'Simple Man' - Klaus Nomi

Klaus Nomi's fascinating discography is short; two studio albums and a handful of compilations after he passed away, along with singles that seem to be out of print. I think the guy had terrific talent and bravery.

Simple Man was the final studio album from German countertenor Klaus Nomi before AIDS took his life in 1983—though there is a theory that Klaus Nomi never died but simply returned to the planet he came from. If only that was plausible! Humourous as it sounds, the tragic reality is that he would have very likely have died alone because of the epidemic. Who knows what would have happened had Klaus Nomi still been alive today. I feel that he would have been a global superstar had he had survived. He probably would have enjoyed crazy duets with Lady Gaga and Yoko Ono.

The album has a lot of covers but the eclectic production can hide it because they're so different from the originals so no one really compares them. People do associate him with Lady Gaga because of the wacky quirks that seem to be a lot more welcome now then they were in Klaus's time.

The album has similar vibes to the self-titled debut with the mixtures of theatrical, classical, pop, rock, and new wave. I think that Simple Man is a lot more rock orientated than Klaus Nomi. The vocals themselves are a mixed bag, ranging from the creepy accent and impressive soprano style. Just like the last album, it contains a solid experimentalism with different genres. It doesn't really have much progress, but if you liked the first album, you'd probably like this one too.

Simple Man is definitely a direct follow up from Klaus Nomi and he even quotes "Total Eclipse" in "After The Fall." Doris Troy's "Just One Look" holds a really strong innocent charm because it sounds so soft and adorable.

"Falling In Love" highlights the icy disco elements in the album. It's an effortless track with an epic bass. The backing vocalists make the song sound weird, in a good way that is. ICUROK jumps the disco elements up with a really catchy baseline and simple structure. The style is pretty futuristic for an 80s song with the use of electronics. I still don't really get the song but from listening to it I imagine someone's hooked up with a robot.

"Rubberband Lazer" highlights the awesome sounds of the 80s with Country sounds from the banjo samples and a mix of 8-bit and synthpop sounds. I've never seen synthpop and country mixed like this before. It reminds me of video game music. If Klaus Nomi was more famous, "Rubberband Lazer" would be the 80s equivalent to Rednex's hit "Cotton Eye Joe."

One of the biggest highlights of the album is "Ding Dong," which most people should know from the Wizard Of Oz musical. The song already has a brilliant character to it already but Nomi's vocals and the arrangement add a lot of fun into it. It was really unpredictable because when I looked at the track list I thought of something else.

The title track "Simple Man" is just a simple track about Klaus Nomi telling everyone he is just a simple man who does the best he can. To be honest he was more than a simple man; he was a simple genius. I like how the lyrics revolve around his reputation.

"Death" is Dido's Lament, which comes from Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas." Klaus performs a heartfelt baroque performance of this song and the synthesiser arrangement gives it a bitter taste. "Wayward Sisters" also has that bitter taste too but is a lot more dramatic.

"Return" isn't really much of an album closure. It simply contains nice long notes with an echo effect. It seems to be lost in the crowd of the album. For Klaus Nomi, I would have expected the album to have a much brasher bang.

I love this album, but I like the first album a lot more because I think the sound is a lot more sophisticated and better produced. I still think the album is worth a try because I think it captured a sense of the 80's bit at the same time, it was ahead of its time.

1. "From Beyond" - 3/5
2. "After The Fall" - "We'll build our radioactive castles out in the radioactive air." 5/5
3. "Just One Look" - "I thought I was dreaming, but I was wrong." 5/5
4. "Falling In Love Again" - "Love's always been my game" 5/5
5. "ICUROK" - "I see you are okay to see." 5/5
6. "Rubberband Lazer" - "Pull you closer to me and look right to the moon." 5/5
7. "Wayward Sisters" - "Beat the windows of the dying." 5/5
8. "Ding Dong" - "Ding Dong the wicked witch is dead!" 5/5
9. "Three Wishes" - "Mother got a pool, Daddy got a horse, and I got a dress." 5/5
10. "Simple Man" - "It's just another safe white lie that everybody got…taught" 5/5
11. "Death" - "Death is now a welcome guest." 5/5
12. "Return" - 4/5

Uploaded by closenplay on Youtube. Sadly finding videos of Klaus Nomi in high quality is rare. This is the best quality video of this music video available.