Is Bambu all that great??

[Jim V.]

So, I've had the reissued Pacific Ocean Blue, with the Bambu tracks on the second disc, and I gotta say, I don't think Bambu comes anywhere close to Pacific Ocean Blue. There is definitely nothing that comes close to the majesty of "River Song" or "Farewell My Friend", and I don't think anything rocks like "What's Wrong" or "Friday Night".

But anyways, am I approaching the material wrong or something? Because it's kinda starting to become clear to me that maybe the reason it wasn't put out was because Dennis knew what he had with that album wasn't really up to par. He had a few great songs, like "Love Surrounds Me", "Love Remember Me", and "Baby Blue". And obviously, two of those three, were released in Dennis' lifetime. I really think that many of the songs weren't really fully formed, a lot of little pieces, but I don't think they sounded coherent together, unlike, say, SMiLE, which had many parts, but I don't feel was disjointed. The only song I really felt that kinda thing worked with was the "Album Tag Song". And while I'm at it, what's up with that title? So was that supposed to be the final song, or a section of another song? Just seems odd. But I think its a really powerful song. And by the way, wasn't this Dennis' last released vocal. It was from '79 or '80 right?

So yeah, feel free to disagree with me, I hope to hear this album in a different way.

[stack-o-tracks]

I remember reading that Album Tag Song was recorded during the POB sessions. Possibly meant to come after End Of The Show I think it was.

I really like a lot of the stuff on disc 2 of POB. He's A Bum, Under The Moonlight, Time For Bed, Wild Situation, School Girl.

That stuff kicks, but in a different way. 

[Jay]

Ok, I'm just going to come right out and say it. Bambu is so good it makes Pacific Ocean Blue stink. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if Bambu had been finished in 1978-79, it would have been one of the great albums of the 1970's.

[DonnyL]

I agree it's pretty different from 'Pacific Ocean Blue', but I think it's potentially just as good ... but it doesn't really seem finished.  Think of all of the outtakes from POB ... he may very well have ended up recording more songs and selecting a set that flowed together differently.  But I do think the material is there and it's just as good in it's own way.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

I think Bambu is utterly and terrifyingly brilliant! If it had been released, I imagine it might have gone down in history as one of rock's great tortured/wrecked epics ala Big Star's 3rd, or John Cale's Helen Of Troy,  or R&L Thompson's Shoot Out The Lights, etc

[MBE]

Of course it's unfinished but the offical release really was excellent. As with Smile it is so good that we now have these two fantastic albums as close to final as they ever will be. If anything made me love the music that much more were these two releases.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Big Star's 3rd (Sister Lovers) is basically unfinished and it's rightly hailed as a classic. Hopefully Bambu will be too someday.

[Jay]

Big Star's 3rd (Sister Lovers) is basically unfinished and it's rightly hailed as a classic. Hopefully Bambu will be too someday.

I just looked up those three albums you mentioned above, and ater reading about them I'm rather curios. Do you have any more examples of "tortured/wrecked epics"?

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Nice to hear I've sparked some curiosity!

Hmmmm, lemme thing.....

Richard & Linda Thompson's "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight" might be a better fit than Shoot Out The Lights, but either will do. I've heard "Moody Blue" by Elvis described as such, also, what's that Randy Newman album??? Hmmm, Lou Reed's "Berlin" certainly fits!

[D409]

But both "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight" and "Shoot Out The Lights" by Richard & Linda Thompson were both complete and finished masterpieces in their own right, unlike Big Star 3rd which was compiled by others against Alex Chilton's wishes.

[Jason]

I don't think we can say with any real certainty if Bambu was/is all that great because it was never finished. Yeah, we may say now that "oh, why didn't Dennis just slap twelve tunes together and call it a day?" but the truth is that Dennis never got to that point due to a little thing called life (and the loss of Brother Studio) getting in the way.

