars!

Sample farm

Funky ass record

Yep those are bongos

Fun times

Instrumental covers of popular songs played on bongos sounds like a truly horrendous idea, but somehow this works surprisingly well. It does overstay its welcome rather quickly though.

Garbage. Why?

Came for the bongos, but stayed for the deep hip-hop roots that I found.

For bongo/instrumental covers of 60s songs. Better than I expected.

Damn this is actually iconic lmao

I loved how different this album was! Instrumentals of banger songs but with some great bongo drums? I didn't even realize this was something I was interested in, but I quickly found myself obsessed. "In A Gadda Da Vida" but with bongos? Sign me up! This album went by all too fast but I received way more enjoyment out of it than I initially imagined when I saw the album's title and the band's name. On its face, Bongo Rock doesn't seem to be on the same caliber as some of the other albums on this list. A quick look at Wikipedia informed me how often The Incredible Bongo Band's music has been used or sampled, which does bring a lot of joy to my life. More people need to know of this album.

I was pleasantly surprised by this album. Was it mostly just instrumental, funky, bongo-oriented covers? Yes. But it was done well, and in whatever case, it really did show off the art of drum-based percussion in an incredibly lively and exciting way. There are a couple of things that make this album significant, in my mind: First, it has been sampled many MANY times over the years. The work on this album is so good that others have used it time and time again for their own albums. And second, there is some degree of beauty in the fact that this album was recorded with a bunch of unknown musicians who still remain more or less unknown today. How is it that such a well-regarded bongo album be created by unknown musicians? Well, here we are. To me, this speaks to people all over the world having immense amounts of talent in an area and never really being identified or recognized for it. Overall, a somewhat mysterious album that despite its humble roots, persists today as a heavily influential work.

This album is a lot of fun

Listen to the Oceans 11 soundtrack. Then come listen to this. I think there is a glitch in the matrix. But this record it brilliant fun.

Really unsure what to make of this. Both originals and covers fail to interest me. I don’t mind an album made up of bongos, but the instrument isn’t incredibly versatile. Take the drum solo breaks in “Wipe Out”. Their cover couldn’t possibly reach the range of necessary commotion that was presented on the original track. I would listen to these songs if they came on, but don’t desire to listen to the whole album again, or even once, honestly. 2/5

Funny

7/10 I was pleasantly surprised. the beats are fun and the rock was well executed. 6-25-2024

Coming into this record I didn't have high hopes, Incredible Bongo Band? Really? I must say I was much more impressed than I expected. Not only are there bongos (yes, lots of bongos!), but there's some killer guitar, sax solos and overall some impressive musicianship throughout the record. To me, a lot of instrumental albums sound like soundtracks or video game music and this is no exception. It has a 70's TV soundtrack vibe to it with a funky progressive jazz fusion thing happening, which isn't a bad thing, I think the best part of a lot of 70's shows was the music or theme songs and this felt familiar in a weird way. I saw an original pressing of this album at a record store and was intrigued by the shiny silver cover. Now that I heard it, I regret not buying it.

I don't think it deserves the place on the list. Besides the two "Apache" remakes, it's pretty sparkless. 2.5/5.

This was... Oddly enjoyable. Not a regular listen or anything, but I'm glad I heard it.

This was fine. Good musicianship and it sounds fun for a couple songs, but this isn't something I enjoy in large doses. 2.9

So that's where that was from. This is enjoyable and unique, but I can't imagine wanting to spend too much time with it.

Incredible bongo band

Now I love to bang my bongos as much as the next man. But even this simple act that produces such a wonderful sound can get painful after a while. If any one of these tracks cropped up on the radio it would be fun, but the novelty quickly wore off when faced with 78 minutes worth. Take the bongos away and the underlying music is pure Gorgonzola. A pure novelty album. It’s a no from me.

Great vibe, great tunes. Leans in the direction of cheesiness, but turns away at the last moment in the direction of a cool party album. It could have gone down in history as the 70's equivalent of Black Lace et al, but it appears not. I'm glad, as i liked it! Probably the best version of Apache I've ever heard. I'm not sure whether every album should have a Bongo duel mind you.

bongos.

