Gorilla (Bonzo Dog album)
| Gorilla | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band | ||||
| Released | October 1967 | |||
| Genre | Comedy rock, trad jazz, psychedelic pop, avant-garde | |||
| Length | 35:25 | |||
| Label |
Liberty BGO Records (Reissue) |
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| Producer | Gerry Bron, Lyn Birkbeck | |||
| The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band chronology | ||||
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| British reissue | ||||
Sunset SLS 50160
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Rolling Stone | Positive |
Gorilla is the debut album by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, originally released by Liberty Records, LBL 83056, in 1967. In 2007, EMI reissued the album on CD with seven bonus tracks.
The album includes "Jazz, (Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold)" which savagely parodied their early "trad" jazz roots and featured some of the most deliberately inept jazz playing ever recorded—the record company only allowed two hours of studio time per track, so it was completed in a single take to allow for the far more complex "The Intro and the Outro". The band deliberately swapped instruments to increase the degree of incompetence.
In "The Intro and the Outro" every member of the band was introduced and played a solo, starting with genuine band members, before including such improbable members as John Wayne on xylophone, Adolf Hitler on vibes, and J. Arthur Rank on gong. Other 'band members' included Val Doonican, Horace Batchelor and Lord Snooty and His Pals.
The versatility of the band is shown in the wide variety of styles parodied on the album: as well as trad jazz noted above, there is 1920s-style music ("Jollity Farm", "I'm Bored"), Beatles music of the "Penny Lane" era ("The Equestrian Statue"), lounge music ("San Francisco"), calypso ("Look Out There's a Monster Coming"), Elvis Presley ("Death Cab for Cutie"), Disney ("Mickey's Son and Daughter"), film noir ("Big Shot"), Wurlitzer ("Music for the Head Ballet"), and bubblegum ("Piggy Bank Love").
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