Customer Reviews

Reach In and Get Her

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

With the arrival of the White Stripes, a bunch of new "boy bands" emerged. Among them, The Strokes and The Hives were the most highly touted by adoring critics. While the Stripes remain a relevant band, the Strokes and the Hives are yesterday's medical maladies. Tomorrow's news is Bona Roba. I saw them on MTV in Little Steven's battle of the bands contest. These guys simply kick ass. It's rock and roll the way it was meant to be played, lowdown and dirty. It figures that the best NY band since Velvet Underground hails from Queens. If you're looking for melodic, hook-laden music with great vocals and the in your face attitude of the early Stones, look no further.

The Future of Rock and Roll: Bona Roba

Bona Roba's debut album is the necessary soundtrack for a Rock and Roll lifestyle. A well deserved remedy and wake up call for the current dismal direction that some music is headed towards - safe singles. The antithesis of Walmart friendly and over-produced single jingles, "Reach in and Get Her" is one solid album laid down by the salt of the earth future star band Bona Roba. Hailing from Queens NYC, one's memory must bring to mind two great band exports from this borough- The Ramones and Anthrax. Bona Roba sound nothing like their neighbors but bring the same signature raw enthusiasm and well crafted cutting lyrics piercing straight to the eardrum and into beating hearts and minds that rock.

Each track has rock swagger that cannot be ignored, my foot still taps hours later after each listen. The band itself is a force to be reckoned with at live shows and their energy punches through on the album. A true "album", this gem changes pace and tempo to create a decadent rock and roll playground. Bona Roba's "Reach in and Get Her" is a complete package of juke box anthems that run the "soundtrack of our lives" gamut from full moon lunacy to the appreciation of a rising red hot sun.

Bona Roba was a finalist on Little Steven's Underground Garage competition and Little Steven of the E-Street band knows his music, this is the man you want to program your iPod for an extended road trip.

Neal Carlson the lead singer of Bona Roba recently appeared as a contestant on the reality show Rockstar INXS. According to INXS, Neal was not right for their band INXS. According to this reviewer, Neal is more than right for the future of Rock and Roll and that band is Bona Roba.

Bona Roba is:
Philip Bianco as "Philip Sesso" on bass/vox
Luc Carl on drums
Neal Carlson as "Neal LaFanta" on vox/guitar
Louis Koster as "Domino Abbracciamento" on guitar

Reviewed by Jamey Hadden as "The Lion"

I have been lucky enough to catch these guys playing small clubs in NY and they are leaps and bounds above anything else going on in the musc world, they are real dirty rock and roll and deserve all of the fame they are destined to receive, do yourself a favor and buy this record right away. And try and see them play before they hit madison square garden...this is the futrure of rock and rol...thank goodness!

I'm somewhat ashamed of how I found out about this band...but thank God I did.

I saw Neal Carlson (aka Neal LaFanta) on Rock Star:INXS and he was far and away my favorite rocker on there. I got lucky and saw on the Rock Star website that Neal was in a band called Bona Roba. I went to their website and listened to the clips there. I was impressed enough to buy the cd then and there. I was salivating over The Slip and Cunningham Park while I waited for the cd to come, hoping they weren't the bright points on an otherwise dim album. I assure you they're not. This is great stuff...not a bad track on the whole disc. I like The Killers and Bright Eyes and Kasabian and some of the other new "rock" bands...but this is the real thing people. This isn't the "modern rock" or whatever that stuff is...this is pure, unadulterated Rock n Roll. The way it used to be and the way it should be...And it's about time.

Bona Roba knows how to create fantasic, current music. Buy it before your friends have to tell you about it.

The first time I heard Bona Roba, I'd just ended a bad week and was feeling a bit glum.

It was a cold November day in the city and I decided to get out of the house. I picked up the Village Voice and flipped to the "Live Music" section. Being an avid fan of the Rock n' Roll music, one act caught my eye.

"Dirty-white-boy rock n roll!"

Being a dirty white boy myself, I felt the need to investigate further...and am I thankful that I did.

I saw Bona Roba that night at a club on the lower east side of Manhattan. Their set opened with "My Attorney." It was feirce and dirty. They played rock music as if possessed by Beelzebub, and it never let up. It had been years since I'd sweated at a live show, but that night, the flood gates opened.

Anyway, on to the album. "Reach In and Get Her" accomplishes what few others can - capturing the energy and rawness of the live performance onto wax. Bona Roba's full length CD has all the fuel, mud, guts, friction, saliva, heat, and dynamism to fill the gap in your heart which mainstream radio surely leaves. Reach In and Get Her will knock you on your ass and have you begging for more.

If you love Rock n Roll, do yourself a favor and pick up this CD - it's chalk full of rockin' goodness & excellent party music to match.

This was a hugely pleasant surprise for me. I found this CD while looking for stuff by singers on "Rock Star: INXS". This is "Neil Carlson's" CD (I think he's called "Neil Fontana" on this CD), and it's a great CD. If you like the Rolling Stones at all (and I only like them a little), you may well love this CD. The whole disc pulsates with Stones-y energy. I love the mellow "Playing Records", but there are many other standout tracks, including "In the Cut,", "Cunningham Park," and "Hollywood Blood." If the Stones still rocked like this, I'd start buying their CDs.

More often then not it comes down to attitude. It's about a rock and roll lifestyle we all try to achieve and if there was a soundtrack that I could pick to follow me around I can firmly say that this album would be it.
Bona Roba's debut album personifies everything rock and roll was, is, and should be (hear My Attorney). The fact that it's not groundbreaking or incredibly innovative is irrelevant (as the saying goes: "amateurs borrow, professionals steal").

There's a genuine arrogant swagger to these songs, as there should be with all rock and roll (hear Givers and Takers / 4th of July). The songs ooze that sexy, strutting, dive bar feel that the Stones made famous (see Getting Down and Cunningham Park). I believe that Bona Roba is group of guys playing songs that they would want to hear and that comes across in waves, which is why I love this album. No one is f**king with you, no one is selling you a product, and no label is selling you a generic image they created in order to sell records. It's old school; making music for the sake of making music.

To pull off songs such as these takes a certain talent that singer Neal LaFanta obviously holds (and the rest of the band as well). For example, the song Playing Records is a slow song, but it's not your run of the mill slow number with strings, overwrought emotional lyrics (an elusive task for most rock bands). It's a song about listening to music, simple enough?

The songs are short and well written with lyrics about nites out, women, alcohol, drugs, essentially everything a good rock and roll band should be singing about. It's dirty and grimy music meant to have a good time with. Reach In and Get Her isn't original, but that isn't important and in no way detracts from the music because it's done so well. A discerning eye should be placed on how exciting the songs are and song quality. . . and when the songs are this exciting and this damn good it adds up to one hell of an album.

I'm always warry of reviews that praise a band too much, but every now and then I come across an album that I just feel is really worth my time and effort to listen to repeatedly (The Strokes - Is This It / Interpol's - Turn on the Bright Lights / At the Drive In - Relationship of Command) and yes, I believe Reach In and Get Her is that good.

(watch out JET)

With so much put together music these days, I was searching for some cds that have real people who play real instruments. Bona Roba updates the swagger that started with The Stooges & MC5 with killer hooks, Cunningham Park is a radio rocker that could bring the band a hit. With Jet & The Darkness bringing back rock to popularity Bona Roba will not be far behind.

Nothing about this cd is predictable, not the music, the lyrics or the flavor. It's rock with an intelligence about it. Particularly liked "The Slip" and absolutely loved "Cunningham Park". Can't really compare it to anything else because it is so original.

I'm very curious to hear what comes next from this band.