A bongos cover album made it to the list? What?

Imagine how cool this could have been if they added different instruments like bongos

vibes

Very interesting!

Не понравилось. Одна любая композиция нормально. Но весь альбом - будто слушаешь на репите очень нудную композицию.

Not that incredible to me. I liked a couple of the cover songs enough but this album could have been about 1/3 of the length.

Never heard of this artist, was kinda intrigued with the first track and then it went meh from there. Suspect this is among the 1,001 only because a number of acts used samples from it years later.

Oh boy, that’s a lot of references to what’s at best a tertiary percussion instrument. Let’s see how this goes. -I know Apache. The sugar hill gang version was a staple at college parties. -I recognize “last bongo in Belgium” from the beastie boys’ “looking down the barrel of a gun.” -I hate the more famous inna gadda da vita so this is arguably an improvement.

lot of fucking bongos. Too many fucking bongos, if I'm honest. 3/5.

Great samples, percussion. Easy to listen to.

A fun little funky album. It definitely helps having some recognizable songs. I am assuming there are a lot of samples from this album. The one I recognized was the drum break in Last Bongo in Belgium was used in Massive Attack's Angel and the Beastie Boys' Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun.

2.5 I was expecting this to be a tough listen but it turned out to be OK. The other instruments/musicians were pretty good along with the bongo dude. Lots of bongos though. BONGO

Background Muzak for a crappy tiki bar. What is this doing on the list? Not only that - but cover songs that are desecrations of the originals? I bet Mick and Keith did not love the cover of Satisfaction. I certainly didn't.

Fun album. Really great high energy rock cover with bongos and horns. Loved it.

Kind of a novelty album, but it's been sampled so many times it's hard not to love it. Decent horns and production though.

Surprisingly not as many bongos as you'd expect

For film music it's great but for an everyday listen it's a challenge. Middle Of the road for me.

Band name and album title might be the most accurate ever. Never have excel spreadsheets been done with so much gusto once I put this on.

With a name like "The Incredible Bongo Band", they do not disappoint.

Hip-hoppy beats with some variety of instrumentation on top

Wait really?

Ja ok, kann man mal machen. Aber ein ganzes Album? Muss echt nicht sein.

by all rights, i should love this, but it just doesn't really do that much for me! hard to put my finger on it, but it's just missing some sort of oomph. feels kind of paint-by-numbersy, which is obviously an opinion i can only have with 50 years of hindsight of music no doubt influenced by it and having heard Apache sampled a million times, but i never claimed to have rational opinions. if somebody put it on i wouldn't complain but I'll probably never reach for it myself

1 hour and 15 minutes of fucking bongos that I’m never getting back

This was a great surprise! I was transported to a sitcom or detective story in the 70s!

I enjoyed recalling all the songs that sampled from this album. Especially Apache & Last Bongo in Belgium.

Last bongo in Belgium has an amazing crescendo, literal goosebumps. The originals are really good, the covers generally not my favorite, with Ina gotta devita being the exception, it really slaps (bongo pun)

Lives up to its name for sure. The bingos are incredible. Probably a little better in smaller doses though. And that cover of In-a-Gadda-da-vida is perfect.

1.5 “Rock the fuck outta those drums, Dale!”

Its kind of wild an album of covers is on this list. Its fine but yea not sure it should be on here.

Nice upbeat music but no lyrics to the songs

Painful

Favourite tracks: Apache; in-a-gadda-da-vids; satisfaction; last bongo in Belgium

A good instrumental album

You wouldn't expect a 75 minute album of bongo focused Instrumental music to be an easy listen. And you'd be right, but this is way more fun than it has any right to be. This is clearly a passion project and I can't tell if Michael Viner's is in on the joke or is the joke. Either way, I enjoyed it. The songs do drag after a time. In A Gadda Da Vida was rough and Dueling Banjos was all over the place. But the fun songs that later would be hip hop samples are great. Apache had me dancing. I can't give this a high score because it's not that good but I'm glad it was on the list. This is a super fun reference point and a cool band to show people.

