Customer Reviews

Amerika

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this album. I first bought it in the early eighties. Now I get to get it on CD. Life is cool. "Cinderella's Baby" ought to be the theme song for any woman coming of age. "The Night Fast Rodney Went Crazy" is up there with Queen's "I'm in Love with My Car" as a great song for a bad day. All in all, this album's perfection. It grows with you and keeps you thinking.

Tonio seems to be disparaging the plight of humanity, but it never fails to inspire, amuse and/or be uplifting. This album has been described as the greatest record ever made. If it's not the greatest, it is one of the greatest. It's my fave of his, although I only have his earlier stuff.
His songs are blunt and to the point & he means what he says!

To quote TK:
"Everybody say a prayer for the age of innocence
Everybody say a prayer for the days gone by...
Can't go no further west
Can't do no better than the best"

"Sons of the revolution, you are here to save the day
but it ain't none of your business & you're only in the way
Sons of the revolution, better get out while you can
There ain't no one here that wants a helping hand"

No ifs, ands or buts about it.

Years ago in a review someone said this was "the best album ever recorded." He may have been kidding? It's surely a beauty. Nothing else like it. Prescient even. I Love Love every song he's pounced on here. I even played Say Goodbye in concert once. Other faves are Trouble, Cinderella's Baby, the Night Fast Rodney Went Crazy, Merzuite, Sons of the Revolution--and all the rest of them! In post-hippie-punk-rock this thing trends the crest! What?! "How come this country runs on retrospect?" "I don't know, I don't know--I just don't know!" My wife says dryly, "It's a masterwork." She may have been kidding?

... several others that come close. Is Cinderella's Baby the finest song ever recorded? I've had this on vinyl for years, and treated myself to it on CD after completing my 19th marathon. That's 494 miles I've run for Mr Krikorian. Worth every step.

Everything I said about "Life in the Foodchain" applies here, with the added treat of a very odd Dada suite on side two (whoops, giving away my age there - CDs don't have two sides!)

The only criticism we can do against dada movement is that it didn't wrecked itself, denying its own essence. Er...yes, Tonio K. too. This album is surely one of my favourite of all years. It's messy, unclear, hilariously sad and extatic, and surely really funny. Tonio K began with "Life in the foodchain " which was...rock. This one is...rock. But : If you like rock, .... Tonio K is (yeah, in fact...was) completely brilliantly mad. The songs, even though the album sound like some 50-60 rock encyclopedy are completely addicting. The lyrics are ...hilarious (but take time to decrypt what he tried to say) and completely cynic. The top is reached by the inner picture of this guy...flashing gun on his .... Warning : Tonio K is now a complete .... Go buy "life in the foodchain" and "Amerika" (the best "rock" albums ever made in amerika) and leave the rest to ....

The album is great, and best of all, it arrived in perfect condition...the postman didn't dance The Watusi on my package. That's always a plus.

With this LP, I became a youthful Dadaist with my tongue planted firmly in my futt futt futt.

Thanks Mr. K.

The sophomore jinx hit Tonio K. hard. The follow-up to "Life in the Food Chain" is uneven. The four stars are earned, though, by the three over-the-top 80's-style ballads "Sons of the Revolution", "Say Goodbye" and "Cinderella's Baby", which are right up there with anything else he's recorded.