Veteran power-pop band The Bongos recently released its first-ever live album, The Shroud of Touring. The archival collection arrived 40 years after it was recorded at a May 1985 club show on the Jersey Shore.
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The Bongos were one of the architects of “the Hoboken sound,” an alternative-rock genre attributed to the eclectic music acts that played at the famed now-defunct New Jersey rock club Maxwell’s during the venue’s early days. The group offered up an infectious and melodic blend of early rock ‘n’ roll, glam rock, pop rock, and even a bit of punk.
During their 1980s heyday, The Bongos released a handful of EPs and two full-length albums, Drums Along the Hudson (1982) and Beat Hotel (1985). While touring in support of Beat Hotel, the band decided to document one of its high-energy performances for a live album.
A special show was scheduled at the Tradewinds club in Sea Bright, New Jersey. At the time, The Bongos’ quartet lineup of singer/guitarists Richard Barone and James Mastro, bassist Rob Norris, drummer Frank Giannini was augmented by percussionist Steve Scales. Scales had previously recorded and toured with The B-52s and Talking Heads, and appeared in the latter group’s classic concert film Stop Making Sense.
In an exclusive interview with American Songwriter, Barone, The Bongos’ frontman and main songwriter, recalled that the band was particularly tight at the time, as the Beat Hotel tour featured about 300 concerts. He also noted that the group had put together a “really bouncy” set for the trek.
“[W]e chose the songs that really rocked, and it’s just one—boom, boom—after the other,” Richard explained.
More About the Making of the Live Album
Barone remembered that the decision to record a live album came from The Bongos’ manager, Vince Mauro, who previously had worked in some capacity on Peter Frampton’s Frampton Comes Alive! album.
“[Vince] was very intent on The Bongos making a live album, ’cause he thought that was one of our strengths,” Richard explained. “We like making recordings in the studio too, but he thought the live show was a strength. And we decided to book a show just to record this album.”
The concert was booked at the Tradewinds club on May 24, 1984, a day off on The Bongos’ tour. The show was promoted by local New Wave station WHTG-FM, one of whose DJs then was famed MTV VJ and host Matt Pinfield.
“Pinfield was there, [as were] all the [other WHTG] DJs,” Barone recalled. “It was a big party.”
About the Set The Bongos Played
The Bongos’ set featured nearly all of the songs from Beat Hotel; five tunes from Drums Along the Hudson, including the band’s cover of T. Rex’s “Mambo Sun”; and two of the group’s popular tunes from the 1983 EP Numbers with Wings—the title track and “Barbarella.” The show also included a performance of “I’ve Got a Secret,” a song from Barone’s 1983 collaborative album with Mastro, Nuts and Bolts.
Barone explained that The Bongos were excited to record the show and played the songs with more speed and energy than the studio versions. Richard noted that the live recording gave the band the chance to present a different, less-layered take on their material.
“There’s nothing like just going out there and playing live for an audience,” he maintained. “It’s like you have to just find what is the essential elements of the song so that it comes across the way you want it to, with all the energy and verve and intricacy and dynamics that you can possibly do live, but not … in an artificial way.”
Barone said a big part of The Bongos’ extra energy in concert was thanks to Scales. According to Richard, the band added the Scales to its touring lineup partly because Beat Hotel’s tracks featured a percussionist. The album included some Brazilian music influences and as well as being inspired by the beat poets.
Regarding the effect Scales’ percussion had on the band’s performance, Barone noted, “It drives, and it really pushes me to new vocal limits, because … with the two drummers, with Frank and Steve, it was like … an assault, a joyful assault.”
He added, “It definitely pushed me … even [my] guitar playing. It’s like, because the rhythm, the tempos were … so uplifting.”
About the Release of The Shroud of Touring
Barone said The Bongos had already chosen the title The Shroud of Touring for the album around the time it was recorded. The album, though, was not released at the time. After wrapping up the Beat Hotel tour, the band went back into the studio to record a follow-up. That record, like the live album, wound up being shelved.
The Bongos never mounted a major tour again, or recorded another studio album, for that matter. Instead, the band members began pursuing other musical projects. That being said, The Bongos have always remained on relatively good terms, and have reunited frequently to play shows together.
The shelved studio album, titled Phantom Train, finally was released in 2013.
As for the live album, Barone said that the master tapes sat in his archives until a few years ago, when The Bongos renegotiated their record contract with the Sony label.
Revisiting the recording, Barone mixed it with producer/engineer/songwriter Steve Addabbo, known for his world with Suzanne Vega.
Barone decided not to add any overdubs, focusing rather on cleaning up the audio so that all the elements were heard clearly.
“The whole idea was to treat it like we’re just hearing a live show, and sitting there and listening to it, and then making it so you can hear everything,” he explained to American Songwriter. “That’s all we did, and it I think it came out great.”
The Shroud of Touring was released on May 23, a day before the 40th anniversary of the concert’s recording. The album is available now on CD. Signed copies can be purchased at TalkShop.live.
Promoting The Shroud of Touring
To celebrate The Shroud of Touring’s release, The Bongos played a trio of concerts—on May 30 in Woodstock, New York; May 31 in Asbury Park, New Jersey; and June 1 in New York City.
Barone also is promoting the live album with a series of solo shows in the Southern U.S. The six-date trek, featuring Richard supporting Pylon Reenactment Society, began June 14 in Nashville and runs through a free June 20 concert in Savannah, Georgia.
Barone told American Songwriter that he’s open to playing more shows with The Bongos, although there aren’t any current plans.
Richard’s most recent original music release was a collaborative single with rap great Darryl “DMC” McDaniels from Run-DMC. The track, “All Fall Down,” was released in September 2024.
For more information about Barone, visit RichardBarone.com.
The Shroud of Touring Track List:
- “In the Congo”
- “Apache Dancing”
- “I’ve Got a Secret”
- “Mambo Sun”
- “A Story (Written in the Sky)”
- “Telephoto Lens”
- “Zebra Club”
- “Splinters”
- “Glow in the Dark”
- “Blow Up”
- “Come Back to Me”
- “Brave New World”
- “Totem Pole”
- “Numbers with Wings”
- “The Beat Hotel”
- “Barbarella”
- “Space Jungle
(Photo by Debra L Rothenberg/Getty Images)
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