Bongo

While technically impressive, with pounding bongos and an impressive brass performance, it unfortunately didn’t manage to capture my attention for very long. I can see people being very into this, but it’s not for me.

Bongos huh? And that's the whole thing? Like on every track there will be a bingo solo? Huh. Well. Alright I guess.

I loved the uniqueness of this album!

Fully instrumental and interesting. Obviously Apache got a second life as basketball anthem, but this is so much more.

I’ve never heard of this album or artist before, but this was a fun and unique album. It took me a minute, but I eventually realized that I’ve heard “Apache” sampled numerous times in other works, with a lot of those works being albums that I’ve reviewed. I loved how the main melody was repeated with different instruments throughout the song. “Let There Be Drums” was great too. The guitar playing on this song was probably my favorite on the whole album. It sounded like a funky Led Zeppelin tune. I liked the more varied sounds on “Last Bongo in Belgium,” “Raunchy ’73,” and the band’s take on “In A Gadda Da Vida” as well. The horns, woodwinds, and organ playing really opened up the overall sound of the album on these three tracks. Overall, this was a decently fun funk album. I think my biggest complaint about it is that the songs would kind of wear on me by the time they ended. By that point, the bongos felt like a gimmick. At times, they provided a unique flair, but they would eventually just blend into the background. This album was a lot like Tubular Bells to me: it was unique and interesting at times, and I'm glad I listened to it, but I can't see myself getting drawn back to this album at any point.

Sehr schöne interpretation zumindest zum Teil. Könnten vielleicht auch die Stadtmusikanten spielen. Deshalb 4 sterne

Excellent.

I Love a bongo.

What the hell, this actually slaps

Loved it!

Great album - the best jingle ever (only old germans will remember)

i have a strong feeling that this is what gorons from the legend of zelda are listening in their caves

muy wenon, que viva la percusión percutadora. 9/10

Who asked Robert Dimery to put this on the list, Matthew McConaughey? This album was ... fine. Kind of fun, even. Did I *need* to hear it in my lifetime? Eh. There are a ton of good cover/tribute bands out there. I'm not sure what makes this one stand out besides the fact that they're apparently a go-to source for hip-hop samples — so what? 3/5 — it's not bad, good for background music. But who really cares? I don't.

Woah! Slow down egghead. More bongo than you can poke a drumstick at.

I mean, how much bongo can one person handle

Apache was great, but then the album starts to fall off quite a bit. Not bad but not great.

Took me over 750 tries to get In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida and it's not even the Iron Butterfly version Also, I’ve heard at least two albums on here that sample “Belgium”, from Leftfield & the Beastie Boys. Legally speaking, this is CanCon but I don't buy it 🔫 They recorded the album in Canada to get more radio play in this country, a heinous crime that must never be forgotten. Big Dumb Bongo Band Good jams though. 🪘 🪘 HL: “Apache", "Last Bongo in Belgium", “Let There Be Drums”, “Bongo Rock” April 28, 2024

Very pleasant listen on a Friday afternoon

Bongos. Hmm. Another completely unexpected album in this listnof 1001 I must listen to before I die. This was actually reasonably listenable although the bongos were a bit of a distraction at times. Inagoddadavita (sp) was an utter surprise!

This was a really interesting album and I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I did like it a lot however it was strange that the songs were all covers and the only real difference was that it was using bongos. I liked it but not really sure what to say here. 2/5

Day109 - i don’t know the bongo band but i’ve heard these songs In rap and hip hop for the last forty years

Enjoyable versions of some classics

1001 best album ever? Ever??

viele bongos.. trotzdem nit schlecht

I didn't expect to like it. I gave it a try...listened to the beginning of all the songs, but ending up skipping after a little bit. Truth be told, I like singing with my music. 2/5

A treasure. Loved it.

Lmao the bongos were absolutely the worst part of this album. They reminded me of my high school’s drum line. The horns were nice and interesting enough, but I am a lyric girly through and through.

Loved this!

This album was a lot of fun. As always +1 for horns. Dueling bongos and the cover of inna-gada-davida were the only tracks I didn’t care for, otherwise a great album!

