The Very Best of Preston Epps: Bongo Rock

Liner Note Author: Mark Marymont.Besides Sandy Nelson's "Teen Beat," can you name another instrumental rock & roll hit from the '50s that features the drums as its lead instrument? The answer is Preston Epps' "Bongo Rock," which put Epps' frantic bongo-slapping in the Top 15 in 1959. The follow-up single, "Bongo Bongo Bongo," was a minor hit that set Epps' bongo artistry to a lazy boogie beat. Bongo Rock reissues Epps' Top 40 album Bongo Bongo Bongo in its entirety along with a few cuts from singles. Many of the tracks exude a mellow exotica vibe with flutes and, in one case, jungle sound effects, placing the emphasis on the "bongo" rather than the "rock." The disc is just a little over a half-hour in length, which leads one to wonder why Epps' 1963 album, Surfin' Bongos -- which was made for the same label as the rest of the material here -- wasn't included. ~ Greg Adams

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