The NATIONAL TOUR is set to roll. 40th Anniversary tour with special guests.
November sees the start. Check out the www.bonzodog.co.uk website.
See you all there.
― Joe Eastham, Friday, 19 May 2006 12:23 (eighteen years ago) link
Reissues out this week! Finally I will be able to get my hands on The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse!
― Telephone thing, Tuesday, 10 July 2007 02:39 (sixteen years ago) link
Britain's answer to We're Only In It For The Money featuring Actual Ex-Mother (allegedly) Joel Druckman on bass and "come on everybody clap your hands" etc.
― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 10 July 2007 07:20 (sixteen years ago) link
"Big hello to big John Wayne, xylophone..."
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 02:14 (sixteen years ago) link
I love THIS:
― Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 06:35 (sixteen years ago) link
I heart "Tubas in the Moonlight"
― Joe, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 13:31 (sixteen years ago) link
So do I. I love that song.
― Tom D., Tuesday, 11 September 2007 13:32 (sixteen years ago) link
RFI: A long time ago a friend lent me a Bonzo Dog Band dubbed cassette, and it had a track on it that used a tape loop - an early sample, really - of pool balls being hit, and also one of a chainsaw. Does anyone know what this is and where it can be found?
Oh yeah, and there was another track that used a man laughing to similar effect.
― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 14:48 (sixteen years ago) link
The laughing one is "Slush", it's on "Let's Make Up and Be Friendly". The other one sounds like it could be one of the between-track bits on "Keynsham".
― Tom D., Tuesday, 11 September 2007 14:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Two words for you: "Big Shot"
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 15:07 (sixteen years ago) link
(No, that's not the answer to the RFI)
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 15:08 (sixteen years ago) link
Hurting, you asked that question on a thread before but I can't find it now for some reason. "Cool Britannia" ends with about 15 seconds of what sounds like pool balls being hit with a woman laughing over the top. "Quiet Talks and Summer Walks" closes with a few seconds blast of dentist's drill. I'd call them sound effects rather than samples though so I'm not sure if those are the ones.
― everything, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 15:21 (sixteen years ago) link
Yeah, I did ask that a while back. My memory is that the track opens with pool balls being hit looped over and over again so that it becomes a rhythm, and then some sort of repeated organ and guitar comes in over it. Then a similar thing is done in the same song with the sound of a chainsaw being ripped. Maybe it's some bonus track from a comp. Maybe it's not even Bonzo Dog Band and it was just tacked onto the tape, but the style is very similar to the laughing track, which is identified above as "Slush". I've been wondering this for years.
― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 15:35 (sixteen years ago) link
Hmmmmmmmm, I don't know what that track is! I wish I did!
― Tom D., Tuesday, 11 September 2007 15:37 (sixteen years ago) link
"They bite They scratch They make an awful fuss It's no use stroking them and saying "puss puss puss"..."
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 15:42 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh, you know what?
Thanks to this thread, I just bought all five remastered CDs (plus extras) for £30 off ebay.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 15:43 (sixteen years ago) link
"But now, here in Willesden Green, yes, *brrrrr*, it is a bit chilly, but, no matter, because here comes a gentleman, and we're going to talk to him about shirts..."
― Tom D., Tuesday, 11 September 2007 15:44 (sixteen years ago) link
"Let's Make Up And Be Friendly" - strange album! "Turkeys" sounds like one of the weirder Canterbury bands and "Waiting For The Wardrobe" is a great Roger Ruskin Spear track. Has anyone heard either of his solo albums?
Also, I've been rocking this new comp of songs they covered or were influenced by. It's 75% good, a few absolute crackers and a two or three crappy ones. Worth getting though, especially for the originals of Ali Baba's Camel, Mickey's Son and Daughter and Skirts (aka Shirt).
http://shop.instant-shop.com/magpiedirect/picture?pic=417140810&table=pictures&width=301&height=300
― everything, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 16:10 (sixteen years ago) link
Wow, I must get that!
― Tom D., Tuesday, 11 September 2007 16:12 (sixteen years ago) link
There's a lot of old songs that they played live or whatever but aren't on the albums, like "Little Sir Echo" (which you can see them doing on Youtube). Some of those ones are really good, especially if you like their first two albums the best.
― everything, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 16:16 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3647630
splendid!
― CharlieNo4, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 16:56 (sixteen years ago) link
Okay, I did not know that it actually WAS Eric Clapton on ukelele. Cool but not surprising.
― everything, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 17:07 (sixteen years ago) link
Another song I really like by them is "Straight from My Heart"--can't remember the album it's from (maybe "Let's Make Up..."). I like the chorus sing-a-long and the lazy sax line.
― Joe, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 17:53 (sixteen years ago) link
Whispering Jack Smith (who does the original version of "All By Yourself In the Moonlight" on the aforementioned comp) has mad flow.