Certainly a historic document, I'm not a hip hop head and I recognize a lot of the samples. The drumming is top notch. A little one note.

I had no expectations going into this (and even laughed when I generated the album) but this was surprisingly fun. I had a good time!

honestly i did not expect this to be good. 1001 albums loves including weird ideas that sound halfway interesting on paper but in execution always just fall flat. maybe it's because of the talent/session musicians behind this but it's kind of a jam. some of the covers are pretty recognizable and transformative, like satisfaction and pipeline. the other tracks are all solid and enjoyable. this isn't the greatest album ever or anything but it's nice to see a weird idea actually stick the landing here. also thank god they didn't do the full version of in a gadda da vida favorites: apache, in a gadda da vida, bongo rock, satisfaction, wipeout, pipeline, apache remix

Jeg regnede med at det var helt ironisk jeg ville lytte til den, men jeg nød den faktisk rigtig meget?? En skattekiste hvis man interesserer sig for hiphop samples

groovy! jeg tror jeg ville nyde det lidt mere hvis der havde været nogen flere originals, men det var sgu meget sjovt.

Jeg ville ikke selv kalde mig bongo-connoisseur.. I hvert fald ikke før jeg hørte den her plade. Kæft der bliver banket på nogle bongoer! Sylle og Claus approved! Virkelig tæt på en 4-er fordi mit humør blev så godt mens jeg hørte det og fordi bongo bare ikke er det samme længere..

This is cool. Not bad. I like it.

What am I supposed to do with this lol, needless to say I’ve never listened to this and have zero expectations other than bongos. You ever listen to the People’s Court theme in full? That has a killer bongo part to it. I uh. I got nothing but to listen to this. It’s 1970s funk with bongos. I don’t know what else to say. It is cool hearing sample origins! I dunno. The best parts were guitars and synthesizers. Didn’t really get the full excitement from the bongos. It’s not really bad. 2.5/5

Bongos

Bongo

Bongos... ok. I mean, I'm never going to put "Bongo Rock" on for myself, but I guess this is cool.

two swords. the bongs are too boring, i need more daring combinations.

One song that gets sampled. Otherwise it’s …irritating? I love percussion but this seems inessential.

a bit suburban . not a virtuoso bonga album. good solos ands calls and replies by track 5 ( yeah they took a while to get going !- man this should have been the opening - most people lose interest after 5 tracks of lobby music on a DRUM album! Drum music served up by a committee.

Never heard of this lot, but love the music. I’m familiar with Preston Epps, the dude who wrote Bongo Rock in the 50’s. I see it’s been used in several films, most notably Julien Temple’s Absolute Beginners (1986), which featured Bowie. I enjoyed this a lot.

This is the only example on this 1001 list (as far as I can tell) of a particular genre of record that you constantly come across int he wild, but is very seldom given any critical appraisal; the studio cash-in record. Studio professionals corralled together to crank a bunch of usually instrumental covers of some popular hits, and maybe some hastily written original charts that sound vaguely similar (but allow the publishing royalties to be collected by someone close to the project). Some name musicians had quite a lot of success using this formula (James Last is a good example), but often it is an arbitrary band name (as here) or even completely anonymous. A day or two in the studio can knock out a quick album that might sell a few thousand copies. As here (or in Australian EMS recordings of this type), studio down time was used to reduce costs. Well, this is an example from within that genre that exceeded all expectations. The fact that it has really great band (big ups to Jim Gordon on drums) and was superbly recorded int e MGM Studios means that it sounds like a million dollars. It has a great beat and lots of percussion breaks, which led to it being one of the ur-texts of hip hop. This has given this album a second life and a cultural influence that far exceeds the original ambitions for this record. The sound of this record has cast a massive shadow of music in the decades since its release. It's a pretty funky listen, assuming you like bongos. Standout tracks; Apache, Dueling Bongos, In A Gadda Da Vida.

Real interesting album. Did not realize the influence this album had on music as a whole.

Enjoyed the listen. Really good bongo album. Not sure how often I’d relisten to it, though. 3/5!

I feel like this is an album Homer Simpson would know by heart.

