Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band

Michael Viner, a high-rolling music business executive in the '70s, needed some soundtrack music for a couple of projects and thus put together the Incredible Bongo Band. And incredible it was, and still is - bypassing the muzak element altogether and instantly becoming masters of funk rock. This compact disc contains both of the IBB's albums (Bongo Rock and The Return Of The Incredible Bongo Band) in their entirety, plus a handful of extra tracks. As one would expect, these are drenched with the archaic'70s polyester sound, but they are dirtier than most of the stereotypical music at the time. Those familiar with the soundtrack work of Lalo Schifrin (Dirty Harry) will enjoy this curio rather immensely, but keep in mind that this is even dirtier than Dirty Harry could ever be, with its Curtis Mayfield-style passionate stretches of bongo jams making it a superior specimen. Nothing here sounds too dated, instead it's rather fresh and it is not going to rekindle memories of bad fabrics and hair-dos. This is more potent than coke, grass or pills.