Bonzo Dog Band - Cornology [3CD Set]

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Free Music Notes for Cornology [3CD Set]

Free Music Review: A Remarkable Journey
Hit: 5 Stars

The early stuff is built around English music hall performance. So, it's partly songs but the songs are really part of a show. Obviously, you won't get that just from the songs, but it's worth noting. The 'group' were all fairly disciplined and trained artists. The most talented member, Stanshall, wanted to be a painter. The 'da da' name reflects a painting style brought to music, and it is the only way to understand this group.

Take the song the Beatles put in Magical Mystery Tour, "Death Cab for Cutie". It's kind of an Elvis send-up, but it's also a film noir style from the 30's. This group did style, but mostly they played with style in the early days, like songs from the early 20th century. There is a link to later British comedy like Python or 'The Rutles' but the Bonzos were never just about being funny. With Bonzo you never know.

The later albums reflect more of a rock band style, but they really stretch the limits of music. There are lighthearted pieces like "I Want to Be with You" and "I'm the Urban Spaceman". Then, there are brilliant little dramas set as music like "Sport, the Odd Boy". The problem with this group is that they always reached for the limit of music, which took them way away from music. But, no one has ever done more.

One of the more interesting songs is called "King of Scurf" It's about a boy with acne and bad dandruff (scurf). It is rather poignant. How many artists could write a song that lasts 6 minutes about a boy with dandruff. It's comedy, basically, but it's not a bad view of adolescence, either.

The last bits are very close to the edge, songs like Fresh Wound. It's sort of a song about a relationship, but not any relationship that would normally be examined in a song. It starts out asking how love can be expressed, but then asks about truth. There's a narrative on top of the music, but the narrative is sort of out of synch, asking:

"Truth is just a word and words are just
Words are words but truth is what we trust
How can we know if words fill our brains?
How can we show if blood fills our veins?
Truth in words is like our blood congealed
Words like turds escape but truth is sealed
Analysis

Transplant has gone wrong
Paralysis
Now you don't belong

This is an interesting song, to say the least. It has a power that most music does not possess. Or, perhaps, should not possess. Is this what we want from music? There are somewhat less extreme examples, like "Bad Blood". "Don't Get Me Wrong is perhaps a bit more extreme.

So, it was an interesting journey. They knew how to craft words and their musical ability got progressively better. Innes is still around, writing music. Stanshall is dead, but had some interesting projects after Bonzo.

Some lament the Bonzos never made it big or continued. What they did was remarkable and given what the band was producing toward the end, one wonders what else it could have done.

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