Throughout his career, Tonio K. has been something of a critic's darling, even though that acclaim never translated into smashing commercial success. Stereo Review and Rolling Stone loved his debut album. Although some mainstream critics weren't too enthusiastic about his later work, it received nothing but the highest acclaim from Christian music media. Romeo Unchained was fifth on Harvest Rock Syndicate's list of the best Christian rock albums of the '80s, and CCM listed it at #8 on their list of the best Christian albums of all time. (In addition, Notes from the Lost Civilization was #44 on the Harvest Rock Syndicate list.)

There's certainly room for this page to grow. Thanks to those of you who have sent more reviews. Someday I'll get them typed up.


     photo: Lisa Spicer

Life in the Foodchain

Read the review declaring this the "greatest album ever recorded." Courtesy of RHAD (Red Hot Acronyms of Death).

Here is another commentary on Foodchain, also brought to you by RHAD.

Foodchain gets some adoring attention from Tom Carson in his Rolling Stone review. People love to quote that line...

Amerika

Read the review declaring this the "greatest album ever recorded," once again thanks to RHAD.

And another, from Mike Kimmel, one of our very own Hamsters.

Romeo Unchained

Here's Rolling Stone's review of Romeo Unchained, penned by Kurt Loder. Kurt apparently liked the album, but is he a Marxist?

Notes from the Lost Civilization

Steve Simels strikes again with his review of Notes.

¡Olé!

Well, it's about time someone posted a review of ¡Olé! on the Web—and it turns out to be none other than Dan Kennedy of that venerable publication, The Cutting Edge. Hop on over to Dan's spiffy new Web site and see what he has to say.

Tom Long of the Detroit News also gives ¡Olé! a thumbs-up in his review.

The first publication to review ¡Olé! was none other than TV Guide—kind of ironic, given that Tonio isn't much of a TV watcher. Anyway, here's what they had to say. And a heads up: "Johnny La Rue," the author of this review, is nothing but a pen name for the prolific Steve Simels.

Here's an ¡Olé! review from The Phantom Tollbooth.

And another from True Tunes News. (If that link doesn't work, try this one.)

A bit of fun for those of you who speak Italian: a brief ¡Olé! review in the mother tongue. Someone tell me what this really says!

The Boston Phoenix (reminds me of the 1976 NBA finals) was complimentary in a tight-lipped sort of way in its review.

And last but not least, Bill Holmes, a frequent surfer at this very site, contributes an ¡Olé! review he wrote for Pop Culture Press.

Rodent Weekend '76–'96 (Approximately)

And the rave reviews poured in from around the globe! And the press went certifiably nuts! And the masses bought the CD in droves—rioting and looting when the stores ran out! And the artist moved to the Seychelles and lived out his days in comfort...whoops, sorry, that was the Julio Iglesias bio. Here's what The Cutting Edge had to say about Rodent Weekend.

And it's good to know that Tonio's old cheerleader, Steve Simels, is still listening. Here's his review of Rodent Weekend.

Yugoslavia

Dig it! The first of the online Yugoslavia reviews. This one's from The Phantom Tollbooth.

From Rambles, a "cultural arts magazine": Good to know that the cover fooled at least one person.

James Mann likes the cynical side of Tonio K., in this review for Ink 19, but doesn't hear any evidence of Christian faith in the lyrics. Just what does he think would constitute such evidence?

Finally, cruise on over to CD Shakedown for a positive review with more links than a Chicago butcher shop. Quoth Carl: "Any review that simultaneously compares our hero to Peter Gabriel, Bob Seger, Graham Parker and Southside Johnny is at least good for a laugh."

Concerts

A brief writeup from the L.A. Times of a Romeo-era Tonio K. performance. The reviewer, Craig Lee, seems to be trying to raise bad puns and idiotic statements to an art form.

Here's a writeup from the L.A. Herald Examiner of a March 1988 Tonio show at the Roxy.

And another review from the L.A. Times, of that same Roxy show.

Check out Rob Davis' review of "Storming Heaven," a benefit concert featuring what is an extremely rare occurrence these days: a live performance by that classic Western man, Tonio K.