The Bongos
Encyclopedia
The Bongos were a rock
band
from Hoboken, New Jersey
, primarily active in the 1980s. With a unique blend of British Invasion-flavored power pop, jangly guitars, and dance beats they made the leap to national recognition with the advent of MTV
.
and helped found Bar/None Records
. "a" were the first band to play Maxwell's
, a rock and roll club in Hoboken
.
The group was led by Richard Barone
on vocals and guitar and included Rob Norris, formerly of the Zantees on bass and Frank Giannini on drums. James Mastro, later of The Health & Happiness Show, joined the band as a guitarist after the release of their first LP
. The group played extensively in Hoboken and New York City and toured the U.K. and Europe before touring in the U.S.
The Bongos emerged from Hoboken, and Manhattan's New Wave
and No Wave
venues such as Tier 3
and the Mudd Club
, with a guitar-driven pop that belied a strong influence of the avant-garde. What set them apart from other such groups of the era were their sudden guitar outbursts or saxophone improvisations that echoed the work of Lou Reed
, Ornette Coleman
, or Captain Beefheart
within the context of a pure, melodic pop song. In addition, unlike many of their peers, the group explored unabashedly sensuous dance rhythms that made their recordings dancefloor favorites. The Bongos recorded their early singles and their well-received debut EP
for UK-based Fetish Records. Their debut U.S. album, Drums Along The Hudson, compiled from the band's British singles, was released in 1982 to widely favorable reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. While Trouser Press
suggested that the group "may trade a certain amount of substance for easy appeal," it added that "there's no better musical equivalent of whipped cream anywhere." Writing in the Village Voice, Robert Christgau
dryly commented that "for all their jumpy originality [the songs are] still slight, and Richard Barone's lyrics are so oblique you have to wonder what his angle is." In 2007 however, Jim DeRegotis wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times
: "The initial impression of naivete is offset by deceptively simple lyrics that actually hint at deep, dark mysteries and unfathomed mystical enigmas." The group's cover of T. Rex
's "Mambo Sun" reached #22 on the Billboard
Dance Chart. A thriving Hoboken pop scene emerged, triggered by the Bongos and Maxwell's, which gained national media attention, and drew many bands and fans to the city. An August 1, 1982 article in the New York Times
Real Estate section hinted at the scene's popularity as an influence on increasing rents and property values.
In 1983, the group was signed to RCA Records
, which subsequently released the album, Numbers With Wings. New York Times' critic Robert Palmer
— himself a former Hoboken-based musician with The Insect Trust
— marked this as the beginning of the Bongos' creative decline, lamenting the "slick, overproduced records which vitiated the raw vitality the group had originally displayed." Regardless, the album spawned a popular and inventive MTV
video of the title song (nominated for 'Best Direction' on the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards
, while the song itself remained at the number one spot on the College Music Journal
(CMJ) chart for six consecutive weeks). The album also included the tribal, dancefloor hit "Barbarella." A hectic tour schedule of over 300 shows sustained support at radio and MTV
. Their Brazilian-influenced followup album, Beat Hotel, along with relentless touring (now with a further-expanded lineup including percussionist Steve Scales from the Talking Heads
), raised the Bongos' profile further and continued to increase their devoted cult following. It was in the midst of recording a still-unreleased album for Island Records
that the band split up in 1987, with each member pursuing solo interests. Richard Barone
subsequently released a series of well-received solo albums, including one, Glow released on September 14, 2010 on Hoboken's Bar/None Records
, and has established a career as a producer of recordings and major concert events.
In 2006, the original three Bongos re-entered the studio with long time fan Moby
producing to create bonus material for a CD reissue of the group's debut album. The remastered, 27-track special edition of Drums Along The Hudson, which was released internationally by Cooking Vinyl Records in June, 2007, includes rare, live bonus tracks and new studio recordings. An accompanying video for "Bulrushes 2007," a reprise of the band's early single, "The Bulrushes" featuring Moby, was released simultaneously on iTunes
.
The original three Bongos also reunited for two shows at Joe's Pub
at The Public Theater in Greenwich Village
in October 2006, and two more in February 2007. On September 30, 2007, the foursome played again in Hoboken for the first time in twenty years to an overflowing and appreciative crowd, and received a Proclamation from Mayor David Roberts commending them for their substantial contributions to Hoboken's culture and heritage. They headlined a day-long bill that featured the Chris Stamey
Group, Glenn Mercer
(formerly of the Feelies
) and The Health and Happiness Show.