― everything, Thursday, 13 September 2007 23:42 (sixteen years ago) link
How does his flow compare to that of Norman "Hurricane" Smith?
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 13 September 2007 23:45 (sixteen years ago) link
Comedy Music is about the only kind I can stand anymore.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 14 September 2007 13:29 (sixteen years ago) link
Poor you
― Tom D., Friday, 14 September 2007 14:08 (sixteen years ago) link
eeeeh.
the five remastered cds have ARRIVED!
see you monday!
― Mark G, Friday, 14 September 2007 17:16 (sixteen years ago) link
Death Cab For Grouty
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 14 September 2007 17:18 (sixteen years ago) link
Grout Stripped Bare By Bachelors
― everything, Friday, 14 September 2007 17:48 (sixteen years ago) link
"I'm Going to Bring a Watermelon to Mark Grout Tonight"
― Tom D., Saturday, 15 September 2007 10:57 (sixteen years ago) link
WE ARE NORMAL AND WE WANT OUR FREEDOM
― J, Saturday, 15 September 2007 11:59 (sixteen years ago) link
The Intro and the Groutro
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 17 September 2007 16:18 (sixteen years ago) link
Well, the kids were impressed with "Monster Mash" and "Urban Spaceman" so far, and Alice enjoyed the "roll call" one (forgot it's name!)
Mind you, when I picked them up from a friends house they were both singing "Good Morning, How Are You, Shut up!!" so I have to go round explaining, thesedays!
― Mark G, Monday, 17 September 2007 16:22 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh, and Alice was singing along to "Death cab for cutie" (the "Baby, don't do it" bits), which surprised me, until I remembered she'd seen the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" film about 3 months ago.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 08:50 (sixteen years ago) link
Hip kids!
― Tom D., Tuesday, 18 September 2007 08:52 (sixteen years ago) link
you know it.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 09:41 (sixteen years ago) link
It's such a sliding scale between joke band and 'real' band. I think that, at times at least, The Bonzos were as much a comment on the music of the time and as much a cheeky, but relevant and spot-on, take on 60s pop as, say, Arthur Lee and Love were. There's still something very sincere about The Bonzo Dog Band.
My dad willed me his 'Beast of the Bonzos' LP when I was four because I loved the illustrations so much. So I guess I'd have to say that they're one of my all-time favorite bands.
"Piggy Bank Love" for the win.
― PublicRadio, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 11:33 (sixteen years ago) link
I mean... "Look Out There's A Monster Coming"? What kinda class A white-boy reggae music hall robotic vocals mish-mash thang is this?
^^ srsly
― r|t|c, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 11:42 (sixteen years ago) link
"Gorilla" is great. But then so are all the other albums.
― Tom D., Tuesday, 18 September 2007 11:43 (sixteen years ago) link
What's best is to have the albums "as they are", with their mix of contemporary rock and trad jazz and all directions off.
The "best of"'s, while serving them well, can only scratch this.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 18 September 2007 12:41 (sixteen years ago) link
The last "Make up and be friendly" was somewhat disappointing, but the other four are blummin wonderful!
― Mark G, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 16:14 (sixteen years ago) link
It's a contractual obligation album cobbled together 2 years after they broke up, so no surprises that it's a bit thin.
― everything, Wednesday, 19 September 2007 16:46 (sixteen years ago) link
"...through the HOLES in your STRING VEEEEEEEEEST!"
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 27 March 2008 17:09 (sixteen years ago) link
I got the "chien" reunion album.
Um, they miss Viv. Badly.
Oh, it's not absolutely terrible. But.
― Mark G, Thursday, 27 March 2008 20:41 (sixteen years ago) link
Friend of mine had me convinced that BDDDB did Winchester Cathedral, largely on the evidence of one MP3 ID3 tag and one cartoon credit (Clive the frog). Seems that he was mistaken.
― libcrypt, Thursday, 27 March 2008 20:45 (sixteen years ago) link
You know what's "look at me I'm" wonderful right now?
Scouring Youtube for classic BDDDB filmclips, and finding a festival gig in three parts in perfectly good sound/pic!
I say "sound" but I've not heard it yet. But judging from the picture quality...
Here's part two, the rest you can find...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLX5dlum3yk
― Mark G, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 11:10 (sixteen years ago) link
Am really digging their song "Don't Get Me Wrong"...sounds kind of like Lennon-led Beatles (sort of like "Dig a Pony").
― Joe, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 20:29 (sixteen years ago) link
where's that from?
― Mark G, Thursday, 15 May 2008 06:59 (sixteen years ago) link
Let's Make Up and Be Friendly
― Joe, Thursday, 15 May 2008 18:44 (sixteen years ago) link