Bugaloos, The
Band members Related acts
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line up 1 (1970) - Caroline
"Joy" Ellis -- lead vocals, percussion
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- none known
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Genre: pop Rating: **** (3 stars) Title: Bugaloos Company: Capitol Catalog: 621 Year: 1970 Country/State: US Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: minor cover wear Available: 1 Catalog ID: 4614 Price: $70.00 Cost: $1.00
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Many folks now in their mid-'50s probably have fond memories of late 1960s and early-1970s Saturday morning children's' television. In terms of creativity and quality it marked a timeframe that has seldom been matched. Among the era treasures were The Bugaloos. A concept out of the Sid and Marty Krofft (H.R. Pufnstuf) empire, The Bugaloos marketing concept pulled a page out of The Monkees playbook. After holding a massive UK wide talent search, the Krofts settled on four young English actors to star in The Bugaloos. Caroline "Joy" Ellis was the butterfly, Danny "Wayne" Laryea was a bumblebee, John "Big John" McIndoe was a grasshopper and John "Little John" Philpott was a ladybug.
In the show each
of the characters was blessed
with a unique power (Ellis represented joy, Laryea was harmony, Philpott was
courage and McIndoe had intelligence. Living in Tranquility Forest,
over the show's thirteen episode run the four Bugaloos used their wings, a
cool dune buggy, surfboards and their natural talents to fight the witch
Benita Bizarre (Martha Raye) in a series of
sensitive, socially, politically and ecologically correct adventures.
Naturally each episode was accompanied by music - what else would you expected from Tranquility
Forest? And of course Capitol Records saw to it that Bugaloo
fans were able to invest some of their disposable income (or their parent's
disposable income) on a Bugaloos album. 1.) If You Become a Bugaloo (Hal Yoergler) - 2:09 rating: *** stars 'If You Become a Bugaloo' was an interesting introduction to the Buggles world. I guess it was uplifting in an odd Bugaloos fashion, after all remember "If you become a Bugaloo there's so much more that you can do to make out world a better place to be." Heavily orchestrated, there wasn't a great deal to the melody, but the "buga-buga-buga-buga" chorus was a hoot. Imagine The Free Design having decided they wanted a top-40 hit and decided to so they would dress up like insects who had been sipping a bit too much nectar from poppy plants. YouTube has a bunch of Bugaloos television clips including a performance of this tune: The Bugaloos If You Become A Bugaloos 1970 - YouTube For some reason the song was released as a single in Venezuela: -
1971's 'Si Eres Un Bugaloo' (If You Become a Bugaloo') b/w 'Gna Gna Gna Gna
Gna' (Capitol catalog number 4-2183) Musically
the ballad
'Senses of Our World' only had one thing going for it. It wasn't the
bland, mildly lysergic melody, or environmentally sensitive lyrics.
Yeah it was lead singer Caroline
Ellis. Her voice wasn't particularly strong and to my ears she had a
strange accent, but I'll let you judge for yourself:
The Bugaloos - Senses
Of Our World - YouTube 'For a Friend' found the quartet going full-out for top-40 power pop. Surprisingly it was quite good, explaining why it was tapped as a single:
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1971's 'For a Friend' b/w 'The Senses of Our World' (Capitol catalog number
2946) With
a giddy, organ propelled melody, 'Believe' was another track that mixed
surprisingly thoughtful lyrics with another Free Design-styled
arrangement. In spite of myself, I'll admit to loving this track. 'It's
New To You' was an example of a track where there really wasn't much to the
song. The melody just kind of wandered around with the horns and
woodwinds going their own way. And in spite of those criticisms, it
was another tune that stuck in your head. Hum, a love ballad for seven year
old ... It would have made a nice single. A good example of their "group voices", I suspect that if parents had been paying attention they might have been a little surprised by Hal Yoergler's lyrics.
1.) Older Woman (Hal Yoergler) - 2:30 rating: *** stars In
spite of the song title, the track was used in an episode to celebrate Joy's
birthday. Lyrically it was pretty much the title sung by the guys over and
over and over and over and was about as threatening as a chewing gum
ad. Is it just me or did Joy only have one dance
move? The
Bugaloos Older Woman (1970) - YouTube One
of the album's prettiest songs, the heavily orchestrated ballad 'Just the Memory Stays Around'
had kind of an Association vibe going on. Even
if you are a massive bubblegum pop fan, there's a good chance 'Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna'
will piss you off. Judge it yourself: The
Bugaloos - Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna - YouTube Ellis
was featured on 'Castles In the Air' and her slightly performance made it
clear why most of the songs featured group harmonies. This one sounded
like a bad Seekers, or We Five performance.
The Bugaloos 1970
Castles In The Air - YouTube Powered by a kazoo the show's theme song was mindless and criminally catchy. The track was released as a single in New Zealand:
- 1971's 'Theme from the Bugaloos' b/w 'Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna' (Capitol catalog number CP.540)
Want to know what happened to The Bugaloos? Following the first season
of the television show Columbia financed a Bugaloos movie. The film was actually shot, but shelved
when the company ran into financial difficulties. In the meantime the four
actors returned to England for a brief break. Plans for a second season of
shows were subsequently cancelled based on poor ratings.
Gawd only knows why, but Capitol released a Bugaloos EP in Southeast Asia (Capitol catalog number EAP 21794).
"The Bugaloos" track listing: (side 1) 1.) The Bugaloos (Charles Fox - Norman Gimble) - 2:09 2.) Castles In the Air (Joel Hirschhorn - Alfred Kasha) - 2:25 3.) Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna (Charles Fox - Ross) - 2:14
(side 2) 1.) If You Become a Bugaloo (Hal Yoergler) - 2:09 2.) Senses of Our World (Hal Yoergler) - 3:02 3.) For a Friend (Joel Hirschhorn - Alfred Kasha) - 2:28
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