The Incredible Bongo Band - 1973 - Bongo Rock

The Incredible Bongo Band 

1973 

Bongo Rock

01. Let There Be Drums 2:38

02. Apache 4:54

03. Bongolia 2:14

04. Last Bongo In Belgium 6:55

05. Dueling Bongos 2:56

06. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida 7:42

07. Raunchy '73 3:23

08. Bongo Rock '73 2:35

Arranged By – Michael Viner

Drums – Jim Gordon

Horn – Steve Douglas

Keyboards – Michael Omartian

Percussion – King Errisson

Formed by MGM A&R man Michael Viner in 1972 to supplement the soundtrack to the virtually anonymous B-Movie film The Thing With Two Heads, "The IBB" went from a loose studio collective to an instrumental pop covers consortium, interpreting classics of the day in their own inimitable percussive fashion.

B-Movie soundtracks, The Beatles, drummers gone bad, Frank Zappa, Kool Herc... These albums have a remarkable story behind them which is detailed in the extensive sleeve notes found on this re-issue and written by Angus Batey.

The IBB's cover of the track Apache - originally made famous by The Shadows - has become simply legendary in the worlds of hip hop and dance music. The track was a staple of Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash in the 70s as they invented the art of DJing at Bronx block parties, leading to its logical status as one of the most sampled tracks of all time and a hip hop and breakers anthem that has stood the test of time. It is still revered as THE break of all original breaks, with the rhythms of the LP it was first found on helping to coin the term 'breakbeat'.

Apache has been sampled by Missy Elliot, Coldcut, Will Smith, Goldie, Jurassic 5, Moby, Run DMC, Sugarhill Gang, Beastie Boys and Massive Attack among many, many others.

The first Incredible Bongo Band album is the kind of thing that could only have been made in 1973. It is mainly a collection of cover songs highlighting the bongo playing of King Erisson and Bobbye Hall and the drumming of Jim Gordon (that drummer's drummer, the Jim Keltner kind, the session guy who's the perfect timekeeper you never really notice until you do, and then you're like DAMN -- he's also the guy that wrote the GoodFellas portion of "Layla" and, oh, later murdered his mother). The crack band(s) assembled to supplement this slapped-together, kitschy, infectious, funky, and groovy collection of songs sounds like they were pulled from any of the Hollywood Vampires and innumerable Wrecking Crew sessions going on at the time. If anything, it's akin to the best library music album you've ever heard. While Bongo Rock is far from qualifying as "art," it does provide an entirely satisfying listen. The opener, "Let There Be Drums," sets the basic template for the tracks on the album with its infectious bongo rhythms, solid and flashy backbeats, and rudimentary songwriting anchored with huge arrangements loaded with horn charts. The next track is where legends are made. Their cover of "Apache" would, a few years later, be used by DJ Kool Herc when he was establishing the main breaks that built early hip-hop. The track would be sampled hundreds of times in subsequent years, most notably by Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, and Nas ("Made You Look"). The extended break is the subject of the informative documentary Sample This. A few songs later, we get an extended, big budget jam titled "Last Bongo in Belgium," which is probably recognizable these days for providing the core sample to the Beastie Boys' classic "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun." Side Two is not nearly as explosive or propulsive, but it is still lots of fun (see their cover of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"). The closer, the lone hit single the band produced, still manages to be one of the decade's most infectious slices of kitsch. Again, if you're looking for art, bust out your boring King Crimson records. If you want to have a great time, pull out a copy of Bongo Rock!