The Bonzo Dog (Doo-Dah) Band: C or D?

With the Bonzos, it was the precise opposite. Vivian, Eric et al clearly had too much going on in their diseased imaginations to let out in a 'straighter' form... to call their music 'comedy' is like terming John Berger's 'Ways Of Seeing' an art criticism book. True, but kind of missing the point. Bonzos were parody primarily, and often cruel (the best kind). All human life is within those chuckles and miscues and bad puns and intros and outros and pisstakes of comic book adverts. And some cracking great tunes, and insightful lyrics too.

As for George's involvement, of course he was in the film but Innes also played the songs for John and George before they were released incase they were offended or were going to sue him. They thought they were fine although John advised him not to release Get Up And Go because it was rather too close to Get Back. As it turned out Allan Klein (I think it was him anyway) wasn't standing for it and Innes lost the rights to all the songs, so he's never made any money out of them at all.

As for the Bonzos, not all great but classic all the same. They would be classic even if all they had done was the Intro and the Outro and the guitar solo in Canyons Of Your Mind. Plus some of their 60s TV appearances are great with false arms and silly masks much in evidence.

The Bonzos were GRATE. 'Sofa Head' is the best pro-getting pissed track ever.

*sound of feet galloping towards HMV*

The earlier, more obviously comedic records are the ones that, for the most part, keep getting cited above but surely by the time they did Keynsham the Bonzos were doing so much more.

oh and obviously so classic you could never believe. viv was a comic and musical genius, and neil one of the nicest blokes you could ever hope to meet

They truly did move beyond parody, and were already beginning to do so from the debut album onwards.

SO THEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

REVIVE-O!

Through the exceptionally good, generous graces of fellow ILM'er Abbics Abbie, I have finally aquired the above album (after merely expressing that I'd wanted to finally hear "Eleven Moustachioed Daughters" after reading so much about it here on ILM). Very nicely, she ripped the whole shebang for me, and by gosh is it ever great. All I'd heard previously were compilations, but this album really is fucking fantastic. Moreover, the lyrics to "11 Moustachioed Daughters" are truly creepy in a decidedly occult-bothering sort've way. Witness....

Eleven moustachioed daughters, running in a field of fat
The moon is high, the mandrake screams,
Please come to our Sabbat.
The changeling children shiver, round the fire their mothers dance,
With strangely painted faces,
That smile but never laugh.
The crow-pecked gibbet's victim swings broken in his cage
His hands cut down to make a crown.
To wear as our homage.
Round & round the magic ring soft figures fastly rush
And wolf-like things & toads with wings whisper wetly
"Come with us".

The fresh-plucked eye of a favourite cat,
Pulped and mixed with a white hens fat,
A lapwings' wing and lions' gall,
And Belladonna to make your eyes
Like a beasts.
To anoint the body and make it shine,
To drink & make thyself divine,
To choose another's form and make it thine.

And now they gibber blasphemy & fill the fetid air
With ancient lies & leprous cries,
This night he will be there.
A madness has them, mouths gape wide
As one they sway and moan, & every brutish face is turned,
To see our Goat-King's Throne.

Anyway, thanks again Abbie and let's hear it for the Bonzos.

"Lipstickgleam
Hexachloraphene
Cling cling a ring
Clang clang she sang
It's tragic magic
There are no coincidences
But sometimes the pattern is more obvious"

also "eleven moustachioed daughters" has uncredited backing vocals by germaine greer.

2006

Saturday 28th January

Neil Innes and Friends
(The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band Revisited)
FEATURING
Rodney Slater
Roger Ruskin Spear
Legs Larry Smith
Vernon Dudley Bohay Nowell
plus special guests
THE ASTORIA
LONDON
Doors Open 1800hrs

Tickets are still available from

STARGREEN BOX OFFICE
Credit Card Hotline 020 7734 8932
www.Stargreen.com

hooooold me back!

i saw neil innes at the melbourne comedy festival in 2003 - he was every bit as wondrous as i'd hoped. (i was the youngest person there by about 20 years)

Did that weird non-embedding time out thing. Will try again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=WGVwreJNWlk

OK, forget it. Finally here's one I never heard "High School Hermit." sung in "King of Scurf" doo-wop falsetto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi4WEAOdvWU&feature=relmfu

One more thing. The soundtrack (but not the visuals unfortunately) to an old BBC2 show called Colour Me Pop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BuG8f5QBCk&feature=relmfu

Slightly off topic, but I stumbled across this while searching for Bonzo footage. Sweet, glad youngsters are discovering them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN_K685svsU

Hello:

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_bonzo_dog_band_the_adventures_of_the_son_of_exploding_sausage

Thanking you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5_teUu9jMc

Nice find! I have the LP of "Gorilla" around somewhere, I need to dig it out. Forgot about this great Kinks pastiche.

are there any other bands names after the Bonzos apart from Death Cab For Cutie and Poisioned Electrick Head?

Yes.

http://www.fade2grey.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/R-990156-1263250581.jpeg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrjzooEAWU0

Love this track, still have never been able to figure out what the pool ball/chainsaw loops were.

Got a mono "Gorilla" on Saturday!

look out there's a monster coming

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/bonzodogbanned/

Wow, what must it feel to have your legacy stolen from you.

It's getting there...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFK980rXCyA

The Bonzos are so great. Absolute classic for anyone who loves The Beatles, The Kinks, or British whimsy. Also, The Incredible String Band.

If you love the Bonzos, you'll adore this album:

https://img.discogs.com/QTjnzGveKAyjo8jSU7Wt0RADyJw=/fit-in/480x480/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-709666-1275289286.jpeg.jpg

Also Syd Barrett

Neil Innes RIP

Ouch! :(

It's a blow, for sure.

oh fuck really?

