Way overdue for a serious upgrade, coming soon (4/18/2001) B.
Yeah, right (1/9/2002) B.
Disclaimer
Stay out of the lyrics/additional data section if you haven't read the disclaimer!
My favorite Tonio K. album is now available on CD. amerika!
More lyrics, soon to come!
Discography - Lyrics and/or additional data in links
The following two albums discography courtesy of Jan van den Brink. I've never heard these two albums. Thanks, Jan!
Actually, I've owned them both for several years now on CD.
And more recent Tonio K. CDs...
Fred Slama (fslama@wizbang.agile.com) sent me some info on Tonio K. He notes that he was unable to confirm the info about "The Tuff Do What?" and that his letter to the address below got no response. Anybody have more info?
The movie Real Genius had a track listed called The Tuff Do What?, credited to Tonio K. In trying to find more info about this, he found that the Austin Music Network has a Tonio K. segment in its show TexMix #62 where he sings Love Gone Sour. Even more digging found an address where you can write to Tonio K.
Tonio K. N.Y.M. Co. Box 2053 Beverly Hills, Ca 90213Good work, Fred! Thanks!
The movie Summer School has a Tonio K. song called I'm Supposed to Have Sex With You. Sounds like a Tonio K. title. Thanks Chris!
The radio mono mix single version of Better Late Than Never had a "cool" ending; not the put up your flag, lay down your weapon" repead on the studio LP.
A VERY few copies of the LITF LP were pressed on green vinyl. (Ed.: I've seen one advertised on the Internet for auction; I'll bet it's too dear for my wallet!)
Cinderella's Baby was the (marginally promoted) single from the second LP, amerika. (Ed.: I remember hearing it on a few stations that wouldn't play anything else by Tonio K. Just a few times, though.)
The catalog number of the Summer School soundtrack is Chrysalis 41607.
Tanya Tucker had a minor country hit with Better Late Than Never (on MCA) in 1978.
There is a rumor that both Tonio K. and Steve Krikorian (Tonio's given name) both have writing credits on the Arc Angles LP, but TWVJ doesn't know this for a fact.
Tonio K. co-wrote The Strange Tale of Frank Cash with T-Bone Burnett which appeared on Burnett's The Strange Animals album on Columbia in the late '80's / early '90's. Correspondant "arkmay" reports that the name of the album is The Talking Animals. It took awhile, but I got it in.
Al Stewart (Ed: another one of my favorites!) has said in a recent interview that one of his favorite things is a button that Arista printed to accompany promotional sets for the amerika album. The button read "I Don't Know, I Don't Know, I Don't Know...". Thanks very much for the great info, Johnny!
Tonio K. was on the forefront of the Punk / New Wave movement. The major themes in his lyrics are rebellion against authority, societal dysfunction and combative love relationships. He is also a Dadaist, that is, very much into a movement in art and literature based on deliberate irrationality and negation of traditional artistic values according to my Webster's. This Dadaist streak also affects the music, although many of his songs are typical Punk/New Wave, though of higher than average quality.
Some of the comparisons I remember (probably from the Stereo Review reviews) are "a darker version of Warren Zevon" and "twice as angry as Elvis Costello, and six times as funny" (latter quote, Steve Simels, Nov. 1995 Stereo Review, p. 113, originally made in 1978.)
When Life in the Foodchain was recently re-released on CD, one of the Stereo Review reviewers (Steven Simels) re-evaluated his original 1978 opinion, that it was the greatest album ever recorded. He decided that he had not changed his mind. (Stereo Review, November, 1995, p. 113).
So, if you're an adventurous sort musically, look for Life in the Foodchain at your local CD store (it's on Gadfly Records, which seems to be a division of Sony). If you're not, try to find a place that will let you listen to it first, if any of them are still around. By the way, there is a Tonio K. cut, The Funky Western Civilization, on New Wave Hits of the '80s, Vol. 2 by Rhino Records. If you're a New Wave fan, these 15 volumes are great. There is a short bio of each musician featured on the disk, including Tonio K. Tonio K.'s identity was a secret (at least to me) while he recorded the albums, but it is no longer. He's Steve Krikorian, a Palm Desert, CA native who has been a successful collaborator with other musicians and co-wrote "Love Is", which was a hit recorded by Vanessa Williams and Brian McKnight.
As much as I liked the first Tonio K. album, amerika is THE Tonio K. album IMHO. Let me explain why.
There are great songs on the first album, with those sly classic Tonio K. touches, eg the rhythm track slowly turning into the sound of a washing machine as american love affair develops. The sheer energy of h-a-t-r-e-d, is nearly unmatched in any music I've ever heard (with the possible exception of Negativland 's Car Bomb). It's an expression of murderous rage at a failed relationship, which becomes comic because you see how really silly it all is. Even the "hater" begins to realize it by the end of the song. life in the foodchain and the funky western civilization are also high caliber. Then there are a few songs that make you think a bit, willie and the pigman and the ballad of the night the clocks all quit (and the government failed), for instance. These are a bit weaker musically though.
