The
Bongos
Drums Along The Hudson
***
Emerging
during the fertile post-punk era of the early 1980’s in
Hoboken, New Jersey The Bongos are a band seldom mentioned in
the compiling of ‘indie’ history these days.
Cooking Vinyl’s re-release of their 1981 debut Drums Along
The Hudson demands that The Bongos receive attention as a brilliant
exponent of the new-wave pop scene, offering a sweet blend of
punk-hooks and banging rhythms infused with a 60’s pop sensibility.
The band favour the jangly guitar that would later be popularised
by R.E.M but with the uncomplicated nervy immediacy and energy
common in the dying stages of the original punk boom.
Drums Along The Hudson is a sure thing to boast any fans
‘indie’ credentials, with the album being largely
out of print (bar an early nineties pressing and a few bootlegs)
since its initial review, sticking a Bongos track on any CD or
iPod mix will give you plenty of kudos for uncovering these gems.
At least quarter of the albums 16 tracks would sit nicely and
impressively in any mix – the angular post-punk rhythms
of ‘Telephoto Lens’, the brilliant ‘The Bulrushes’
evoking of jangly 60s pop ghosts and ‘Certain Harbours’
jazz-punk fusion are a few highlights, but each and every track
is worth a listen.
The 29-second long ‘Speaking Sands’ would be an upbeat
pop-punk classic if it wasn’t so agonisingly short.
However, the three-pieces music would be unlikely to make waves
today and this album is hardly timeless, with it clearly belonging
in the eighties and this re-release is unlikely to make such an
impact as to turn them into stadium-giants or gain them over-due
mass critical acclaim and commercial success (like the Velvet
Underground enjoyed in the eighties).
The one new track a reworking of ‘The Bulrushes’ inventively
titled ‘Bulrushes 2007’ highlights that modernising
this sound is a totally inane and painful experience. Produced
and performed on by Moby, the track is self-indulgent adding little
more than an over-produced glossy sheen, with some piano and a
pointless fuzzed up guitar – it goes to show when something
works leave it well alone.
In addition this package includes The Bongos first live performance
(restored from tape) and two tracks performed in London providing
a glimpse of how great this band were at the time.
The reissue of Drums Along The Hudson can be welcomed for putting
a great old-album back on the market giving a new generation access
to a near-classic slice new-wave pop, but it will remain little
more than a cult release put back on general release.
This is one for new wave/indie fanatics only – but for them
it is a must have.
by
James Thornhill
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