Beat Hotel (40th Anniversary Edition - Remastered) The Bongos

• 1 Space Jungle 03:50
• 2 Apache Dancing 03:08
• 3 Brave New World 04:32
• 4 A Story (Written In The Sky) 03:08
• 5 The Beat Hotel 04:00
• 6 Come Back To Me 03:26
• 7 Splinters 03:40
• 8 She Starts Shaking 03:24
• 9 Totem Pole 03:12
• 10 Blow Up 04:03
• 11 Apache Dancing (Live at the Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ - 5/24/1985) (96 kHz) 03:42
• 12 A Story (Written in the Sky) (Live at the Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ - 5/24/1985) (96 kHz) 03:11
• 13 Splinters (Live at the Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ - 5/24/1985) (96 kHz) 03:40
• 14 Blow Up (Live at the Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ - 5/24/1985) (96 kHz) 03:21
• 15 Come Back to Me (Live at the Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ - 5/24/1985) (96 kHz) 03:33
• 16 Brave New World (Live at the Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ - 5/24/1985) (96 kHz) 04:26
• 17 Totem Pole (Live at the Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ - 5/24/1985) (96 kHz) 03:36
• 18 The Beat Hotel (Live at the Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ - 5/24/1985) (96 kHz) 03:25
• 19 Space Jungle (Live at the Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ - 5/24/1985) (96 kHz) 03:42
• 20 Apache Dancing (Demo - 1984) 02:58
• 21 The Beat Hotel (Demo - 1984) 04:53
• 22 A Story (Written In The Sky) (Demo - 1984) 02:57
• 23 Totem Pole (Demo - 1984) 03:17
• 24 Slingshot (Demo - 1984) 02:39
• 25 Splinters (Demo - 1984) 03:42
• 26 Space Jungle (Demo - 1984) 04:10
• 27 Roman Circus (Demo - 1984) 03:52
• 28 South of the Border (Demo - 1984) 03:38
• 29 She Starts Shaking (Demo - 1984) 03:42
• 30 Blow Up (Demo - 1984) 04:15
• 31 Brave New World (Tour Bus Demo - 1984) 05:01
• Total Runtime 01:54:03

Info for Beat Hotel (40th Anniversary Edition - Remastered)

The Bongos — the Hoboken pop-rock band that energized the New Jersey rock scene of the ’80s with its elusive lyrics, propulsive guitar grooves and edgy sound — has released an 40th Anniversary Edition of its 1985 RCA Records album Beat Hotel via Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings.

"After showing they could adapt nicely to big-league record making with their major-label debut, the 1983 EP Numbers with Wings, the Bongos lost a bit of their footing on the 1985 album Beat Hotel. It was the first time the Bongos had recorded a full album in one go (1982's Drums Along the Hudson was assembled from singles, EPs, and various stray tracks), and the quality of the songwriting isn't especially consistent; for every off-kilter gem like "A Story (Written in the Sky)," "Blow Up," and "Splinters," there's a throw-away like "Space Jungle" and "Totem Pole." The edgy energy that enlivened the big-sounding production on Numbers with Wings is sadly absent on these sessions, and through the deep and spacious sound of Numbers with Wings unexpectedly suited the Bongos, Beat Hotel sounds slick but shallow, with the addition of additional synthesizers and percussion cluttering the melodies without adding much lift, and Richard Barone and Jim Mastro's guitars feeling flat and lacking their usual presence. Numbers with Wings found the Bongos learning how to marry Barone's eccentric melodic and lyrical ideas to a more polished production style and still sound strong, but John Jansen (who engineered Numbers with Wings) doesn't manage the same feat after moving into the producer's chair, and ultimately, Beat Hotel makes a smart and imaginative band come off as facile and a bit silly. Beat Hotel was also the group's final album (they were said to be working on another LP when they called it quits in 1987), which makes the disappointment of the album all the more severe; a band as consistently interesting as the Bongos deserved to go out with something special, but Beat Hotel is the least interesting record they would release." (Mark Deming, AMG)

The Bongos

Digitally remastered

Please Note: This album consists of different sampling rates. See track list - behind each track you'll find the sampling rate.