Richard Barone
's memoir, Frontman: Surviving the Rock Star Myth, was published on September 28, 2007 by Backbeat/Hal Leonard Books.
In Spring, 2008, Sony/Legacy re-issued the Bongos RCA catalog for the first time to iTunes and other digital retailers.
On March 11, 2009, the Bongos performed a full concert set at The City Winery in NYC following an R.E.M.
tribute concert held earlier that evening at Carnegie Hall
to benefit music education programs. On October 22, 2009 the group returned to Maxwell's
for the first time since 1986, and subsequently performed at Manhattan's Hiro Ballroom, during the CMJ Music Marathon 2009 that same month (with longtime friends The Fleshtones
). On January 25, 2010, The Bongos reunited once again at the City Winery, this time to benefit Emergency Earthquake Relief efforts in Haiti.
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
from Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
, primarily active in the 1980s. With a unique blend of British Invasion-flavored power pop, jangly guitars, and dance beats they made the leap to national recognition with the advent of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
.
Biography
The group grew out of a band called, "a", which had included the three original Bongos and Glenn Morrow, who later formed The IndividualsThe Individuals (New Jersey band)
The Individuals were a Hoboken, New Jersey-based band led by Glenn Morrow and featuring Janet Wygal , Janet's brother Doug Wygal , and Jon Light Klages...
and helped found Bar/None Records
Bar/None Records
Bar/None Records is an independent record label based in Hoboken, New Jersey.-Early history:Tom Prendergast started Bar/None in early 1986. Having previously worked in pirate radio and booked and promoted bands in his native Ireland, Prendergast moved to Hoboken in 1982 and started Pier Platters...
. "a" were the first band to play Maxwell's
Maxwell's
Maxwell's is a music club in Hoboken, New Jersey that also has a restaurant. The intimate venue often attracts a wide variety of acts looking for a change from the New York City concert spaces across the river.-History:...
, a rock and roll club in Hoboken
Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...
.
The group was led by Richard Barone
Richard Barone
Richard Barone is a rock musician born in Tampa, Florida who gained attention as frontman for The Bongos. He works as a songwriter, arranger, author, director, and producer, releases albums as a solo artist, tours, and has created major concert events at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl and New York's...
on vocals and guitar and included Rob Norris, formerly of the Zantees on bass and Frank Giannini on drums. James Mastro, later of The Health & Happiness Show, joined the band as a guitarist after the release of their first LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
. The group played extensively in Hoboken and New York City and toured the U.K. and Europe before touring in the U.S.
The Bongos emerged from Hoboken, and Manhattan's New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
and No Wave
No Wave
No Wave was a short-lived but influential underground music, film, performance art, video, and contemporary art scene that had its beginnings during the mid-1970s in New York City. The term No Wave is in part satirical word play rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre...
venues such as Tier 3
Tier 3
Tier 3 was a no wave art nightclub that was located in downtown TriBeCa Manhattan at the juncture of West Broadway and White Street. In the late 1970s it became a major fixture in the city's underground music and counterculture scene; along with the Mudd Club...
and the Mudd Club
Mudd Club
The Mudd Club was a TriBeCa nightclub that was opened in October 1978 by Steve Mass, art curator Diego Cortez and Anya Phillips, a figure in the downtown punk scene...
, with a guitar-driven pop that belied a strong influence of the avant-garde. What set them apart from other such groups of the era were their sudden guitar outbursts or saxophone improvisations that echoed the work of Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
, or Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
within the context of a pure, melodic pop song. In addition, unlike many of their peers, the group explored unabashedly sensuous dance rhythms that made their recordings dancefloor favorites. The Bongos recorded their early singles and their well-received debut EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
for UK-based Fetish Records. Their debut U.S. album, Drums Along The Hudson, compiled from the band's British singles, was released in 1982 to widely favorable reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. While Trouser Press
Trouser Press
Trouser Press was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow Who fan Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" ...
suggested that the group "may trade a certain amount of substance for easy appeal," it added that "there's no better musical equivalent of whipped cream anywhere." Writing in the Village Voice, Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
dryly commented that "for all their jumpy originality [the songs are] still slight, and Richard Barone's lyrics are so oblique you have to wonder what his angle is." In 2007 however, Jim DeRegotis wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
: "The initial impression of naivete is offset by deceptively simple lyrics that actually hint at deep, dark mysteries and unfathomed mystical enigmas." The group's cover of T. Rex
T. Rex (band)
T. Rex were a British rock band, formed in 1967 by singer/songwriter and guitarist Marc Bolan. The band formed as Tyrannosaurus Rex, releasing four folk albums under the name...
