Bongo Fury

Bongo Fury
Live album with studio elements by Frank Zappa and The Mothers with Captain Beefheart
Released	October 2, 1975
Recorded	May 20 & 21, 1975 (mostly live) & January 1975 (studio)
Venue	Armadillo World Headquarters, Austin, Texas, U.S.
Genre	Blues rock jazz fusion
Length	42:15
Label	DiscReet
Producer	Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa chronology
One Size Fits All (1975) Bongo Fury (1975) Zoot Allures (1976)
The Mothers of Invention chronology
One Size Fits All (1975) Bongo Fury (1975) Playground Psychotics (1992)
Captain Beefheart chronology
Bluejeans & Moonbeams (1974) Bongo Fury (1975) Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (1978)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Christgau's Record Guide	B
Rolling Stone	(unfavorable)

Bongo Fury is a collaborative album by American artists Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and Zappa's band the Mothers, released in October 1975. The live portions were recorded on May 20 and 21, 1975, at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas. Tracks 5, 6 and 9 (intro only) are studio tracks recorded in January 1975 during the sessions which produced One Size Fits All (1975) and much of Studio Tan (1978).

History

In April 1975 Zappa had a one-sided demo acetate disc cut at Kendun Recorders in Burbank, California. This unreleased disc contains "Revised Music for Guitar and Low-Budget Orchestra", "200 Years Old" and "Regyptian Strut". Zappa's liner notes in the June 1975 album One Size Fits All mention a planned studio follow up album which never appeared. Zappa released Bongo Fury instead. The album contains a four minute version of "200 Years Old" which was edited from the one on the April 1975 acetate.

Overview

The album is a notable entry in Zappa's discography, because it was the last to feature a majority of his early 1970s band, which appeared on Over-Nite Sensation (1973), Apostrophe (') (1974), Roxy & Elsewhere (1974), and One Size Fits All (1975).

Napoleon Murphy Brock's vocals are featured both on the sprawling "Advance Romance" as well as on the three-part harmonies of "Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy". Captain Beefheart, in his only tour with Zappa's band, delivers vocals and harmonica on several tracks, including his two short prose readings "Sam with the Showing Scalp Flat Top" and "Man with the Woman Head". Bongo Fury also marks the first appearance of Terry Bozzio, who would become Zappa's featured drummer between 1975 and 1978.

Critical reception

Reviewing in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau wrote: "This sentimental reunion album, recorded (where else?) in Austin with (what else?) additional L.A. studio work, is dismissed by Zappaphiles and 'Fhearthearts alike, but what were they expecting? Perhaps because there's a blues avatar up top, the jazzy music has a soulful integrity, and though it's embarrassing to hear the Captain deliver Frankie's latest pervo exploitations, the rest of the songs are funnier because he's singing them."

Track listing

All tracks performed by Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart and The Mothers; all tracks composed by Zappa, except where noted. This is the last non-archival Frank Zappa album on which the band name "The Mothers [of Invention]" is used.

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Debra Kadabra"		3:54
2.	"Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy"		5:59
3.	"Sam with the Showing Scalp Flat Top"	Don Van Vliet	2:51
4.	"Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead"		3:03
5.	"200 Years Old"		4:32
Total length:			20:55

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
6.	"Cucamonga"		2:24
7.	"Advance Romance"		11:17
8.	"Man with the Woman Head"	Don Van Vliet	1:28
9.	"Muffin Man"		5:34
Total length:			21:20

Personnel

Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart on stage in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1975

Musicians

• Frank Zappa – lead guitar, lead (2, 5, 6, 9) and backing vocals
• Captain Beefheart – harp, lead (1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9) and backing vocals, shopping bags (also soprano sax)
• George Duke – keyboards, lead (2, 7) and backing vocals
• Napoleon Murphy Brock – sax, lead (2, 7) and backing vocals
• Bruce Fowler – trombone, fantastic dancing
• Tom Fowler – bass, also dancing
• Denny Walley – slide guitar, backing vocals
• Terry Bozzio – drums, moisture
• Chester Thompson – drums (on "200 Years Old" and "Cucamonga")
• Robert "Frog" Camarena – backing vocals on "Debra Kadabra" (uncredited)

Production staff

• Michael Braunstein – engineer
• Frank Hubach – engineer
• Kelly Kotera – engineer
• Kerry McNabb – engineer
• Davey Moire – engineer
• Cal Schenkel – design
• John Williams – photography, cover photo
• Bob Stone – engineer
• Mike D. Stone of the Record Plant – engineer

Charts

Album - Billboard (United States)

Year	Chart	Position
1975	Billboard 200	66