Gorilla (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band album)

Gorilla
Studio album by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
Released	October, 1967
Genre	Comedy rock Psychedelic pop Avant-garde
Length	35:25
Label	Liberty Records BGO Records (reissue)
Producer	Gerry Bron Lyn Birkbeck
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band chronology
Gorilla (1967) The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse (1968)
British reissue
Sunset SLS 50160

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Gorilla is the debut album by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, originally released by Liberty Records in 1967. In 2007 EMI re-issued the album on CD with 7 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" in which every member of the band was introduced and played a solo, starting with genuine band members^[2], before including such improbable members as John Wayne on xylophone, Adolf Hitler on vibes, and J. Arthur Rank on gong. Other "members" were Val Doonican, Horace Batchelor, and Lord Snooty and His Pals.

The album was also issued in the US on Imperial as LP-9370 (mono) and LP-12370 (stereo), but minus the track "Big Shot". The original issue of the album had the same booklet issued with the UK album.

The album was recorded on a four-track tape recorder, as was typical for 1967. Due to the limited number of tracks, most of the non-band "personnel" on "The Intro and the Outro" are simply faded in and out, and few notice they are absent in the later stages of the track.

Sleeve notes

"Dedicated to Kong who must have been a great bloke"

Track listing

Side one

1. "Cool Britannia" - 1:00
2. "The Equestrian Statue" - 2:49
3. "Jollity Farm" - 2:29
4. "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" - 1:04
5. "Look Out There's a Monster Coming" - 2:55
6. "Jazz (Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold)" - 3:11
7. "Death Cab for Cutie" - 2:56
8. "Narcissus" - 0:27

Side two

1. "The Intro and the Outro" - 3:04
2. "Mickey's Son and Daughter" - 2:43
3. "Big Shot" - 3:31
4. "Music for the Head Ballet" - 1:45
5. "Piggy Bank Love" - 3:04
6. "I'm Bored" - 3:06
7. "The Sound of Music" - 1:21

Bonus tracks on 2007 CD re-issue

1. "My Brother Makes the Noises For the Talkies"
2. "I'm Gonna Bring a Watermelon To My Girl Tonight"
3. "Ali Baba's Camel" (previously unreleased, early version)
4. "On Her Doorstep Last Night"
5. "Alley Oop"
6. "Button Up Your Overcoat"
7. "The Craig Torso Show" (I Remember You / With a Little Help From My Friends / I Left My Heart In San Francisco / Oh Carol)

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ "'The Intro and The Outro', a song by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band". BBC. 14 February 2005. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3647630.