Customer Reviews

Is This a Cool World Or What

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4 star:		(3)
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Karla DeVito continues to amaze me. Everything she has done, from singing with MeatLoaf to starring on Broadway in Pirates Of Penzance to this amazing album "Cool World" is better than any other female vocalist on this planet. Where can you find a diva like DeVito: funny, powerful, poignant and blessed with the best set of chords Rock & Roll has ever heard. This album should not be missed.

While Karla was becoming the first female star featured on MTV in the early 80s, I stumbled across this debut album and instantly became a lifelong fan. Karla was appearing at The Bottom Line then, but I wasn't able to go. How I wish I had, because when Columbia signed Cyndi Lauper they decided they didn't need two talented offbeat gals and stopped promoting Karla. Big Mistake. Big. Huge! While Cyndi, who I do like, is a Character, Karla is a Personality - Intelligent and fun. How many pop singers include references to Freud, Jung and the frontal lobe in their lyrics? I've been lucky enough to meet Karla a couple times, and she is, in the best sense of the words, cool and warm at the same time.

Karla is a multifaceted creative talent, with a charming, charismatic personality. She can sing, act, write songs, do character voices (check out Disney's BONKERS series) and give a solo performance that could knock your socks off! Did you know Karla was director Ken Russell's favorite to play the lead in the movie EVITA when the film was first being discussed back in the 80s? She did a brief stage tour in the role and nailed it, according to the glowing reviews. Years later he still referred to Karla as "My Evita."

Karla performed WE ARE NOT ALONE (that was co-written with Robby Benson) on the BREAKFAST CLUB soundtrack. A fun song Karla & Robby wrote called NOBODY MAKES ME CRAZY LIKE YOU DO was on her second album, and covered on an album by Diana Ross. Karla's second solo album was WAKE 'EM UP IN TOKYO (First released on A&M, not yet on CD) There is fun stuff on that album, but the producers didn't allow enough of Karla's personality to come through the heavy handed arrangements, and they really should have included We Are Not Alone. My favorite track on her second album is I ROCKED THE BOY, which shows more of the fun personality found on her first album. That song is so catchy that I can picture Karla dancing in a music video every time I hear it.

After rave reviews for her Broadway performance in THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, Karla married her co-star, (Robby) and decided to concentrate on being a good mom. With Robby, she has raised two talented young people and I admire her for that. Had she not taken that path, she'd be headlining MAMMA MIA! on Broadway at the very least.

There is far more to Karla than being Mrs. Robby Benson (though he is clearly Karla's biggest fan). Robby's devotion to Karla inspired him to write a new musical, OPEN HEART, that's been well received in two productions and is available on CD and download from Amazon. The album contains one touching track called Forever, in which Karla proves she still has the vocal strength we heard 20 years before.

Karla's very first released recording was a single of It's My Party done to a disco arrangement that overpowers her voice a bit - search the net for a CD called Where Disco Dared to find that.

Karla's rare vinyl single SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO MY HOUSE, released by Epic in the 80s, has been showcased often by Dr. Demento but is not yet on CD.

Karla's catchy performance of Dance In My Pants with Jim Steinman is available as a download online. Also on Amazon: Rick Derringer Live at the Ritz has two great tracks of Karla singing Cool World and Just Like You live.

Another album available through Amazon is Desolation Angels Anthem, with two very nice tracks by Karla: Walk Away Renee and Whitebird. The arrangements feature Karla's voice nicely, In fact, her performance is very well framed by The Roches.

Karla DeVito is a formidable and versatile talent. Grab COOL WORLD (and every other Karla performance you can get) and enjoy this cool girl. Catch the mischief in her eyes and the spirit in her voice. Brava, Karla!

On Karla's YouTube page you'll find a bunch of videos that convey her engaging personality as well as her voice. Now wouldn't you all love to see and hear MORE albums of Karla DeVito? Let's hear from you! Better yet, log onto you Tube and Tell Her!

Great voice for rock. If you like Pat Benetar, you'll like Karla. High energy music, similar style to Meatloaf, Bat Out Of Hell. Great version of Heaven Can Wait and Cool World will get you moving.

