The great lost psychedelic album. On their second album the Bonzos knock off the trad jazz parodies and pair their surreal lyrics and wild imaginations with rock music to match. Neil Innes still gets to sing the catchiest songs -- "Beautiful Zelda", for instance, examines the perils of dating a space alien -- but Vivian Stanshall beats him with what could be the band's mission statement, "My Pink Half Of The Drainpipe". Plus there's the amazing Love parody "We Are Normal" ("and we dig Bert Weedon!"). The summit, though, is the too awesome for words "Rhinocratic Oaths", which, with its cheery narration ("You should get out more, Percy, or you'll start acting like a dog, ha ha ... He was later arrested near a lamp-post") reveals the Bonzo's ultimate truth: that there is nothing so lunatic as what passes for everyday life. (Hey, that Dada/Doo-Dah wasn't in their name for nothing.) If you have any spark of imagination or individuality, you must get this record.
–Brad
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