The Bongos
Led by enthusiastic guitarist/singer Richard Barone, this Hoboken, New Jersey pop band makes no effort to conceal its roots. Mixed among the original songs on Drums Along the Hudson (an expanded version of the Time and the River mini-album, itself a compilation of singles) is a breathy cover of T. Rex’s “Mambo Sun”; elsewhere, Barone spins out streamlined Byrds guitar licks and maintains a brisk pace throughout. Tuneful originals like “In the Congo” and “Video Eyes” may trade a certain amount of substance for easy appeal, but there’s no better musical equivalent of whipped cream anywhere.

The Bongos subsequently expanded from a trio with the fulltime addition of guitarist James Mastro. In an offbeat variation on the solo record concept, Barone and Mastro dropped down to North Carolina to record Nuts and Bolts in collaboration with Mitch Easter. Each Bongo takes a side to showcase his own writing and singing, while helping the other out as well. Barone’s results are bland and resemble unfinished band demos or outtakes, with dull sound matching uninspired material; Mastro takes a more idiosyncratic approach, using the opportunity to express some individuality and clearly delineate his contribution to the Bongos.

Recording for the first time as a quartet, the Bongos cut five new songs for Numbers With Wings, produced by Richard Gottehrer. “Barbarella” and the title track are prime, filled with swell harmonies, driving acoustic guitars and subtle structural tricks; the rest is adequate but dispensable.

Produced by John Jansen (Lou Reed, Television), Beat Hotel is the Bongos’ most rocking record, a sparkling explosion of guitar pop. “Space Jungle” has a nagging hook and a full-blown arrangement; “Apache Dancing” is similarly ambitious in a different vein; “Come Back to Me” and “A Story (Written in the Sky)” hark back to the band’s simpler days; “Totem Pole” sounds a bit like the dB’s except for the overblown big-band finale. Given the best audio treatment of their career, the Bongos prove their mettle, simultaneously exposing their main inadequacy: inconsistent songwriting. (One CD combines Beat Hotel and Numbers With Wings.)

Barone chronicled the recording of the band’s unreleased Phantom Train for the Island label in his 2007 autobiography, Frontman. The recordings from 1985 and 1986 were finally released in 2013 on the revitalized JEM label. As it turns out, the lost album could have been a real comeback after the stumble of the Bongos’ RCA stint. The band really nails the tough trick of rocking out to ambitious and mannered melodies. E.T. Thorngren produced the record with the deftness of a man who’s fluent in pop, reggae and disco — fulfilling his role as a potential hitmaker for a band that didn’t know it was actually recording demos for Barone’s solo career.

Barone’s solo debut was made onstage at New York’s Bottom Line, trading the Bongos’ big pop for airy chamber music, leading a scaled-down attack flanked by a cellist, acoustic guitarist and a percussionist-pianist-vibraphonist. Cool Blue Halo‘s gentler approach shows off his romanticism to good effect, especially on such choice covers as the Beatles’ “Cry Baby Cry” and Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World” and Bongos classics (“The Bulrushes” and “Numbers With Wings”). A perfect three a.m. record, though it sounds a tad precious in broad daylight.

In contrast, Primal Dream is a full-blown studio job that applies overly smooth production (half by Richard Gottehrer, half by Don Dixon) to Barone’s subtle song craft. Though it’s consistently tasteful and tuneful, Primal Dream lacks the rocking playfulness of the Bongos’ best work, veering dangerously close to MOR blandness. Still, taken in small enough doses, the pleasures of such tunes as “River to River” and “Where the Truth Lies” (not to mention a gracefully unslick cover of Lou Reed’s “I’ll Be Your Mirror”) are undeniable.

This album contains no booklet.