So I’ll be seeing them in september for the first show of their 25th Anniversary tour. They said they’ll be playing a song or two off of every album. I think we can all agree that the Wax era was the best but are any of their albums past 13 Above The Night worth checking out? I almost picked up A Crime For All Seasons recently and someone on here said that that was their last good album. It seems that after Confessions Of Knife they slowly went downhill. Sexplosion was ok and 13 was a little bit of a letdown (though it does have Badlife on there). So any recommendations?
Side note: Funny that the first show of the tour is in San Francisco. They’re making up for not having a SF date for leg 3 of Sinister Whisperz haha.
I think the TKK are totally underrated. I’ve always enjoyed seeing them live (although I didn’t see them on the past few tours, which most people seem to slag off). If you’re looking for something with an industrial sound, then Crime For All Seasons would probably satisfy you. I think that one sounds like they were trying to cash in on the song they had on the Crow soundtrack. Very different from their other stuff, but good if you’re into that. Personally, I’d say that Filthiest Show in Town is the best they’ve put out since 13 Above the Night. It’s a much more subdued affair, very mellow. But it’s great music for late nights of questionable decisions. Put it on, have some drinks, host a key party, then wallow in guilt and regret. Have a good time at the show!
I’ve also only ever been into their 1988-1990 material. The 2009 album Death Threat (on the industrial label Rustblade) felt like kind of an attempt to return to that, but it wasn’t as good.
Here are all of the upcoming tour dates in case anyone else was wondering.
SEP 12 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA @ DNA LOUNGE
SEP 14 – PORTLAND, OR @ HAWTHORNE THEATRE
SEP 15 – SEATTLE, WA @ STUDIO SEVEN
SEP 16 – SPOKANE, WA @ THE “A” CLUB
SEP 19 – DENVER, CO @ BLUEBIRD THEATRE
SEP 20 – LINCOLN, NE @ KNICKERBOCKERS
SEP 21 – LAWRENCE, KS @ GRANADA THEATRE
SEP 22 – TULSA, OK @ IDL BALLROOM
SEP 23 – LITTLE ROCK, AR @ JUANITA’S
SEP 25 – DALLAS, TX @ TREES
SEP 27 – HOUSTON, TX @ HOUSE OF BLUES
SEP 28 – AUSTIN, TX @ ELYSIUM
SEP 29 – SAN ANTONIO, TX @ BACKSTAGE LIVE
OCT 01 – ALBUQUERQUE, NM @ LAUNCHPAD
OCT 02 – TEMPE, AZ @ CLUB RED
OCT 04 – LOS ANGELES, CA @ EL REY THEATRE
OCT 11 – ST PAUL, MN @ STATION 4
OCT 12 – MILWAUKEE, WI @ SHANK HALL
OCT 13 – CHICAGO, IL @ BOTTOM LOUNGE
OCT 14 – ST LOUIS, MO @ OLD ROCK HOUSE
OCT 16 – PITTSBURGH, PA @ ALTAR BAR
OCT 17 – NEW YORK, NY @ GRAMERCY THEATRE
OCT 18 – HARRISBURG, PA @ THE ABBEY
OCT 19 – PHILADELPHIA, PA @ NORTH STAR
OCT 20 – BALTIMORE, MD @ SONAR
OCT 21 – SPRINGFIELD, VA @ EMPIRE
OCT 25 – COVINGTON, KY @ MADISON THEATRE
OCT 26 – DAYTON, OH @ McGUFFY’S HOUSE OF ROCK
OCT 27 – LOUISVILLE, KY @ PHOENIX HILL
This guy I met at a biker bar in Denver was wearing a TKK shirt and a LoA pin and drunkenly confided in me that Death Threat was the best thing they’ve released to date.
I like both the nasty, eerie Wax Trax! stuff AND the grimy, sleazy disco stuff. Crime for all Seasons might have been my first TKK record, I dunno? It’s a good one. They’re a band whose singles I like a lot better than their albums. I think once you have the Kooler than Jesus EP, Cuz it’s Hot, and the split with KMFDM, you can pretty much pick and choose or forget everything else, as that’s their strongest stuff.