And, let's keep in mind that many of the "Bambu" tracks claimed origins during the POB sessions, and in some cases, even before. Are You Real apparently was based off of a 1975 session for an early version of (I think) 10,000 Years. School Girl and Love Remember Me are POB outtakes. Album Tag is a POB outtake bisected by a 1979 piano/vocal session. The "Piano Variations on Thoughts Of You" is a version of Takin' Off, another POB outtake.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Well, whatever the hell it is, it's a masterpiece to my ears.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

But both "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight" and "Shoot Out The Lights" by Richard & Linda Thompson were both complete and finished masterpieces in their own right, unlike Big Star 3rd which was compiled by others against Alex Chilton's wishes.

I didn't mean "tortured/wrecked masterpieces" in that they were unfinished, but rather wrecked/tortured as in mood/content. I probably could have worded it better.

[roll plymouth rock]

Big Star's 3rd (Sister Lovers) is basically unfinished and it's rightly hailed as a classic. Hopefully Bambu will be too someday.

I just looked up those three albums you mentioned above, and ater reading about them I'm rather curios. Do you have any more examples of "tortured/wrecked epics"?

Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt comes to mind. Mr. Wyatt just broke both his legs and was destined to live his life in a wheelchair, quite the bummer. Cut with the Soft Machine guys and other UK prog alum....its definitely a tortured/wrecked epic

[18thofMay]

It's not too late is an epic song

[Nicko1234]

I agree with the OP in that Bambu doesn't come close to POB. I think there are a number of reasons for that. Dennis's voice was obviously gone, some of Carli Munoz's material stands out like a sore thumb and there is a dated feel to a lot of it for me.

[hypehat]

Big Star's 3rd (Sister Lovers) is basically unfinished and it's rightly hailed as a classic. Hopefully Bambu will be too someday.

I just looked up those three albums you mentioned above, and ater reading about them I'm rather curios. Do you have any more examples of "tortured/wrecked epics"?

No Other by Gene Clark!

[Loaf]

Bambu isn't close to POB. The lyrics, melodies, production, not on the same level. But then again Dennis wasn't on the same level either, so it's understandable.

If Baby Blue had been on there, it would have helped a lot, but...

And is it me, or is It's Not Too Late a little dull? Carl's vocal is whiny and uninteresting. There. I've said it.

[The Shift]

Bambu's worth the price of entry for the first half of Love Remember Me alone. One of my all-time faves. Tug of Love is tremendous. Album Tag Song is set as my wake-up alarm tune.  Had it been finished and released back in the day, I think Dennis's place in rock history would be regarded very differently by the general music listening public. Hey ho, it wasn't to be, but what a treasure trove the POB/Bambu compilers uncovered for us.

[Loaf]

Hey ho, it wasn't to be, but what a treasure trove the POB/Bambu compilers uncovered for us.

Oh yes, i agree completely. Despite my negative assessment in my previous post, I am very grateful to have it/hear it. So it's not as good as POB. There's very little in the history of recorded music that is, so it's no fault of the music itself. Dennis just set such high expectations of what was to follow.

[MyGlove]

<-------- this idiot is about to tell you something.

When I ordered Pacific Ocean Blue on the internet, I was in a phase of wanting only to own original albums as they were when they were released, refusing to buy albums with even bonus tracks. So I got the non-legacy edition. I've never heard Bambu

[absinthe_boy]

<-------- this idiot is about to tell you something.

When I ordered Pacific Ocean Blue on the internet, I was in a phase of wanting only to own original albums as they were when they were released, refusing to buy albums with even bonus tracks. So I got the non-legacy edition. I've never heard Bambu

I bought the 3LP vinyl edition and haven't listened to Bambu yet !!!!!

[Iron Horse-Apples]

I think the Bambu disk suffers from bad sequencing. Too many slow songs in quick succession. Try changing the track order, slow song / fast song. The material is there, but not presented in the best order, to me anyway.

[send me a picture and i'll tell you]

Tug of Love is tremendous.

Mike's unreleased hot tub video?   

[exposedbrain]

speaking of Tug Of Love (my favorite song on the whole thing), whats the deal with that weird, gurgly, white soul vocal on the part where Dennis is chanting "feel the pull, feel the pull" and it comes in with "I feel the pull". I accept it b/c I love that song so much, but its so weird and out of place, like someone was joking around