2024 marks the 10th anniversary of Kokomo's groundbreaking 'Bigger Than Brando' album, a new benchmark for the band. Yes - the Brandaissance is here!
Throughout 2024 this page will be expanding - Kokomo will be releasing a series of newly-made videos for remastered songs from the album, culminating in an official 10th anniversary re-issue - which will include the album remastered, rare and unreleased recordings and more - and a special "Bigger Than Brando" concert.
It starts with a new video for the title track...
Throughout 2024 this page will be expanding - Kokomo will be releasing a series of newly-made videos for remastered songs from the album, culminating in an official 10th anniversary re-issue - which will include the album remastered, rare and unreleased recordings and more - and a special "Bigger Than Brando" concert.
It starts with a new video for the title track...
(No One Was) Bigger Than Brando - 0fficial 2024 video
...and a video from the 2020 lockdown of Derek playing it solo...
Joe The Bartender - official 2024 video
The South Sea Song - official 2024 video
Homesick Blues - official 2024 video
Vinegar Hill - remastered 2024 video (originally 2014)
I'll Do Anything - official 2024 video
...and here's an acoustic drummerless live take on Travel All Over The World from 2021
...and here's a live video of Waiting For A Sunny Day from 2016 with a whole bunch of special guests
BIGGER THAN BRANDO (2014)
1. Vinegar Hill
2. (No One Was) Bigger Than Brando
3. I'll Do Anything
4. Ruby
5. Travel All Over The World
6. Waiting For A Sunny Day
7. Lightnin's Gold Tooth
8. Joe The Bartender
9. Homesick Blues
10. South Sea Song
All songs written by D Jacombs, except: 5. D Jacombs / G Bullot 9. D Jacombs / J Michaelz
Derek Jacombs – vocals, acoustic guitar, 6-string banjo
Grant Bullôt – harmonica, backing vocals
Sonia Bullôt – trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, backing vocals
Nigel Masters – upright & electric bass, accordion, backing vocals
Mike Kirk – electric guitars, resonator guitar, mandolin
Ian “Beano” Gilpin – drums, percussion, backing vocals
After the stripped-back acoustic nature of It All Comes Round this was a return to the full electric band. No guest musicians, just the “Kokomo sound”. For the first time Mike Kirk took sole electric guitar duties while Sonia stretched out on three different horns
1. Vinegar Hill
2. (No One Was) Bigger Than Brando
3. I'll Do Anything
4. Ruby
5. Travel All Over The World
6. Waiting For A Sunny Day
7. Lightnin's Gold Tooth
8. Joe The Bartender
9. Homesick Blues
10. South Sea Song
All songs written by D Jacombs, except: 5. D Jacombs / G Bullot 9. D Jacombs / J Michaelz
Derek Jacombs – vocals, acoustic guitar, 6-string banjo
Grant Bullôt – harmonica, backing vocals
Sonia Bullôt – trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, backing vocals
Nigel Masters – upright & electric bass, accordion, backing vocals
Mike Kirk – electric guitars, resonator guitar, mandolin
Ian “Beano” Gilpin – drums, percussion, backing vocals
After the stripped-back acoustic nature of It All Comes Round this was a return to the full electric band. No guest musicians, just the “Kokomo sound”. For the first time Mike Kirk took sole electric guitar duties while Sonia stretched out on three different horns
The lyrics... (scroll down)
Listen on Spotify (the original album, not the as-yet-unreleased remastered re-issue):
and an alternative rarity too...
Auckland album release @ The King's Arms, with saxophone legend Brian Smith (pics: Colin Lunt)
Bigger Than Brando reviews
...from William Dart:
Listen to WILLIAM DART's
Review of Bigger Than Brando on Radio NZ National's New Horizons program. |
Stream it here (it's not a download!):
| ||
Here's an extract: “There's no getting away though from the title number (No One Was) Bigger Than Brando. Its a witty piece of deconstructionist hagiography on the muttering hulk that was Marlon Brando. It's the sort of thing that American songwriter Tom Russell might have tackled but Kokomo do it with more lightness...”)
