A Record a Week: History of the Bonzos

SIDE 1.
THE INTRO AND THE OUTRO
ROCKALISER BABY
SPORT (THE ODD BOY)
NOISES FOR THE LEG
KING OF SCURF
LABIO DENTAL FRICATIVE
HELLO MABEL
LOOK AT ME, I'M WONDERFUL

SIDE 2.
CANYONS OF YOUR MIND
JOLLITY FARM
YOU DONE MY BRAIN IN
MY PINK HALF OF THE DRAINPIPE
MR. APOLLO
HUNTING TIGERS OUT IN INDIAH
SUSPICION
MR. SLATER'S PARROT
LAUGHING BLUES
NARCISSUS

SIDE 3.
I'M THE URBAN SPACEMAN
BAD BLOOD
I LEFT MY HEART IN SAN FRANSISCO
TENT
CAN BLUE MEN SING THE WHITES?
9-5 POLLUTION BLUES
BIG SHOT
RELEASE ME

SIDE 4.
WE ARE NORMAL
THE SOUND OF MUSIC
KAMA-SUTRA
RHINOCRATIC OATHS
SHIRT
MICKEY'S SON AND DAUGHTER
BLIND DATE
TROUSER PRESS
SLUSH

Putting this record on was a smorgasbord experience. Is it folk? Comedy? Dixieland? Is that a narrator? I am a walrus sounding song? Other Beatles influences?

All of these. It wasn't until after I listened to the album and did a little research that I found out that this is a record compiled of songs from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and all of their other bands and solo projects. That certainly explained the variance more.

The album starts off sounding very fragmented, as if the songs were just recordings of band practices where they wanted to remember parts of songs they had written. Then there is a narrative during and/or between songs. Then the songs gain a bit more structure, turn to a dixieland style and have odd, but clearly comedic lyrics. Then things have a bit more of a standard rock feel (though always with horns or other backing instruments). The album took numerous cycles of this nature, and that made it a bit tough to listen to. I think it might have been a bit easier to navigate if I had gone in knowing that, however, the liner notes were either missing or non-existent so I went in with no knowledge of what was happening. In fact, I thought this was a different band called the Bonzos (though the style did tip me off to the similarities to the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band).

I did notice that the musicians consistently were very talented throughout the record and that was a major plus. I just found it distracting jumping from this style to that style so much over four sides of record. Even if the cover had been a bit more descriptive of the contents, I might have kept a keener ear out. As it is, the talent kept me listening, but the discordance kept me wondering what was happening.