Beat Hotel (The Bongos album)

Beat Hotel
Studio album by
the Bongos
Released1985
GenrePop rock, power pop
LabelRCA Victor
ProducerJohn Jansen
The Bongos chronology
Numbers with Wings
(1983) 		Beat Hotel
(1985) 		Drums Along the Hudson – Special Edition
(2007)

Beat Hotel is an album by the American band the Bongos, released in 1985.[1][2] Its title is an homage to the Beat Hotel, in Paris, where many Beat writers lived in the 1950s.[3] The first single was "Space Jungle".[4] The album peaked at No. 209 on the Billboard 200.[5] The band supported Beat Hotel with a North American tour.[6]

Production

Produced by John Jansen, the recording sessions for the album took four months, with the Bongos using four different studios.[7][8][9] The band's frontman Richard Barone and guitarist James Mastro spent much of 1984 in Mexico, which influenced their decision to use Latin percussion on some of the tracks.[8] The Bongos were also inspired by the Beatles' Revolver and tried to write and record the songs in different ways.[10] Barone used the cut-up technique for some of the songs' lyrics.[11] He played a guitar synthesizer on several tracks; he borrowed the instrument from Kool & the Gang, who were recording in the same studio.[8] Kate Pierson sang on "Apache Dancing".[12]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[13]
Calgary HeraldF[14]
Duluth News Tribune3/10[15]
The Great Indie Discography4/10[16]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[17]

The Philadelphia Daily News said, "In going for a more complete pop-rock sound, the Bongos have sacrificed a bit of their off-the-wall charm, so that some cuts here... sound like they were tailored to fit in on 'contemporary hits' format radio stations."[18] The San Diego Union stated that "the bouncy guitar playing of James Mastro and Richard Barone and the ecstatic, always melodic vocals ... recalled innumerable now-forgotten power pop groups from the late '70s."[19] The Courier-News called the album "important party music."[20] The Boston Globe said that "there's nothing worth the pop pantheon."[21]

The Tampa Tribune praised Barone's "perfect-pop tenor".[7] The New York Daily News noted that the band "can be a little camp and corny, recalling the Dave Clark Five."[22] The Calgary Herald opined that "everything is so painfully shallow this time around", concluding that "there isn't one hook, one lyrical gem that stays with the listener after a song has limped by."[14] Trouser Press labeled Beat Hotel "the Bongos' most rocking record, a sparkling explosion of guitar pop."[23] The Duluth News Tribune stated, "The Bongos are an object lesson in what can happen when an artificial movement like 'power pop' or 'new wave' dies out."[15]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Space Jungle" 
2."Apache Dancing" 
3."Brave New World" 
4."A Story (Written in the Sky)" 
5."The Beat Hotel" 
6."Come Back to Me" 
7."Splinters" 
8."She Starts Shaking" 
9."Totem Pole" 
10."Blow Up" 

References

  1. ^ Racine, Marty (March 3, 1985). "Records". Zest. Houston Chronicle. p. 9.
  2. ^ Blush, Steven (2016). New York Rock: From the Rise of the Velvet Underground to the Fall of CBGB. St. Martin's Publishing Group. pp. 313–314.
  3. ^ Barone, Richard (2007). Frontman: Surviving the Rock Star Myth. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 100.
  4. ^ Ercolano, Patrick (February 27, 1985). "For the Record". The Evening Sun. Baltimore. p. 14.
  5. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2018). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Albums, 1955–2016. Record Research Inc. p. 144.
  6. ^ Dunkin, Zach (April 6, 1985). "Bongo vibes to Hendrix's sound". The Indianapolis News. p. 14.
  7. ^ a b Okamoto, David (March 1, 1985). "Music Notes". Friday Extra!. The Tampa Tribune. p. 9.
  8. ^ a b c Righi, Len (March 22, 1985). "Bongos Banging the Drum for 'Beat Hotel'". The Morning Call. p. D6.
  9. ^ Logan, Michael (March 28, 1985). "For Bongos, rock will be their lives". The Day. New London. p. 40.
  10. ^ Graff, Gary (April 10, 1985). "A few words with ... Richard Barone". Detroit Free Press. p. 7C.
  11. ^ DeCurtis, Anthony (March 3, 1985). "Bongos cut up on tape for 'Beat Hotel'". The Daily Item. p. F1.
  12. ^ Upton, Pat (February 1, 1985). "Record Notes". Tulsa World. p. B4.
  13. ^ "Beat Hotel Review by Mark Deming". AllMusic. Retrieved June 16, 2025.
  14. ^ a b Muretich, James (March 9, 1985). "The Bongos: Beat Hotel". Calgary Herald. p. E18.
  15. ^ a b Shefchik, Rick (April 21, 1985). "Hot wax". Accent North. Duluth News Tribune. p. 5.
  16. ^ Strong, Martin C. (2003). The Great Indie Discography (2nd ed.). Canongate. p. 239.
  17. ^ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1996. p. 83.
  18. ^ Kanzler, George (March 16, 1985). "Musical Dig Unearths Pop Rock". Features. Philadelphia Daily News. p. 24.
  19. ^ Toombs, Mikel (May 2, 1985). "Bongos can pound out the beat, but fail to drum up support". The San Diego Union. p. D7.
  20. ^ Glickman, Cliff (February 23, 1985). "Mick pops 'in'; Bongos tough to 'Beat'". The Courier-News. p. C2.
  21. ^ Papineau, Lou (April 11, 1985). "Records". Calendar. The Boston Globe. p. 8.
  22. ^ Wyatt, Hugh (March 8, 1985). "The Bongos Beat Hotel". Friday. Daily News. p. 16.
  23. ^ "Bongos". Trouser Press. Retrieved June 16, 2025.
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