This guy is either insane, a prophet, an O.D., or he's a political science teacher in the off-season.

The lyrics on Amerika are so laced with political comments and allusions to sociological and historical happenings that one or any combination of the choices above has got to fit.

Amerika, Tonio K.'s latest effort, is more commercial than 1979's Life in the Foodchain, but it's every bit as satirically biting and painfully truthful.

The credits on the album liner read: Tonio K.—continuing vocal abuse, remedial guitar, and growling. The credits are almost as amusing as the lyrics. Auxiliary audio features Ike Willis on "real harmony," Roger "T.I." Nichols on "absentee assault rifle," and an unidentified being labeled Monio K. on piano.

The liner also sports a picture of a psychotic pointing a rather large handgun down his toilet. The picture is accompanied by the caption, "Don't vote—DUCK!"

On to the contents of Amerika, subtitled "Cars, Guitars, and Teenage Violence." Tonio K. was rather unceremoniously dumped from Epic's full moon label, and he somehow wound up on Arista. He has also gone from a straight-ahead rock and roll sound to a more commercial, almost new wave effect. Notice the "almost."

He still rocks, and the sound is still definitely Tonio. Of the twelve songs on the album, only eight were written any later than 1979, so four of the songs (one of which was written in 1975) were probably songs that didn't make the cut for the debut album.

Side one opens up with "One Big (Happy) Family." Here, Professor K. covers a little bit of sociology, psychology, history, and political science. (Example: "The cowboys hate the Indians and the Chinese hate 'em, too. The French hate everyone, but that's just part of being French.")

"Say Goodbye" and "Sons of the Revolution" are rock ballads that really hit home, thanks to the fact that Tonio K. has a way with words. He can phrase things originally, whether it is sarcastically or just a feeling.

"Sons of the Revolution" displays a rather pessimistic attitude toward people. "They'll cut you for no reason, 'cept they want to watch you bleed."

Tonio K. has gotten little or no recognition. His albums haven't sold well; he gets no airplay and very little concert exposure. It's too bad, too. He's a good songwriter who also happens to have a knack for adding excellent music to complement his thoughts.

His band, though it's different this time around, carries out the work well.

It's hard telling what he's trying to do with his music and lyrics, but it's interesting to try and figure it out.