Tonio K.

Item: Ole
Author: Steven S. Baldwin

Ole

(1997)

Reviewed by Steven S. Baldwin

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Label Gadfly RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth1998

folk rock rock singer-songwriter

You can stop holding your breath. Ole is finally out, and it's worth the wait. Why the long interim between its 1990 completion and the 1997 release? Let's just say it had to do with Tonio K being dropped from his record label when it was purchased by another. The new label determined that giving the money to Janet Jackson was a wiser business move. After all, she was going topless on her next album cover and, therefore, likely to sell millions more records. Tonio K, by contrast, is not nearly so camera-ready, not to mention being a virtually unknown entity in the record business. A fact that ought to be remedied. Period.

By his own admission, Tonio K is not the world's best singer. He certainly can't hit those high notes like Janet, and I bet he can't dance half as well either. On the other hand, there are singers like Bob Dylan and Lou Reed who make Tonio's vocals rather welcome. Besides, he's got an interesting Elvis-esque warble. What he lacks in subtle vocal beauty, he more than makes up for in his emotional resonance. He delivers each song with an earnest effectiveness that draws the listener in. He feels his lyrics, and the listener does too.

Ole compares favorably to his previous two releases: Romeo Unchained and Notes from a Lost Civilization. (He's made more albums than that, but these three are his most recent and the only ones produced post conversion...if you care to know such things.) On the whole, Ole is a stronger album despite the fact that producer T Bone Burnett considers it unfinished. The overall sound is more rootsy and retro and closer to a pleasant blend of true rock, blues, and folk music than to an amalgamation of 80s new wave pop sounds. The drum programming is gone in favor of rhythms that are more varied and less relentlessly monotonous. Additionally, Tonio's vocals are also less buried and disguised with effects, and more in focus and forward in the mix. These are all obvious choices for Tonio K, and he seems more comfortable with this raw, revamped sound. The resulting production is less muddled and noisy than previous works, with fewer synthesized keyboard parts and studio effects. Instead we are treated to more traditional instruments such as harmonicas, Hammond organs, acoustic and rock guitars, and real drums! The guitar work is exceptional. All these instruments are played well by a super-talented band that reads like a who's who of other unknown entities deserving of more mainstream attention like Tonio K himself. Of course, T-Bone Burnett and Paul Westerberg are obvious exceptions. But I bet your average lay person on the street couldn't tell you much about David Hidalgo, Peter Case, Charlie Sexton, Bruce Thomas, and Booker T. Jones. Not to mention David Raven. Pity. Many of these players made appearances on Tonio K's last pair of albums, but here they play music closer to their collective common ground. None of them have played for Janet.

Although Ole is less thematically unified than Romeo Unchained, it doesn't have the uneven quality of Notes from a Lost Civilization. Every song here is both a story worth hearing and a melody worth singing along to. And it won't take you long to be singing along either. Tonio K's true gift is witty songwriting. He is a master at turning a phrase that is both clever and insightful. One of the trademarks of his style is the use of repetitive phrases to build, clarify, and add humor to his story. For example, from "Pardon Me for Living":

Pardon me for being such a disappointment
Pardon me for making so many mistakes
Pardon me for betraying your gracious employment
Pardon me, I guess I just haven't got what it takes
I don't know what you want
Don't know what you believe
I don't know how to act anymore
or how long I can keep juggling.
I hope my congressperson can forgive me
I hope I've not offended my beloved president
But I wanna know
Where is that nation under God
With liberty and justice and blah, blah, blah?
It was a great idea on paper
But it hasn't actually happened yet.
Now maybe I'm a wild card
Or maybe I'm a trend
Maybe I'm a 200 million-headed monster
and you will hear from us again.
Can I ever possibly hope to pass inspection
Can't I just confess and be forgiven
Guilty of the grievous crime
Of making such suggestions
Pardon me, pardon me, pardon me for living.

Never overly redundant, and certainly not boring, Tonio K instead couples the repetition with his unique vocals to successfully retain your attention. Other examples abound, especially in earlier works like "I Can't Stop." His acerbic wit and insight are also evident throughout. "What a Way to Live" is a bitingly humourous account of a wicked former girlfriend who hasn't learned to let it go. It's a nice contrast to "I'll Remember You," which is a beautiful ballad of unrequited love. "We Walk On" is very nearly a hymn celebrating persistence, and "Come with Me" has some wonderful lyrics about that celestial country where "acts of compassion are valued like pieces of art." "Stuck" is, in Tonio's words, "a self-explanatory familial history set to the big beat" and a rocking rhythm and blues-injected number featuring Paul Westerberg on rhythm guitar. It also has the kind of energy that "City Life" only hinted at resulting in Tonio's most roaring, foot-stomping song to date. The strongest cut on the album, however, is "Hey Lady." It's absolutely not funny at all. In it Tonio K and a guitar painfully recount the story of one woman's abuse of her children. The effect is absolutely chilling and tear-jerking and "the closest to pure journalism" Tonio K recalls ever writing. There are other highlights, of course, but far too many to name here. This is one of those rare albums with so many great moments that your favorite song is likely to change depending on your mood and the weather. I regret that none of these songs are likely to support videos with lavish masquerades of scantily-clad dancers.

If you're looking for an album that deals honestly with living life with faith in a dangerous, broken world, then Ole is for you. If you're just looking to bust a move, go prove his former label true and pick up some Janet. Her albums may be more titillating, but lately they lack more than a handful of substance. Tonio K has grabbed this bull by the horns and wrestled it to the ground with great style. Ole!

(For the record, I own as many Janet Jackson albums as I do Tonio K. So there.)

5 tocks