''Let's Make Up And Be Friendly'' is the fifth studio album by the

Bonzo Dog Band The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as the Bonzo Dog Band or the Bonzos) was created by a group of British art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelia with surreal humour and avant-garde a ...

and their last album until 2007. The group had already disbanded when

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1958 ...

(which absorbed the Bonzos' label

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Alvin Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous rev ...

) informed band members that the group owed the label one more album. This 1972 farewell album was the result, recorded at The Manor Studio in November 1971, while the building itself was still in the process of being converted to accommodate the recording studio that was being built. This was The Bonzo Dog Band's last album of new material featuring all the original members until their reunion in 2006, by which time founder member

Vivian Stanshall Vivian Stanshall (born Victor Anthony Stanshall; 21 March 1943 – 5 March 1995) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his exploration of the British uppe ...

was deceased. A new studio album, '' Pour l'Amour des Chiens'' was released in December 2007. The album is today controlled by the

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

unit of

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

. In 2007 the album was re-issued on CD by

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

with six bonus tracks, some of which were solo recordings by the members of the group.

Songs

"The Strain", Stanshall's ode to lavatorial distress, was inspired by "Constipation Blues" by

Screamin' Jay Hawkins Jalacy J. "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins (July 18, 1929 – February 12, 2000) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, film producer, and boxer. Famed chiefly for his powerful, shouting vocal delivery and wildly theatrical performances of s ...

, suitably filtered through Stanshall's own unique vision. Stanshall was a committed admirer of Hawkins, and had previously paid homage in similar fashion with "11 Moustachioed Daughters" (inspired by Hawkins' original 1963 recording of "Feast Of The Mau Mau") on The Bonzos' 1968 LP '' The Doughnut In Granny's Greenhouse''. "Rawlinson End", the longest track (at 9:07) on any Bonzos album, features the first official appearance of

's character Sir Henry Rawlinson, whose exploits would later be expanded as a series of

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

sessions for the

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

show as ''

Rawlinson End ''Rawlinson End'' was a series of thirteen 15-20 minute radio broadcasts, created and performed by Vivian Stanshall (formerly of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band) for BBC Radio 1 between 1975 and 1991. The early sessions formed the template for Stansh ...

''; a '' Sir Henry at Rawlinson End'' LP in 1978; and in 1984 a semi-sequel, ''

Sir Henry at N'didi’s Kraal ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

''; a film, '' Sir Henry at Rawlinson End'' (1980), and accompanying book; and a final cameo appearance in a 1994 commercial for Ruddles Real Ale with

Dawn French Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian and writer. She is known for writing and starring on the BBC sketch comedy series '' French and Saunders'' (1987–2007) with her best friend and comedy partner Jennifer Sa ...

. The finished album was originally issued in

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

and in 8-track format. There are a few differences between British and American versions: *"Rusty" **UK: fades out at end **US: does not fade out and continues on past where UK's ends *Track gaps **The UK album has a longer time gap between "Waiting for the Wardrobe" and "Straight from My Heart", and between "Bad Blood" and "Slush", than does the US one.

Sleeve notes

Together with the 1974 '' The History of the Bonzos'', the cover artwork for ''Friendly'' features an image of the eponymous "Bonzo Dog".

Track listing (LP)

Track listing (CD)

Personnel

Personnel per liner notes.

Musicians

– vocals,

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

Neil Innes Neil James Innes (; 9 December 1944 – 29 December 2019) was an English writer, comedian and musician. He first came to prominence in the comedy rock group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later became a frequent collaborator with the Monty Py ...

– piano, organ, "heavenly sqwarking", "tasteless

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melody, melodic passage, instrumental section (music), section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, classical, electric guitar, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and ...

" and vocals on "Fresh Wound" *Anthony 'Bubs' White – electric "Brainbiter" guitar, spanish guitar * Andy Roberts –

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

, acoustic guitar, "heavenly sqwarking" *Dennis Cowan – bass guitar,

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

, voices *Dave Richards – bass guitar, " empyreal

screaming A scream is a loud/hard speech production, vocalization in which air is passed through the vocal cords with greater force than is used in regular or close-distance vocalisation. This can be performed by any creature possessing lungs, including h ...

" * Dick Parry – saxophone,

flutes The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

* Hughie Flint – drums, percussion * Roger Ruskin Spear – saxophones,

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

, and lead vocals on "Waiting for the Wardrobe" * "Legs" Larry Smith – drums on "Waiting for the Wardrobe" and "Rusty (Champion Thrust)", vocals on "Rusty (Champion Thrust)" * Tony Kaye – piano and organ on "Rusty (Champion Thrust)" * Ian Wallace -

laughter Laughter is a pleasant physical reaction and emotion consisting usually of rhythmical, usually audible contractions of the diaphragm and other parts of the respiratory system. It is a response to certain external or internal stimuli. Laug ...

on "Slush" (uncredited)

Production

*Neil Innes – mixing, arrangement, production on all tracks except "Rusty (Champion Thrust)" *Vivian Stanshall – liner notes, production on all tracks except "Rusty (Champion Thrust)" *Legs Larry Smith – production on "Rusty (Champion Thrust)" *Tony Kaye – production on "Rusty (Champion Thrust)" * Tom Newman – engineering *Phil Newell – engineering

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Let's Make Up And Be Friendly 1972 albums Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band albums United Artists Records albums Albums produced by Neil Innes Albums produced by Vivian Stanshall