Espresso Bongo

Espresso Bongo is the second studio album released by Mental As Anything. It was released in July 1980, produced by Cameron Allan,[2] and peaked at #37 on the Australian Album charts.[3] The only single released from the album, "Come Around", written by Martin Plaza [4] was released in June 1980 and peaked at #18 on the Australian Singles charts.[3] Virgin Records passed on their option to release this album overseas due to theirs and the band's dissatisfaction with the finished product.

Not to be confused with Expresso Bongo.

Espresso Bongo
Studio album by
Mental As Anything
ReleasedJuly 1980
RecordedMusic Farm, Byron Bay, Australia
GenrePop
LabelRegular
ProducerCameron Allan
Mental As Anything chronology
Get Wet
(1979)		 Espresso Bongo
(1980)		 Cats & Dogs
(1981)
Singles from Espresso Bongo
  1. "Come Around"
    Released: June 1980
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Recording

Greedy Smith later said the recording, "just got away from us all together. We'd only learned the songs the week before we recorded them, and then we put them down in seven days."[5]

O'Doherty later recalled, "we did it in six days under the influence of all sorts of terrible things. It's one of my favourites and it's the weirdest album we've done but it could have been played a lot better and done a lot cleaner."[6]

Reception

AllMusic said, "Sounding like it consists of songs leftover from the sessions for their debut, Espresso Bongo does no one any favors, although it is not a bad album. Cameron Allan's production is even flatter than before, sucking almost all the excitement out of what could have been an exciting album." The efforts of Martin Plaza are described as "buried".[7]

Rip It Up disagreed, saying, "The hooks are just as subtle, but growing songwriting expertise and excellent production mean that the sound is smoother, and the band no longer wear their influences like badges". The subject matter was said to be, "that great Australian institution, suburbia".[8]

Track listing
  1. "Troop Movements in the Ukraine"
  2. "Semi Trailer"
  3. "Missing Plane"
  4. "Insect Liberation"
  5. "Won't Let Me Drive"
  6. "Come Around"
  7. "Harmonic Visions"
  8. "Away"
  9. "Cannibal"
  10. "Blacktown to Bondi"
  11. "The Girl"
  12. "Live Now Pay Later"

Release history
Region Date Label Format Catalogue
Australia July 1980 Regular Records Vinyl LP L37358
Australia 1992 Regular Records CD D19561

Chart positions
Year Chart Peak Position[3]
1980 ARIA Album Chart 37

Personnel

Musicians

Recording details

References
  1. Espresso Bongo at AllMusic
  2. "Mental As Anything". Australian Rock Database. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  3. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988.
  4. ""Close Again" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
  5. Duncan Campbell (1 April 1982). "Mentals: Greedy spills the beans". Rip It Up. No. 57.
  6. George Kay (1 September 1985). "Method In Their Mentalness". Rip It Up. No. 98.
  7. Stephen Schmee. "Espresso Bongo". AllMusic.
  8. Simon Grigg (1 September 1980). "Records". Rip It Up. No. 38.
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