Gorilla

Bonzo Dog Band | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 10, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: One Way Records Inc
• ASIN: B000002QZ5
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #418,749 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Cool Brittania

2. The Equestrian Statue

3. Jollity Farm

4. I Left My Heart in San Francisco

5. Look Out, There's a Monster Coming

6. Jazz, Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold

7. Death Cab for Cutie

8. The Intro and the Outro

9. Mickey's Son and Daughter

10. Big Shot

11. Music for Head Ballet

12. Piggy Bank Love

13. I'm Bored

14. The Sound of Music

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Their First - And Best, January 9, 2004

By 

BluesDuke "A sacred cow is worth but one thin... (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gorilla (Audio CD)

If you aren't afraid to plunge head first into the cheerful insanity that was the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (they were the unquestioned musical bridge from Peter Sellers' Goon Squad routines to the hydradimensional Monty Python), their first album is also their best. Generously endowed with horn players as brassy as they were witty (leader/trumpeter/tubist Vivian Stanshall and saxophonists Rodney Slater and Roger Ruksin Spear, both of whom doubled on assorted madcap sound devices), the Bonzos mashed old-time radio music and British music hall verve into a modern pop casserole that was so far ahead of its time - partly because, unlike other music satirists, the Bonzos never suggested they held their sources in contempt; they genuinely loved those sources and weren't ashamed to let it show - you wonder whether anyone even thinking of musical satire these days could possibly catch up.

The sleeper of the set: "Death Cab for Cutie," which millions have heard without knowing it for what it was: that was Stanshall warbling the slow grinder in the tent, behind the stripper, as the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band played for the Beatles' amusement in "Magical Mystery Tour". (Imagine Raymond Chandler having written "All Shook Up" for Elvis Presley, and that's "Death Cab For Cutie," Stanshall's basso warble, Neil Innes's loping, ether-boogie piano, and all.) And if you can listen to "The Intro and the Outro" and not appreciate that the Bonzos accomplished in barely over two minutes what Frank Zappa couldn't in most of a career (the Bonzos, unlike Zappa and the Mothers, knew when the in-jokes and the topicalities had hit their limits), sounding just as fresh now as in 1967-68, more is the pity. This troupe was a gift to contemporary music. And though you'll never see them reunite for even a one-off shot anymore (Stanshall's tragic death almost a decade ago - he died in a fire - makes it impossible for it to be anything close to the same, anyway), this and damn near the entire Bonzo catalogue need no reunion gigs to affirm its significance or its entertainment. Or, its art.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Forget musical comedy, this is GREAT comedic music, May 1, 2002

By 

woburnmusicfan (Woburn, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gorilla (Audio CD)

The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band may have been the musical version of Monty Python (pianist Neil Innes has gone on to do a lot of work with the Pythons), both taking comedy kicking and screaming to places it hadn't gone before. This is their first album, from 1967. "The Intro and the Outro" is probably their best-known piece, as Viv Stanshall introduces all the band members, including John Wayne, General de Gaulle, the Incredible Shrinking Man, etc. "And looking very relaxed, Adolf Hitler on vibes." "Jollity Farm" and "Mickey's Son and Daughter" are terrific songs done in a 20s style. Other great cuts include the film noir "Big Shot", the Beach Boys-ish "Piggy Bank Love", a jaded "I'm Bored", and "Look Out, There's a Monster Coming". If you've ever wondered where the band Deathcab for Cutie got it's name, this is the place.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Baby, don't do it..., June 17, 2000

By 

tashcrash (South Shore, MA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Gorilla (Audio CD)

As stylistically varied as the Beatles WHITE ALBUM (well, almost), GORILLA adopted the musically perverse side of the Fab Four and ran with it (think "Honey Pie" meets "You Know My Name," stretched out to album length) and, as a result, continues to amaze. The Bonzos captured a certain retro-Dada spirit few others of their generation could, and this album in particular has aged beautifully. Highlights? "Death-cab For Cutie," "I'm Bored," and "Look Out, There's A Monster Coming." Underrated, to say the very least.