Albums by artists whose names start with I

• I Gres: "Exotic Themes For Films, Radio, & TV"
  • CD, Plastic Records 94, Italy, 1998
  • comment:
    • Johan: My rating: 4 points on 5. as featured on the "Stroboscopica" compilation. Funky, jazzy, groovy, very varied, with basic beat band + synths, bongo's, conga's, even a (electric) violin in their ode "To Jean Luc" (Pontu). "Sweet steel" with its steel instruments sounds like (instrumental and loungey) Depeche Mode, but recorded a decade earlier!
    • DJJimmyBee : More Italian Stroboscopia-Styled instrumentals of exotic TV, Movie and Commercial musics. I dotted 8 songs as excellent on the CD, all in the E-Z funk/bossa and ballad realms

• I Marc 4: "I Solisti di Armando Trovajoli"
  • CD, Plastic 014, Italy, 2000
  • comment:
    • Johan: My rating: 4 points on 5. This is a reissue of their debut album, with Trovajoli playing keyboards. No duplicates with the "Marc 4" compilation on Black Cat Records, all 14 are great tracks, with quite some variation. Alll are instrumental (one has wordless female vocals) but some are uptempo with a jazzy funky beat, while other are slower. instrumentation changes too: clavecimbel, Hammond, bass flute, vibraphone, church-style organ add a lot of flavor to the basic guitar/drum 1960's beat sound.
    • Reviewed at Score, Baby

• I Marc 4: "The Psych Jazzy Beat Of I Marc 4"  (Loungissima series Vol 2)
  • CD/Double LP, Black Cat BCR 0101, Italy, 2000
  • comment:
    • Johan: My rating: 5 points on 5. It's fab! a bit psych, thanks to distorted electric guitar; not really jazzy, rather slightly funky; and very 60's beat, with also some bossa. See their web site for details, where you can also buy the CD with your credit card!
    • Stefan Kéry: collection of mindbending Italian quartet. All were involved with the recordings of some of the most amazing Italian 60-70s soundtracks. Featuring everything from "Distortion of the mind" wild 60s psychedelic beat with deafening guitars to zoned out Italian jet set sounds.
    • Reviewed in _Cool And Strange Music Magazine_ issue 17

• I Marc 4: "Suoni Moderni - The Best Of Marc 4"
  • CD/Double LP, Irma 491570, Italy, 1998
  • comment:
    • Johan: My rating: 4 points on 5. Italian funky jazz.
    • Reviewed at Score, Baby

• Illuyenkori: "Tambours Bata"
  • CD, Playasound, UK?, 200?
  • comment:
    • Johan: Very conveniently available directly from What Music, where you can find MP3 samples too.
    • www.whatmusic.com: Afro-Cuban Drums and Chants honouring Chango, Elegua a.o.

• The Impacts: "Eternal Surf"
  • CD, Gee-Dee 270126, Germany, 1997
  • comment:
    • Johan: My rating: 2 points on 5. exotic surf music with slide guitar. Gee-Dee Music: Luruper Chaussee 125, Hs. 8a, D-22761 Hamburg, Germany

• Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band: "Bongo Rock"
  • LP, MGM 2315 255 A (bootleg), Italy, 1998
    LP, Pride, Germany, 2000
    CD, P-Vine PCD-3432, Japan, 2001
  • comment:
    • Johan: My rating: 5 points on 5. Wild, electric, instromental progrock-boogaloo of "Sound Gallery" quality. My LP has no barcode, limited edition, and made in Italy: i guess it must be a bootleg, but in a very nice silver sleeve with 2 hands and 2 green bongos (a repro of the original). A killer lp, a real must-have! I would file it - genre wise - next to Mandingo, because of the same rock base, although there are no electronics here, and the groove is more Latin; but it's also less funky and jazzy than Pucho. Instruments: electric guitar(s), drum, organ, bass, and bongo's! (and "flanging" on 1 track.)

• Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band: "Bongo Rock. The Story Of The Incredible Bongo Band"
  • CD/Double LP, Strut CD017, UK, 2001
  • comment:
    • Johan: My rating: 5 points on 5. Includes their (only) two LP albums "Bongo Rock" and "Return Of The Incredible Bongo Band" entirely, 19 tracks in all. "Bongo Rock" has 8 exceptional tracks of wild, electric, instromental progrock-boogaloo of "Sound Gallery" quality. a real must-have! I would file it - genre wise - next to Mandingo, because of the same rock base, although there are no electronics here, and the groove is more Latin; but it's also less funky and jazzy than Pucho. Instruments: electric guitar(s), drum, organ, bass, and bongo's! (and "flanging" on 1 track.) The "Return..." has a mellower sound, and is more funky than "Bongo Rock".
    • Charles Moseley [about "Return Of..."] : I was a little disappointed. Where the first lp ["Bongo Rock"] is rough and raw, with a real edge to it, "Return Of..." sounds like a soundtrack or easy listening funk record. Nobody can really get the funk going here and the producer has gone for a smooth feel rather than the harsh funk sound of the first outing. Its still a pretty good record with a few breaks (one excellent one) but its definitely too late-seventies and not enough late-sixties.
    • Kris Spencer of Score, Baby: The Incredible Bongo Band pour on a strong groove and created geniune excitement with its collective rhythmic attack. The drums create most of the excitement, but the supporting cast (guitar, bass guitar, Hammond B-3, Rhodes, brass). It's clearly a virtuouso Latin funk record. Still, the arrangements are a bit derivitive of big band dance. The drum breaks (including the famous "Apache" break) make it all worthwhile.
    • Stefan Kéry: Formed as an informal conglomerate of musicians who came together to record percussive versions of classics like "Apache", In a gadda da vida" and "Satisfaction". This 2LP set presents the definite story of the INCREDIBLE BONGO BAND for the first time anywhere on official release, featuring their albums "Bongo rock" and "the return of the Incredible Bongo Band" in their entirety! A must for breakheads, sample spotters and anyone onto the history of dance music. Comes with extensive liner notes.

• L'Infonie: "Vol. 3"
  • CD, Mucho Gusto TGCD 027, Canada, 2000
  • comment:
    • Reviewed in _Cool And Strange Music Magazine_ issue 20

• Red Ingle: "Tim-Tayshun"  (Temptation)
  • CD, Bear Family BCD 16115, Germany, 1997
  • comment:
    • Johan: My rating: 3 points on 5. Red Ingle was one of Spike Jones' band members. Every novelty nut needs this one! Most of the 28 tracks appear for the first time on CD here.

• Munetaka Inoue & His Sharp Five: "Sharp Five"
  • CD-R, Zippy CD Company, Japan, 2003
  • comment:
    • Jack Diamond Music: The instrumentation is very similar to early Takeshi Terauchi and the Bunnys, except there is more organ and the overall sound is a heavier sound than I've heard and also includes Electric Keyboards, 2 Electric Guitars, Electric Bass, Drums and Percussion. The staccato super picking of the lead guitarist, Nobuhiro Mine is just simply spectacular and he uses that whammy bar to the fullest extent while still having the most wicked tone. The leader, Munetaka Inoue is on Drums and Percussion, Masaaki Ito-Electric Bass, Hidemasa Yamauchi-Rhythm Electric Guitar and Osumu Furuya-Organ and Keyboards and all of the titles are traditional Japanese melodies. That is what ELEKI means. Traditional melodies performed on Electric Guitar

• Burl Ives: "Have A Holly Jolly Christmas"
  • CD, ?, ?, ?
  • comment:
    • william: the only christmas cd i have and i highly reccomend it. includes "santa claus is coming to town", "rudolph the rednosed reindeer", "silver bells" but sadly no "silver and gold"( from the rudolph special).

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