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Box of Bongwater
Bongwater
Box of Bongwater
Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (24) - Disc #1
  •  Track Listings (21) - Disc #2
  •  Track Listings (23) - Disc #3
  •  Track Listings (23) - Disc #4

Bongwater's legacy might well be an academic matter, considering that they pretty much sewed up everything they tried. That is, Ann Magnuson and Kramer knew how to tie their boats together, from the tongue-firmly-in-cheek ...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Bongwater
Title: Box of Bongwater
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Shimmy Disc
Original Release Date: 10/20/1998
Release Date: 10/20/1998
Album Type: Box set, Original recording remastered
Genres: Alternative Rock, Pop, Rock
Styles: Indie & Lo-Fi, American Alternative, Progressive, Progressive Rock
Number of Discs: 4
SwapaCD Credits: 4
UPCs: 035828555524, 738641055522, 766483116545

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Bongwater's legacy might well be an academic matter, considering that they pretty much sewed up everything they tried. That is, Ann Magnuson and Kramer knew how to tie their boats together, from the tongue-firmly-in-cheek performance monologues and vocals of Magnuson to her heartfelt, if biting, musings and from Kramer's immersion in effects and overdubs to his clear fondness for everything from Roky Erickson to noise. This collection grabs it all, from their debut LP, Breaking No New Ground, to Double Bummer to Power of Pussy and their sign-off, Big Sell- Out. The music swerves widely, from the early and warped Moody Blues cover to guest appearances by trumpet great Don Cherry, saxist Gary Windo, and a bevy of others. Throughout the box, dappling psychedelia reverberates like liquid, colored threads. The mix of guitars and melted-together post-rock textures is an enticing one, framing Magnuson's sometimes creeping voice so graciously and so hauntedly that you get lost in Bongwater's tunes. Yes, they are certainly irony-laden and all that, but they're also fantastic listening?some of the best stuff to come from the often moribund world between the increasingly mainstream alt rock of the late 1980s and early 1990s and the fringe-dwelling anti-rock of the same period. In fact, the box demonstrates how wonderfully Bongwater walked the line between rock and all its distant cousins on the far-flung downtown New York scenes of the day. --Andrew Bartlett
 

CD Reviews

THE LAST WORD IN PSYCHEDELIA
05/07/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is essential music. This set has everything they have recorded, and as any fan knows, everything they have recorded is worth having. Kramer is a master arranger, producing tunes that seem to burrow into your mind and make it a better place somehow. There is nothing like this band. Most of this stuff is almost impossible to find anymore in any other form. BUY IT NOW."
At last it has been assembled
Altgeld Lunt | nowheres | 03/21/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)

"all the long lost pieces of music, and some nice packaging too, all here for the savvy consumer. this is what god was thinking about when he gave us the ability to hear. Ann and Kramer have somehow discovered the master's divine plan, and put it to music, so don't you think you should go out and buy the box set so you too can experience it?"
His old look |
S. Ranson | near the ocean | 06/11/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Bongwater I discovered absolutely by accident when a friend who was a DJ at Amherst put "His Old Look" on a tape for me (before CDs really were popular at the time) and I immediately took to the sound and the humor of that song in particular.



I won't drone on because the most I can say is that if you like alternative and you have a good sense of humor then I think Bongwater is a great group, the same way I think and always have thought that the Butthole surfers were and are a fun and funny group (why some people found or find them "scary" or some such thing has always been beyond me, and I've heard this, so either I don't get it - entirely possible - or they don't get it. Either way, I'm happy with both groups and highly recommend a good listen.



To really make a good back-to-back listening experience, try Bongwater with The Butthole Surfers and Dean and the Weenies, another more obscure band (at least, I found them difficult to find - not an easy item to find) but worth it - the F**K You song by Dean and the Weenies is unto itself a modern masterpiece and for those of us who remember Union Carbide, or even if you don't, you'll find things there to laugh at.



As to Bongwater, "His Old Look" is one of the best songs I've ever heard for sheer comic relief... at least, I always found it funny.



Cheers,



Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti

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