- honestly I wish there were more bongos I wasn’t expecting other instruments - insanely enjoyable - 3.5 but I’ll round up

- Dudes rock - it’s good vibes, fun covers, and lots of bongos

Easily the best ever bongo rock album ever made. Nothing touches this masterpiece. Sampled in hundreds of songs, this album if filled with superb playing from all mystery studio musicians who played on this

kinda silly but super fun and actually enjoyable. Going to be hard for any other instrumental to top this one. 4

Truly incredible

Bloody love this. Where have you been all my life. So Seventies. Also it's sample heaven. GO BONGOS.

The sort of groovy music that you'll hear at a retro club all nighter, mixed in with psych, freakbeat, ska and soul etc. Yeah maybe it's a bit kitsch, but I love it for just that reason. Fab stuff

I’m not sure why the world needed this album but hopefully they enjoyed making it

Loved this absoutly crazy just for Apache alone!

Should there be an album of bongo-driven instrumental covers? (definitely, why not?) And is it any good? (no, not really) Destined to soundtrack the closing credits to every 70's-based film forever.

Great fun. Bombastic and funky. Could've done with some singing, on maybe a track or two to add an extra dimension, but it was fantastic and wonderfully different to the usual albums in this list.

"Guess what! I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more bongo!"

well arranged, and performed but a whole album is just. too much bongo!

I was kinda feeling it

Hmmm, interessant, wäre dieses Album nicht auf der Liste der 1000 Alben.... hätte ich es nie gekannt oder gar gehört. Okay ich habe es nun gehört, musikalisch gut, Bongos exzellent, kann man sich wieder anhören, muss man nicht

This absolutely rules. Not a still booty in the house.

7.5/10

There is a reason this album has been sampled so many times. A fun record, managing to do a lot instrumentally. Feels like wood veneer.

That... was kinda fun, actually. I mean, there is ENTIRELY too much bongo bangin' going on here but, when you press play on an album called "Bongo Rock" by a band called "Incredible Bongo Band", you kinda know what you're getting into, right? The fact that there is more going on besides bongos was a nice surprise. Lowered expectations and all that, I suppose. The covers were fun and it was a blast to listen to "Apache" given how foundational that song was for early hiphop sampling. I don't know, it was fun and that earns it an extra star despite the completely unnecessary amount of bongos.

They really are incredible bongos.

Ok

Not my thing, to much funk and no lyrics, but the ability of the musicians is undeniable

Can see the historical value but it's just a kitsch curiosity

I thought it to be a little repetitive

No unenjoyable but not sure why this was on the list. If this has made it then surely Richard Cheese or Elvana have to definitely be on here. Maybe these guys were first. Definitely didn't need to last 80 minutes though. 2.5*

Good for instrumentals, I just don’t like pure instrumentals.

Not a funk fan but this is some good stuff. The In A Gadda Da Vida and Satisfaction covers caught me by surprise (in a good way) and Apache is one of those songs I’ve heard before but could never place! The mix included at the end is fantastic.

4 stars for the Apache break alone. Very cool but not really connecting with it to give 5.

This is insanely joyous

As a drummer, this is already way up there for me! It's so groovy, not just the drumming and percussion. You could sample bits of every song, and it's been done a lot. It's not a groundbreaking record, but definitely good and a lot of fun to listen to! Standout tracks: Apache, Let There Be Drums, Bongolia, Last Bongo In Belgium, Raunchy '73 8 out of 10

Surprisingly good covers of songs

Fun sound, but not enough variety from track to track.

I really enjoyed this. Especially as background while I filed my taxes today.

Funky, instrumentals with a classic opening track everyone would know in one form or another

Bongo boys we up again, Apache's influence (specifically the drums) is everwhere Best Song: Apache Worst Song: N/A

Bangin' bongos! Bongolicious beats and bongotastic rhythms, bravo!

OK but a bit repetitive after a few tracks

All instrumental and mainly covers. Good background music. 2.9/5 listened 2x

Not a clever name. It's a lot of bongos. Interesting to hear the origin of some super famous samples but otherwise ...