This is a great debut for such a great singer. Karla put out 2 full length albums- 1981/Epic Label- "IS THIS A COOL WORLD OR WHAT?", and 1986/A&M Label- "WAKE 'EM UP IN TOKYO"- both excellent albums that show off her big powerhouse voice. I just wish a record company would sign her up and get more material out before she gets too old to rock. She'll always be one of my faves. A lot of people only know her for being Meatloaf's back up singer in the 70's (she did not sing on the Meatloaf '77 album Bat Out Of Hell, that was Ellen Foley. She did the Bat Out Of Hell Tour and sang Ellen's parts in concert), and she's well-known for being actor Robby Benson's wife. But there's a whole lot more to this woman and hopefully someday she'll get the recognition she deserves- she almost got the lead in the EVITA movie, but lost out to Madonna. Just think where she would be now if she won that movie role....

Here's a discography list of her work:

1. 1981- Jim Steinman BAD FOR GOOD album: She sang on the song
DANCE IN MY PANTS with Jim and it was released as a 7" 45 single
(this album was released onto cd in 1993).

2. 1981- IS THIS A COOL WORLD OR WHAT? album: A fantastic debut
that has a lot of good rock songs to show off her big voice
(this album was released onto cd in 1996, and contains a bonus
track- a 30 minute interview bewteen her and her husband Robbie.
I wish they had used the 30 min. interview from the 1981 promotional
LP called Karla DeVito- Interchords, which contained 5 tracks
from the COOL WORLD album and interview).

3. 1983- Paul Anka WALK A FINE LINE album- contains a duet with
Karla called GIMME THE WORD, which was released as both a
7" and 12" single.

4. 1985- Breakfast Club Soundtrack- Karla sings the song
WE ARE NOT ALONE.

5. 1986- WAKE 'EM UP IN TOKYO- Karla's second solo album and
contains songs written by Karla and her husband Robby Benson
(For some crazy reason, A&M never released this great album
onto cd!!!!!).

6. 1989- DESOLATION ANGELS: ANTHEM album- This was a tribute to
the 60's that featured various female singers. Karla
sings 2 songs- WALK AWAY RENEE and WHITE BIRD.
(CD available here on Amazon, used for about $15. This is
a rare and hard to find item, and is often mislisted as
Bad Company's album Desolation Angels and the heavy metal group
Desolation Angels on different websites).

In 2005 her husband Robby Benson released his cd called OPEN HEART:
THE MUSICAL- The Singer, Songwriter Album. I am not sure if she sings on this or not, but the cd itself has gotten great reviews.
Since companies are now releasing 2 LP's onto 1 cd, maybe someone will put both of her solo ones onto cd or a 2-cd set.

I have to plead ignorance. Up until a few days ago, I had never heard of Karla DeVito when I was looking up a performance on youtube Meatloaf did on New Year's a few years ago. Well, I didn't find that but I did get some hits about Karla DeVito and a New Year's concert she put on in 1982 for MTV. I started watching the various segments and I was floored. Karla DeVito was supremely talented and it is almost criminal she is not more well known. She did covers of fairly well known songs but she owned those songs with her extraordinary singing and her obvious love of performing. And most of those songs are on this CD. I bought it almost immediately and have listened to it almost exclusively the past few days. I am mesmerized by her singing.

I also liked the 30 minute interview conducted by her husband Robby Benson (who is in my favorite basketball movie One on One, which needs to get a special edition treatment!). They have been married nearly 30 years. Incredible. It's wonderful, too.

So, if you enjoy quality songs with top-notch singing, get this CD, or download it for your MP3 player or just check her out on youtube. I promise you she is one of the best singers we have ever had. (How about a DVD release of that MTV concert? I have been watching that every chance I could get, too)

So like I bought this on vynal when it first came out. I'm 36...so get your butt back to the mid 80s when everything only SEEMED ok. I was going to Rocky Horror and Drinking Shooters. This was my pre-bar, post bad date, dance around the apartment record.....I'm SO psyched to have found on CD! Midnight Confession is WOW and Boy Talk is amazint

For those of you who were fortunate enough to have MTV in it's earliest days, here's a must have album from one of their first stars. It's one of those collections that is really difficult to keep from wanting to play over and over again, as Karla Devito's high-powered vocals and fun-loving energy come out in every song. This album is a winner from beginning to end. Thank you Amazon for making this treasure once again available for the public to discover and enjoy as Karla's fans enjoyed it in the early '80s. I can finally put my original LP of "Is This a Cool World" in mothballs!

To be backup-singer to Meat Loaf instead of Ellen Foley was a great idea This record show that this girk really came delive the stuff.

I bought this album on vinyl in 1982. This CD is a nice way to recapture it. The company shipped quickly, and the price was really good.

$100? My friend, it's available on eBay, from many sellers, from $5 to $21. Don't take people for their money. This is an awesome album and Karla is beautiful. Love "Cool World". But the album isn't worth $100.