Every song on amerika is strong on both counts. one big (happy) family is about how groups of people hate other groups of people. It was written in 1975, but it seems even more true today. And it sounds good, too; high quality stuff for the brain and for the ear.
say goodbye is about how life in 1980 is losing it's innocence; desparation rising, no place to run to, "whole world's gone crazy", "tangle up the truth with fast talk and promises", etc. Again, even more true in 1997 and again a thinker that also sounds great.
sons of the revolution is about an idealistic "brilliant young crusader" about to tackle the world, which will soon tackle him right back. The real world's ready for him; it won't be long before the rough play stops him cold. "The stands are filled with broken men...and the winners get your children, yeh they do just what they please, and they'll cut you for no reason, 'cept they want to watch you bleed". This song is really pessimistic, but the stench of reality comes through. And it SOUNDS PRETTY, too!
go away is about an old flame who bailed out, coming back to try to seduce the singer. But he's not buying. It's not nearly as bleak as the preceding songs, but is interesting and also sounds good.
cinderella's baby is similar in theme to sons of the revolution, but is addressing a female's trials. The world has some special nasty tricks to play on the sisterhood. Commercial and video manipulation of the female psyche, preying on self-perceived weaknesses. Tonio encourages resistance and a seeking of the truth. Written in 1979, it is again, truer than ever. It is as bleak as "sons of the revolution" or "say goodbye", but cinderella's baby probably got more commercial airplay than any other Tonio K. song in the area I was living. It is musically conventional, but is still a very pretty tune. And nobody listens to the words, right?
trouble is perhaps the only song I can quibble with at all. Musically, it's fine, but Tonio is raging about conflict and war here, and I have a problem with a few of his observations. To paraphrase, he claims that nothing has ever been solved with violence. To someone as observant as he, it seems naive. Too often in the history of the world, we have solved problems with naked power. The wholesale butchery of entire populations (American Indians, Armenians, European Jews, Kurds, etc.) has solved many problems, albeit in an unacceptably vile and usually temporary fashion. And it continues. I have been wondering lately how many Palestinians there will be in the year 2050 if things keep going the way they are now. Still, the basic premise of the insanity of war and violence I do buy into. The world can ill afford much of this kind of trouble.
With girl crazy we finally break out of the doom and gloom. Here, Tonio is singing about looking around for the "perfect beauty" and he thinks he's found her. It's you! (well, it's who he's singing to, at least.) There are few hints of the ugly world, but he's focused on his goal, and the mood is light. Again, it also is fine music.
...To be continued, the best is yet to come...
Tonio K - Online Music Database
Klaatu Home Page! This site is very rich in detail. Check it out!
Klaatu - Online Music Database - Some nice comments here by fans.
This data is taken from the CDs. I haven't double checked against the LPs yet.
Danny Alias is working on a article/book on Klaus Nomi. He is interested in communicating with anyone who saw his performances or who has any other information about him. Even the smallest leads are welcome. Contact him at dannyalias@aol.com.
One of the strangest musicians I've ever experienced. If you ever saw the movie "Urgh: A Music War" the weirdest character you saw in that movie was Klaus Nomi. At home singing opera (as a countertenor/baritone!) or his own unusual brand of New Wave Rock, he may have been the first celebrity to die of AIDS. Catherine taught a music appreciation class a few years ago and played a cut of him singing an operatic aria for the class, asking them who they thought was singing. No one guessed that the singer was male. They all guessed various soprano superstars. The picture above is a very accurate drawing of him in his stage makeup.
As you can see from the discography, he liked doing cover tunes as well as his own original works. He had a superior voice to Lou Christie, which he used to great effect in Lightning Strikes. The Twist is strangely done; absolutely no similarity to Chubby Checker, he seems to be taking on the persona of an alien, perhaps trying to understand a strange human ritual called "The Twist"? Ding Dong is of course the song the Munchkins sing upon the death of the Wicked Witch of the East. His version is unusual, but excellent.
Of his own works, Total Eclipse was perhaps his most well known work, and arguably his best, about what we'll all do as the world goes up in a nuclear holocaust. Equally interesting, from both a subject matter and musical perspectives is After the Fall, about what those of us who survive will do after the holocaust. Both of these songs show his incredible vocal range, his wit and his interest in a world outside the New York music scene of the early 1980's. In view of his tragic death of AIDS, After the Fall, The Cold Song and Death seem shockingly prescient. AIDS was not really understood then. It is unlikely that he really knew what was happening to him as he sickened and died in 1983.