's "Mambo Sun" reached #22 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Dance Chart. A thriving Hoboken pop scene emerged, triggered by the Bongos and Maxwell's, which gained national media attention, and drew many bands and fans to the city. An August 1, 1982 article in the New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Real Estate section hinted at the scene's popularity as an influence on increasing rents and property values.
In 1983, the group was signed to RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
, which subsequently released the album, Numbers With Wings. New York Times' critic Robert Palmer
Robert Palmer (author/producer)
Robert Franklin Palmer Jr. was a 20th century American writer, musicologist, clarinetist, saxophonist, and blues producer...
— himself a former Hoboken-based musician with The Insect Trust
The Insect Trust
The Insect Trust was a rock band that formed in New York in 1967.The members of the band were Nancy Jeffries on vocals, Bill Barth on guitar, Luke Faust, formerly of the Holy Modal Rounders, on guitar, banjo, fiddle, and harmonica, Trevor Koehler on saxophone, and Robert Palmer on clarinet and...
— marked this as the beginning of the Bongos' creative decline, lamenting the "slick, overproduced records which vitiated the raw vitality the group had originally displayed." Regardless, the album spawned a popular and inventive MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
video of the title song (nominated for 'Best Direction' on the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards
1984 MTV Video Music Awards
The 1984 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 14, 1984, honoring the best music videos from May 2, 1983, to May 2, 1984. The show was hosted by Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City....
, while the song itself remained at the number one spot on the College Music Journal
College Music Journal
College Music Journal, commonly known as CMJ, is a music events/publishing company which hosts an annual festival in New York City, the CMJ Music Marathon, as well as a weekly magazine of and for the music industry and college radio stations in the United States and Canada. It publishes top 30...
(CMJ) chart for six consecutive weeks). The album also included the tribal, dancefloor hit "Barbarella." A hectic tour schedule of over 300 shows sustained support at radio and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. Their Brazilian-influenced followup album, Beat Hotel, along with relentless touring (now with a further-expanded lineup including percussionist Steve Scales from the Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
), raised the Bongos' profile further and continued to increase their devoted cult following. It was in the midst of recording a still-unreleased album for Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
that the band split up in 1987, with each member pursuing solo interests. Richard Barone
Richard Barone
Richard Barone is a rock musician born in Tampa, Florida who gained attention as frontman for The Bongos. He works as a songwriter, arranger, author, director, and producer, releases albums as a solo artist, tours, and has created major concert events at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl and New York's...
subsequently released a series of well-received solo albums, including one, Glow released on September 14, 2010 on Hoboken's Bar/None Records
Bar/None Records
Bar/None Records is an independent record label based in Hoboken, New Jersey.-Early history:Tom Prendergast started Bar/None in early 1986. Having previously worked in pirate radio and booked and promoted bands in his native Ireland, Prendergast moved to Hoboken in 1982 and started Pier Platters...
, and has established a career as a producer of recordings and major concert events.
In 2006, the original three Bongos re-entered the studio with long time fan Moby
Moby
Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...
producing to create bonus material for a CD reissue of the group's debut album. The remastered, 27-track special edition of Drums Along The Hudson, which was released internationally by Cooking Vinyl Records in June, 2007, includes rare, live bonus tracks and new studio recordings. An accompanying video for "Bulrushes 2007," a reprise of the band's early single, "The Bulrushes" featuring Moby, was released simultaneously on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
.
