(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
Richard Barones Bongos, hailing from Hoboken, New Jersey, came to prominence with an eccentric pop-folk style that sat somewhere between Devo, the Modern Lovers, and the DBs. From the first, they inherited a passion for a devolved power-pop, which underpins tracks like Telephoto Lens (their first single, 1980), the driving surf-rockabilly Video Eyes, Time And The River, and the B-52s-style dance-trance of Automatic Doors. From the second, they adopted a taste for playful, iconoclastic hybrids, as in the propulsive, tribal In The Congo (from the eponymous 1981 EP), with a voodoo-billy streak reminiscent of the Cramps, the ethnic instrumental Burning Bush, and the deranged epilepsy of Zebra Club. From the third, they drew a love of more acidic folk-rock, as in Clay Midgets, with its dense guitar underlay, Merseybeat-style backing vocals, and martial cadences, as in Bulrushes. These early-period tracks culminated in the album Drums Along The Hudson (PVC, 1982).
Later, Barone met Steve Almaas and James Mastro of Beat Rodeo and helped them record an EP. Mastro joined Barone, and together they recorded Nuts And Bolts (Passport, 1983). Mastro became a full-time member of the Bongos starting with the EP Numbers With Wings (RCA, 1983), which features the standout title track and Barbarella.
The Bongos evolved into a rock-and-roll combo with Beat Hotel (RCA, 1985), whose best tracks even feature heavy-metalstyle production (Space Jungle, Beat Hotel, Apache Dancing).
Barone is the most personal and complex of the revivalists because he also draws on the vocabulary of progressive bands.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
Richard Barone continued solo with Cool Blue Halo (Passport, 1987),
a live set of old Bongos songs and covers with Jane Scarpantoni on cello.
The new approach to music consists mainly in
classical-sounding arrangements and angelic singing (Silent Symphony
being the standout). Among the old songs, Flew A Falcon is particularly
effective, even adding martial tom-toms.
This was followed by the keyboard-heavy Primal Dream (Paradox, 1990),
whose Mr Used To Be and Where The Truth Lies,
marred by a loud and quasi-metal production,
are meager reminders of past glory.
I Only Took What I Needed even flirts with the heavy beat of dance music.
In reality, Barone was beginning to develop a new voice, the voice of a
popsmith raised at the school of the Beatles and the Byrds, as one can guess
from the catchy and driving Before You Were Born, from the soothing
River To River, and from
Native Tongue, clearly inspired by REM's The One I Love and
by the Beatles' Here Comes The Sun.
Barone was ready to deliver his masterpiece.
Despite the chamber-orchestra arrangements,
Clouds Over Eden (Line, 1993) is his equivalent of Neil Young's
Tonight's The Night:
from the solemn, string-laden hymn Within These Walls to
the half-whispered, mournful Beatles-ian elegy of Clouds Over Eden,
from Miss Jean, a touching, romantic lied accompanied by cello and
acoustic guitar filled of drama, to
Beautiful Human, a rousing cry that fuses the
emphatic tone of David Bowie and the neurotic tone of Neil Young,
this song cycle stands as a subdued requiem for a dead friend,
ending with the terrible, Peter Gabriel-esque
whirlwind of Law Of The Jungle.
At the same time, the album is the synthesis of Barone's melodic influences:
Paper Airplane boasts frantic funk strumming, Byrds-ian jingle-jangling
guitars and Merseybeat harmonies (perhaps his pop masterpiece).
Nobody Knows Me is equally indebted to Mr Tambourine Man-era
folk-rock.
Waiting For The Train is an exuberant funk/soul/caribbean shuffle
that would befit Paul Simon (and vaguely reminiscent of Crosby Stills & Nash's
Love The One You're With).
All in all, this was one of the most overlooked albums of the year from a
singer songwriter.
The first three Barone solo albums were collected on
The Big Three (Line, 2000). THe next one,
Between Heaven And Cello (Line, 1994),
was another cello-driven live album similar to Cool Blue Halo.
Barone also composed film soundtracks and was musical
director and orchestrator of an off-Broadway musical.
Glow (2010) was his next solo album.
Sorrows & Promises (2016) is devoted to early songs of the Greenwich Village movement.
James Mastro formed the
Health & Happiness Show, with whom he played parodistic country-rock in the
tradition of
Beat Rodeo (another creation of his ten years earlier):
Drunk-Eyed Waltz and The Man Who Married The Moon save
Tonic (Bar None, 1993).
(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
Health & Happiness Show revved up on Instant Living (Bar None, 1995), with frantic
and forceful romps like Sugar In Your Eyes and
Tossing Like A Stone.
Second guitarist Ivan Julian joins Mastro, drummer Vinnie DeNunzio (Feelies) and
bassist Dave DeCastro for
Sad And Sexy (Cropduster, 1999) and it makes a difference.
Mastro pens his best compositions in a while:
How To Breathe, Love Sounds Like Rain and
Don't Give Me Lonely Tonight.
James Mastro collaborated with Karyn Kuhl of Gut Bank on the EPs The Stars Will Bring You Home (2016) and Hey Kids (2019).
He finally released his first solo album
Dawn of a New Error (2024) at the age of 64.