Here's some stuff that I thought I had thrown away. The following excerpts date from late February, 1995 on one of the USENET music forums, alt.exotic-music. I don't have my original post and no one who responded to my post quoted the full text, but most of what I said you already know. It's the replies that are interesting!
From: Lee Moore Newsgroups: alt.exotic-music Subject: Re: Klaus Nomi Date: Thu, 23 Feb 1995 18:52:23 -0600 Brian Rock <70166.342@CompuServe.COM> wrote: > Does anyone here remember Klaus Nomi. He was an extremely > unusual performer; he generally performed in white makeup and > very unusual costumes. For sure. I saw him several times in NYC back in the late 1970s - he was kind of the house band for a couple of Manhattan new wave-type clubs and opened for a lot of acts. A really terrific, freakish, apparently well-trained operatic voice bent to weird and perverse ends. Nomi's big show-stopper was an over-the-top rock-operatic cover of the old Lou Christie song, "Lightning Strikes," complete with a couple of male backup singers who wore football shoulderpads and jerseys and (I seem to recall) full makeup. Some time during the mid-1980s he and a couple of his buddies backed Bowie on "Saturday Night Live" - Nomi, Bowie, and the two other guys all wore very stylized dresses and performed "The Man Who Sold the World." He also put out a couple of albums - I don't recall the details, though I remember hearing one and thinking it wasn't particularly memorable. You had to see him, really. Didn't know he had died. I'm sorry to hear that. -- Lee Moore
From: Brian D. Phillips Newsgroups: alt.exotic-music Subject: Re: Klaus Nomi Date: 24 Feb 1995 13:21:21 GMT I remember Mr. Nomi. He used to shop at Fiorucci's and so he ended up in front of the cameras for the NBC show "Real People". There were two segments. First, he said, "My name is Klaus Nomi..." and he described what he had on. Second segment, he sang in operatic falsetto, "Lightning Striking Again!" and then matter-of-factly, he said, "That's it." End of his segment. Brian
From: Deal Newsgroups: alt.exotic-music Subject: Re: Klaus Nomi Date: 26 Feb 1995 02:24:39 GMT > Does anyone here remember Klaus Nomi. He was an extremely > unusual performer; he generally performed in white makeup and > very unusual costumes. He was tall and could sing well in > falsetto as well as having a good bass, too. He was most > prominent in the early 1980's. He died about 1982. Was he > one of the first victims of AIDS, or did he die of something > else? Did anyone ever see him live? If you saw "URGH: A Music I saw a number of videos of Klaus Nomi, a new wavish European performer, very intense. Strange costumes. He did die of AIDS, one of the first performers, that I had heard had it. I remember seeing some segments on 'Night Flight" video on cable back then. - Michael
Jonathan Brainin writes: I own two recordings by him. The first, on vinyl, was released in 1982 on RCA/Spindizzy Records (catalog# RCA PL 37702) on is entitled "Simple Man". The second, on CD, was released in 1985 on RCA/BMG/Spindizzy Records (catalog# ND74420) is simply entitled "Klaus Nomi" and is a recording of a live performance from Sept. 20, 1980 at Merlyn's in Madison, Wisconsin. These aren't too readily available but should be located with some persistence.
Ed: Sad to say, I had a post from a guy who used to drink with him; I can't find it! I will keep looking, though.
Klaus Nomi - The Ultimate Band List. Just a link to the Klaus Nomi home page so far.
More coming soon!
There's a big controversy in America these days about obscenity and pornography. Our First Amendment rights are again under attack, sad to say, by both political parties. Our governments (national, state and local) have shown an increasing tendency to decide what we should and should not see. It's ironic that many states are giving citizens broad rights to carry loaded firearms, but won't trust us to view controversial materials.
Our natural allies in cyberspace, the big on-line information services, are afraid to stand up for our rights (and their own). I can't be too critical of them, because they are running a business which governments can easily foul up (they can hardly avoid it, actually, because they don't understand what cyberspace is all about, and they don't care to). I am a voluntary customer of Compuserve and I agreed to abide by their rules as a condition of posting these Web pages. If I don't like their rules, I can leave. I don't believe that I'm overstepping the limits which Compuserve has asked me to abide by. But there are some, the extremely pure, who would disagree. So...
If there's any chance that you might be offended by mildly 'bad' language, please stay out of the lyrics section. It isn't for you. You aren't welcome there. If you proceed there anyway and are offended, you have only yourself to blame. Take some responsibility and don't cry for the government to protect you. You have been warned!
...get down off soapbox, mop brow with handkerchief, regain control...
In some cases, I never knew much about the artist, or only knew about them for part of their careers. In these cases, too, I welcome additional info.
If you know of a homepage for any of these artists, please, please, please let me know so I can link to them! Thanks.
Polite suggestions for additional candidates are ok, too. Maybe I'll start a guest wing if people are interested, though I've got limited space on the CIS web server. If you have something similar and want me to link to you, let me know..
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