Typical 70s. It's a side project. What's the goal? Point? Who knows. Is it fun and easy to listen to? Yeah. Beyond that I cannot judge the merits of it at all.

GREAT ALBUM! Apache is in my top 5 all-time songs. Trying to find this in LP and 8-track

chill background music. unoffensive and relaxing.

Let out a bit of an “ugh” when this popped up, but turns out it was remarkably good. A little goes a long way, of course, but glad I haven’t a listen.

Dueling bongos was my favorite song on the album.

The bongos were fun, a great little addition to the tracks but wasn’t invested enough 3.5

a bongo-forward cover album … what are we doing here? it was fine.. mad at the guy who made this list rn

Not enough bongos… Cool to see where some samples came from tho

I signed up for this project to expand my musical horizons and I gotta say that unfortunately giving an album with a seven minute long bongo-centric cover of In a Gadda da Vida is pretty par for the course for me.

Loved it so 70s retro

I don’t know about this. It’s fun I guess and the creator wasn’t taking himself too seriously. And it influenced hip hop. So I cut it some slack

I never would have thought I'd love a bongo band so much. This is so filthy. Funky as hell.

Stick with it. The funky payoff is worth it.

it sounds very competent.. but why 2/5

what a vibe lol, i could listen to more of this when im busy for sure, though im not sure if it'd be the go-to if i was just hanging out

This is one of those albums that I would never have decided to sit down and listen to in its entirety had it not been part of this project. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised. Well— I wouldn’t say *surprised*. It was exactly what I expected when I saw the name and cover. Still, it was good and I’m happy to have listened to it. I listened to the first few songs around 3pm on my way home from a fairly decent day. I got my coffee, I arrived to work early enough to grab something for breakfast. I worked at Cornivores in Dino Land and after my 15 I worked at Feeding Ground in Discovery Island. Made some people happy, saw a few princesses, and went home on time. I enjoyed the addition of vocals in Kiburi, Pt. 1. I also enjoyed the mixture of familiar songs and ones that they made.

It's a rocking bongo album delivered as packaged. There is no false advertising here. It's a proper groove.

Fun listen, lots of good percussion/instrumentals.

Love this!!! Ashamed I wasn’t aware and already a fan of this, by name, before now. As a band geek, I was definitely familiar with the music, just unaware of the band or album by name. Fantastic album - perfect for working to or jamming on a road-trip!

Slightly ruined by God awful and repetitive TV ads. Imagine it was carnage when this came on the jukebox back in the 70s though. 3.5/5

Pretty fun but kinda ruined by the usage in films and ads now.

This was good, but not something I'm going to regularly put on. Incredible source of samples though.

I mean, it’s a Bongo band what can I say.

Struggled with this one...couldn't find a way in.

Kinda enjoyed most of it - more background than engaged with it. Not bad

It's definitely bongos. It's definitely influential. It's definitely not something I'll frequently come back to.

I Hope I’m not offending anyone here, but the album is boring. Every song sounds similar

I am not Generation Z, but this album is a mood no cap

A fun listen.

They really didn't think about this album much did they? "We play bongos and make it our whole identity." Jokes aside, this was pretty good. Nice to have something easy listening in the background. 7/10.

There were certainly a lot of bongos

Nope.

That’s a shit ton of bongos. Still served as great background music while reading!

Enjoyable but is it groundbreaking? Probably not. Unique though.

Immediately recognized the first song Apache. This is a fun album, lots of bongos. It’s worth reading the wiki page to get the backstory of this one.

A bit redundant after a while.

This was cool! Familiar songs with extra rhythm. I love drums!

This is a joke, right? It's got lots of good beats (obviously) but do I really need to hear it before I die? I don't think so - but unfortunately it's too late now because I already have.

Oh god, im the target audience for bongo rock.

A trip. At times extremely funny, occasionally it's absolutely astounding, and often it's like being at a weird all-inclusive hotel evening show that lasts far too long. Listened on a plane, which I don't know was the perfect location. I'd like to mark this higher in a way, but (a) the version of Satisfaction is too silly to bear and (b) I was extremely glad when it ended.

Surprisingly good instrumental album. A few bangers.