The original three Bongos also reunited for two shows at Joe's Pub
Joe's Pub
Joe's Pub at Public Theater is a nightclub that hosts live performances regularly. The venue, which is a non-profit operation, is located at 425 Lafayette Street near Astor Place in Manhattan, New York City...
at The Public Theater in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
in October 2006, and two more in February 2007. On September 30, 2007, the foursome played again in Hoboken for the first time in twenty years to an overflowing and appreciative crowd, and received a Proclamation from Mayor David Roberts commending them for their substantial contributions to Hoboken's culture and heritage. They headlined a day-long bill that featured the Chris Stamey
Chris Stamey
Chris Stamey is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. After a stint playing with Alex Chilton, and a brief partnering with Mitch Easter under the name Sneakers, he formed The dB's, whose stewardship he would share with Peter Holsapple.In 1977 in New York, Chris founded the...
Group, Glenn Mercer
Glenn Mercer
Glenn Mercer is the vocalist and guitarist of the North Haledon, New Jersey-based rock band The Feelies. Together with Bill Million, Mercer wrote and produced virtually all of the Feelies' recorded output .-History:...
(formerly of the Feelies
The Feelies
The Feelies are a rock band from Haledon, New Jersey. They formed in 1976 and disbanded in 1992 having released four albums. The band reunited in 2008 and most recently released an album in 2011....
) and The Health and Happiness Show.
Richard Barone
Richard Barone
Richard Barone is a rock musician born in Tampa, Florida who gained attention as frontman for The Bongos. He works as a songwriter, arranger, author, director, and producer, releases albums as a solo artist, tours, and has created major concert events at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl and New York's...
's memoir, Frontman: Surviving the Rock Star Myth, was published on September 28, 2007 by Backbeat/Hal Leonard Books.
In Spring, 2008, Sony/Legacy re-issued the Bongos RCA catalog for the first time to iTunes and other digital retailers.
On March 11, 2009, the Bongos performed a full concert set at The City Winery in NYC following an R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
tribute concert held earlier that evening at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
to benefit music education programs. On October 22, 2009 the group returned to Maxwell's
Maxwell's
Maxwell's is a music club in Hoboken, New Jersey that also has a restaurant. The intimate venue often attracts a wide variety of acts looking for a change from the New York City concert spaces across the river.-History:...
for the first time since 1986, and subsequently performed at Manhattan's Hiro Ballroom, during the CMJ Music Marathon 2009 that same month (with longtime friends The Fleshtones
The Fleshtones
The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York formed in 1976.- 1976-1979 :The Fleshtones were formed in 1976 in Whitestone, New York by Keith Streng and Marek Pakulski The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York formed in 1976.- 1976-1979 :The...
). On January 25, 2010, The Bongos reunited once again at the City Winery, this time to benefit Emergency Earthquake Relief efforts in Haiti.
Discography
- The Bongos EP (1980, Fetish Records)
- Drums Along the Hudson (1982, PVC Records)
- Time and the River (1982, Fetish Records)
- Numbers With Wings EP (1983, RCA RecordsRCA RecordsRCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
) - Beat Hotel (1985, RCA RecordsRCA RecordsRCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
) - Drums Along the Hudson - Special Edition (2007, Cooking VinylCooking VinylCooking Vinyl is a UK-based independent record company, founded in 1986. Its original orientation was toward contemporary folk music—notably Billy Bragg, and Michelle Shocked's Texas Campfire Tapes, recorded on a Sony Walkman, one of its first releases...
)
Compilation albums
- Start Swimming (1981, Stiff RecordsStiff RecordsStiff Records is a record label created in London in 1976, by entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman , and active until 1985. It was reactivated in 2007....
) ("Telephoto Lens" and "In the Congo" appear on this live recording from LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Rainbow theatre. The band, then still a trio, was joined on "In the Congo" by members of Bush TetrasBush TetrasBush Tetras are an American post-punk band from New York City, popular in the Manhattan club scene in the early 1980s but never achieving much mainstream success. Their music combined funk rhythms and dissonant guitar riffs.-History:...
and Throbbing GristleThrobbing GristleThrobbing Gristle were an English industrial, avant-garde music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions...
.)
Videos
- In The Congo - Directed by Ed Steinberg
- Mambo Sun - Directed by Ed Steinberg
- The Bulrushes - Directed by Phil Marino
- Numbers With Wings - Directed by Juliano Waldmann
- Brave New World - Directed by Juliano Waldmann
- Bulrushes 2007 (with MobyMobyRichard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...
)- Directed by Richard Kerris