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Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers: Bongos Over Balham (Mooncrest Crest 21)

Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, December 1974

MULLING OVER just how to explain why Bongos Over Balham is an important album and yet one that promises more than it delivers, I turned on Radio One and out came 'Eight Miles High'. To my surprise, I discovered that it had been chosen by Les Gray of Mud as one of his top twelve songs and influences. The immediate connection with the Willies is that they, too, are Byrds influenced (try 'Desert Island Woman' on Bongos). More importantly, the message of this strange contrast is that it isn't a band's influences that matter but the context the band creates.

Total word count of piece: 520

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