Tonio K Yugoslavia CD

Let's clear up a possible confusion right up front. From its cover, you might think Tonio K.'s Yugoslavia was a collection of traditional ethnic music. After all, the photograph ("courtesy of the Yugoslav tourist office, circa 1958," the singer notes) depicts two Eastern European men in traditional garb, including colorful blouses and skirts, brandishing sabers at each other (or perhaps doing a saber dance), while the copy reads, "Tonio K. and N.Y.M. Co. Present: Yugoslavia -- Love Songs & War Dances from Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Slovenia (of the heart)." This is all a joke. Yugoslavia is an album of Tonio K.'s typically acerbic pop/rock songs with no relation to the fragmented, war-torn European country. Though it is not billed as a compilation, the album seems to be a gathering of stray tracks dating back several years, probably assembled after Gadfly issued Tonio K.'s long-deferred Olé album in 1997 and was interested in a follow-up. The songwriter hasn't really been active as a recording artist since issuing four albums and an EP between 1978 and 1988, but he has been working as a songwriter, and he notes that several of these songs were written for submission to established stars -- "I Know a Place" and "Murder My Heart" for Tina Turner (whom he helpfully identifies as "former wife of R&B great Ike Turner") and "Sure as Gravity" for Emmylou Harris -- not that these people ever recorded them or, apparently, even heard them. Others were part of other people's recording projects that didn't come to fruition, such as three tunes written with and for, and recorded by, Charlie Sexton, but given Tonio K. vocals so they could be used here. But no matter what the origins or intentions of the tracks, they bear the singer's trademark. His basic philosophy is expressed in one of the song titles, "Life's Just Hard," and that's a theme he reiterates throughout, from leadoff track "16 Tons of Monkeys" ("And it's a hard lesson") to "I Know a Place" ("Ain't nothing fair in life"). Love is hailed as the only salvation from life's difficulties, and by the trio of songs that end the album -- "Sure as Gravity," "Home to You," and "I've Got a Song Anyway" -- it seems to have won out. But life's hardness gets the lion's share of the attention. Tonio K. sings in a gruff baritone reminiscent of Peter Wolf over modestly rocking tracks, and doubtless a more distinctive performer could make more out of what is essentially a collection of demos. But the sarcasm the singer employed on earlier albums, which could be funny sometimes, has given way to a bitterness only occasionally leavened by absurdity, which makes Yugoslavia a less engaging effort. ~ William Ruhlmann

America, your long national nightmare is over! Finally -- a Tonio K. CD of tracks from the '90s! And just in time for the new millenium."Yugoslavia" is a 14-track 65-minute collection of (mostly) recently-recorded Tonio K. material. The song list includes the Austin anthem "16 Tons Of Monkeys," the Peter Case co-write "Indians and Aliens" (Case performs on the track), "Student Interview With The Third Richest Man In The World" and three tracks produced by Charlie Sexton (featuring Sexton and his whole band).Despite receiving massive critical praise for "Life in the Foodchain" (1978) and "Amerika" (1980), Tonio K. bounced around from CBS Records, to Arista, to Capitol-EMI (which resulted in the 1983 EP "La Bomba"), before settling into What?/A&M for his third and fourth albums: "Romeo Unchained" (1986) and "Notes from the lost civilization" (1988). Since being "dropped" from A&M, he has been one of the music industry's most successful songwriters, penning the most played song of 1993 ("Love Is," recorded by Vanessa Williams and Brian McKnight), and placing songs with Bonnie Raitt, Aaron Neville, Al Green (from the "Michael" soundtrack), and many others. A fifth album recorded with an all-star cast (Paul Westerberg, David Hidalgo, Peter Case, Bruce Thomas, and others) wRolling Stone (4/13/00, p.133) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Comments on life with a mix of moral seriousness and absurdist glee in a collection of odds and ends that somehow hold together....14 songs of straight-ahead. largely board-driven rock...proving that his biting wit is still intact..."