...from the NZ Musician:
Kokomo: Bigger Than Brando
By Sammy Jay Dawson
Veteran practitioners of the blues, BoP’s Kokomo are no strangers to the pages of NZ Musician, their unique combination of harmonica and trumpet section giving them a unique twist to an oft cliché genre. Formed in Tauranga in 1991, Kokomo Blues, as they were then called, have now released 10 studio albums and there seems to be a bigger folk influence here than has been felt in the previous few. Songs like Joe The Bartender, could be mistaken for a Pogues’ cover, while opener Vinegar Hill sounds like a modern Kiwi take on New Orleans’ treasure trove of musical delights. Recorded and mixed by band members Derek Jacombs and Nigel Masters at The Boat Shed Studio, there’s a definite sheen to ‘Bigger Than Brando’, only on the live stage will Kokomo offer more delights than here. Jacombs (acoustic guitar, banjo, vocals), Masters (upright bass, accordion, bvs), Mike Kirk (electric guitar, resonator guitar, mandolin), Ian Gilpin (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Sonia Bullot (trumpet, trombone, flugelhorn, backing vocals) and Grant Bullot (harmonica, backing vocals), have definitely not distanced themselves from the sound that made them so popular in the first place, but it is great to see them expand their formula. There are plenty of blues romps to keep fans happy however. Look no further than Homesick Blues, Lightnin’ Gold Tooth or I’ll Do Anything, Kirk’s lead guitar cutting tastefully through the band’s creative arrangements.
Kokomo: Bigger Than Brando
By Sammy Jay Dawson
Veteran practitioners of the blues, BoP’s Kokomo are no strangers to the pages of NZ Musician, their unique combination of harmonica and trumpet section giving them a unique twist to an oft cliché genre. Formed in Tauranga in 1991, Kokomo Blues, as they were then called, have now released 10 studio albums and there seems to be a bigger folk influence here than has been felt in the previous few. Songs like Joe The Bartender, could be mistaken for a Pogues’ cover, while opener Vinegar Hill sounds like a modern Kiwi take on New Orleans’ treasure trove of musical delights. Recorded and mixed by band members Derek Jacombs and Nigel Masters at The Boat Shed Studio, there’s a definite sheen to ‘Bigger Than Brando’, only on the live stage will Kokomo offer more delights than here. Jacombs (acoustic guitar, banjo, vocals), Masters (upright bass, accordion, bvs), Mike Kirk (electric guitar, resonator guitar, mandolin), Ian Gilpin (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Sonia Bullot (trumpet, trombone, flugelhorn, backing vocals) and Grant Bullot (harmonica, backing vocals), have definitely not distanced themselves from the sound that made them so popular in the first place, but it is great to see them expand their formula. There are plenty of blues romps to keep fans happy however. Look no further than Homesick Blues, Lightnin’ Gold Tooth or I’ll Do Anything, Kirk’s lead guitar cutting tastefully through the band’s creative arrangements.
....from Graham Reid at Elsewhere:
http://www.elsewhere.co.nz/music/6646/short-cuts-a-round-up-of-recent-new-zealand-releases
Kokomo: Bigger Than Brando (kokomo.co.nz); Hats off to this long-running band out of the Bay of Plenty. This is their 10th studio album and they present it well in a classy gatefold cover. Singer-songwriter Derek Jacombs has been around long enough to have a persuasively seasoned blues voice, and as a songwriter he knows his way around a narrative or a mood piece. Members of this six-piece have a grounding in blues -- as witnessed here by Homesick Blues -- but they stretch wide into quirky country-pop (the title track wouldn't disgrace a John Dee Graham or Tom Russell album and you deserve to hear it, stream it free here). Elsewhere they get breezy and backporch (I'll Do Anything), darker soul-blues (Ruby, the early Waits sound of Lightnin's Gold Tooth) and plenty of material (Waiting for a Sunny Day, Joe the Bartender) which you know is going to have great live appeal. Stick around for the easy old-time roll of South Sea Song at the end which should appeal to any Leon Redbone fans.
Graham Reid
http://www.elsewhere.co.nz/music/6646/short-cuts-a-round-up-of-recent-new-zealand-releases
Kokomo: Bigger Than Brando (kokomo.co.nz); Hats off to this long-running band out of the Bay of Plenty. This is their 10th studio album and they present it well in a classy gatefold cover. Singer-songwriter Derek Jacombs has been around long enough to have a persuasively seasoned blues voice, and as a songwriter he knows his way around a narrative or a mood piece. Members of this six-piece have a grounding in blues -- as witnessed here by Homesick Blues -- but they stretch wide into quirky country-pop (the title track wouldn't disgrace a John Dee Graham or Tom Russell album and you deserve to hear it, stream it free here). Elsewhere they get breezy and backporch (I'll Do Anything), darker soul-blues (Ruby, the early Waits sound of Lightnin's Gold Tooth) and plenty of material (Waiting for a Sunny Day, Joe the Bartender) which you know is going to have great live appeal. Stick around for the easy old-time roll of South Sea Song at the end which should appeal to any Leon Redbone fans.
Graham Reid
A posed photo for the front page of Tauranga's Weekend Sun Newspaper. ( Pic Colin Lunt )
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