Best of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (Vivian Stanshall) Sir Henry at Rawlinson End

Best of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (Vivian Stanshall) Sir Henry at Rawlinson End

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (Vivian Stanshall) Sir Henry at Rawlinson End

The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band was one of the greatest groups in the history of British rock, despite the fact that they were essentially a cross between the music-hall of the 1950s and the theatre of the absurd. Their songs were parodies of musical styles of the past, with lyrics that mocked various aspects of British life, but the eclectic collage of their repertory was, as a whole, much more than a mere parody. Albums such as Gorilla (1967) and Doughnut In Granny's Greenhouse (1968) drew from every genre that came to hand, but in particular from everything that was "kitsch", running the gamut from operetta to doo-wop, from TV commercials to marching bands, from Broadway showtunes to big-band swing, from folk ballads to patriotic choruses; and employing a stunning variety of instruments and vocal registers. Their endeavor was, in fact, very similar to the post-modernist sabotage carried out in California by Frank Zappa. Miraculously, such a unhortodox cauldron of musical ingredients coalesced in songs that were concise and catchy. Tadpoles (1969) tried to sell to the masses that hidden pop appeal. The baroque clockwork mechanisms of Keynsham (1969) and Let's Make Up And Be Friendly (1972) were primed to detonate a random sequence of irresistible melodies and sound effects. Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead (1974), the first solo album by Bonzo Band leader Vivian Stanshall (1), was no less anarchic. They were the greatest nonsensical artists since Dada, the musical equivalent of Monty Python and, perhaps, the best arrangers of their age. Slush (1972) is their testament: someone laughing in heaven, surrounded by angelic violins and organ.