"... and stunned!"

my daughter is 3 and likes the Beatles. As i generally can get sick of 'em fast, I thought it would be a good idea to play her the Rutles. Five months after doing so, she demands Rutles music more often that she does that of the Beatles or "let it Go" or "Barbie Girl" or "what does the Fox say?" I suppose I'm not unlike the dad that forces his kid to listen to Remain in Light, but I can't deny that I like that she's very likely the only child who loves the music of Neil Innes within 100 miles of where we live…

Innes always struck me as a guy whose talent maybe went unnoted a bit because he was, at times, the straight guy in the Bonzos. But he was a great one; his Bonzos songs include some real proto-glam in things like "Beautiful Zelda," "Rockaliser Baby," and "Mr. Apollo" and I think he was one of the best at the old-timey stuff like "Hello Mabel," too. His songs on Keynsham would have fit right in on a Kinks record from the period.

Story time, and yes it did happen!

Back when, our Alice came home from Brownie Camp. She said she'd had a great time etc, oh and she'd won the talent competition. I said ah fine, what did you sing? "The Equestrian Statue". I did wonder if I'd ruined her social outlook, but the rest you know! (well, some of you)

Anyway, just now we both caught the bus back from town together, and I mentioned I was going to share this tale. She said she didn't remember winning, but she did remember doing it and that "it was very untogether". Ah, I said, I would have expected so, to be quite honest...

Can we talk about how amazing this is?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eFk9bAXzkI

Or how beautiful this is?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-Uuvb3zctA

Or this? This is the weird prog sound of my childhood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzByBZs4c0A

That is great. I've never heard that 1972 album.

Goodbye Nasty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9SQ7GeiGh8

icymi

Ira Kaplan joined Gaylord Fields on WFMU for a 2-hr tribute

http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/91049

Imi, so thanks. Haven’t crossed paths with Gaylord in ages. Maybe last time was at LaLa Brooks show in Astoria at which Ira and Georgia were in attendance as well.

Glad the playlist features the tune whose title derives from part of my screenname.

if WFMU web pages still look like that, you should still be able to save the m3u, open it in notepad, copy the mp3 address and put that in getright. they're not playing fair imo.

ihonestly do not care what web pages look like

I'm 100% in favour of radio station playlist pages still being done with tables in Composer, I just want to be able to still take the audio away and listen to it while walking or doing the dishes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKXsrWrmbAg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLQ7ds90xDw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlXXUmssNGI

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?

I'm afraid I'll go to my grave not knowing what this was. It's possible that it wasn't even a BDB song and was just apended to the cassette, I guess, but it was very similar in style to slush in my memory, sort of a slow, 12/8 feel to it.

#OnThisDay 1973: Roger Ruskin Spear, formerly of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, unleashes his “robots” on presenter Joe Melia and the British viewing public.

Straining plastic dolls, baffling games and a Patrick Moore machine are amongst the highlights. pic.twitter.com/ZPM62E3a64

— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) April 7, 2024

Roger Ruskin Spear demonstrating some of his creations.

I love stuff like this and Tim Hunkin's Novelty Automaton/Under The Pier Show, Sam Smith - it all seems of a piece. Does anyone else make things like this? Some of Vic Reeves stuff is similar I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeN275kLtaE

this documentary about Sam Smith is great, seems like it might be of interest to fans of the Bonzos

more Roger Ruskin Spear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0l1hXdp5Zk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwZ_hMDzKmE

and Bruce Lacey, or course

Wilf Lunn was a mainstay of children’s TV in the 70s, similar absurdist hippy vibe as Ruskin Spear.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/wilf-lunn-protest-bike/zh9y6v4

Worth watching to the end to see his worm catcher.

Wilf Lunn is great, it's funny how there was this moment where you had stuff like Vision On where children's tv and experimental stuff could cross over, like Sylvester McCoy dividing his time between kids tv and the Ken Campbell Roadshow. Various Clive Doig shows as well

Look Out, There's a 17 CD, 3 DVD Monster Coming

https://www.amazon.com/Still-Barking-Bonzo-Doo-Dah-Band/dp/B0DHLLZ5NN

Seven years in the making and put together with band's full co-operation, 'Still Barking' includes: 17 CDs documenting a spectacularly entertaining career featuring:
- Stereo versions of all of the band's original albums, carefully remastered to capture their idiosyncratic charm.
- Additional remastered versions 'Gorilla' and 'The Doughnut In Granny's Greenhouse' in their original mono mixes.
- A newly compiled remastered CD of all the band's singles.
- Two discs of demos, rehearsals, and outtakes.
- A single disc of backing tracks.
- Three discs of BBC Sessions that capture the band's eccentric live energy.
- Two live discs: Studio Bellevue, Amsterdam. Recorded: November 1968. Fillmore East, NYC, 17 October 1969.
- A CD featuring a live show from London's Marquee Club and additional material of band rehearsals from the Manor Studios in Oxfordshire.
- Plus: Three DVDs of TV performances, including the complete 'Do Not Adjust Your Set' shows, 'Colour Me Pop', 'Beat Club', and more. Highlights include rare appearances, short films, and vintage footage from the height of their career.
- 148 page hardback coffee table book featuring an essay by Bonzos authority Chris Welch and an in-depth Day By Day Chronology/Cornology by noted author Andy Neill (The Who; Ready, Steady, Go!).

*faints*

guess i'll have to start saving. wow.

there's a big article in the new Ugly Things magazine where they interview surviving members.