So there’s 3 albums it sounds like I should check out. I read on the Death Threat tour they started to really revisit the classics. Then Sinister Whisperz happened which was all classics. I didn’t get into them til after Retrospectacle cuz I wanted to see why they got to headline the event and to see if they have anything better than After The Flesh. Picked up Kooler Than Jesus and the rest is history. It got remastered and became a self titled album with those 7 songs, the Cuz It’s Hot single, the single version of Leathersex and 3 songs from various soundtracks. I prefer the first album over everything else. I’m hoping they do a tour next year playing the album in it’s entirety since it’ll be the 25th Anniversary. A special edition would be great with the rest of the concert from the Ryko reissue as a bonus would be sweet. The demos from those sessions would also be nice. I’ve seen em floating on here before but I don’t know what I would trade for em.
I can honestly say I prefer early TKK over Ministry. Bring on the hate. People on here said they were much better at Retrospectacle than on previous tours. I just dig the fact that they’ve gone back on the last couple of tours and play the shit people wanna hear unlike Ministry.
I saw 'em in 2010 I think, headlining with Lords of Acid. The set was pretty solid, and after the show Groovie Mann mocked LoA, which I thought was rather amusing.
I know I’ve said this before, but I saw Levi at a Guitar Center once and wanted to say hi but couldn’t because he smelled like straight up doodoo and I couldn’t get within 10 feet without gagging.
If you’re looking for something with an industrial sound, then Crime For All Seasons would probably satisfy you. I think that one sounds like they were trying to cash in on the song they had on the Crow soundtrack. Very different from their other stuff, but good if you’re into that.
I read that that came out in '97. A few years too late to cash in on After The Flesh.
True, but I believe it was the first album they recorded after The Crow soundtrack really broke big. Hit & Run Holiday was released after the soundtrack, but I’m not sure when they recorded it. If someone heard “After the Flesh” and wanted more of that sound, they wouldn’t find it on Hit & Run, or really any of the other albums (except maybe 13 Above the Night) until Crime For All Seasons came out. I certainly don’t think it was a bad thing to go in that direction. Just my thoughts.
Hit N Run came out in '95 after The Crow and they got dropped from Interscope soon after. From what I’ve read it’s a surf/punk influenced album so it’s a no brainer that they got dropped. I think I’ll definitely be picking up Crime very soon.
Just listened to Death Threat… Cool record. Probably the best thing they did for quite a long time. I somewhat like even their weakest records, but this one really makes it.
Pretty much anything circa 1986-1990 was hit or miss, but it was grimey, dirty music and very in the vein of anything on Waxtrax at the time.
However, Confessions Of…, Sexplosion, 13 Above the Night and Hit & Run Holiday are killer with no filler. Anything after the Interscope days…well…let’s just say it tries to desperately recap the sound they made while on that label. It just falls flat. Groovie was a major drunk like Al ten years back so I think that had a hand in it…
Death Threat was ok. Not my thing but the closest return to form they could ever have…
I’ve listened to A Crime For All Seasons over the past couple of days. I’m kind of in the middle with it. My main problem with it is that the vox weren’t mixed very well. I seem to run into that with other songs by them but this album has been the most guilty. It definitely was a cash in on After The Flesh at moments and I think they could’ve picked a better choice for a single than Sexy Sucker. Also 13 Above The Night has grown on me but I’d hardly say it’s all killer and no filler. I could definitely do without Dirty Little Secrets or Savage Sexteen. The title track really should’ve opened the album and if it wasn’t for the sample at the end of Savage Sexteen I’d say close with Blue Buddha. I also wouldn’t say Confessions and Sexplosion are all killer no filler either. Confessions would’ve been perfect if it had the regular version of Kooler Than Jesus instead of the pointless remix they stuck on there. The Ryko reissue also has crappy remixes of Waiting For Mommie and Ride The Mindway and that version doesn’t have Do You Fear (The Inferno Express) on it. On Sexplosion I could do without Princess Of The Queens, Continental Touch and Mystery Babylon. I’ll get around to Hit & Run soon but Gay Black & Married is next on my list seeing that I bought that album a year ago and never listened to it.
Yeah I went too far, all of them basically have some duds especially Hit & Run Holiday. Groovie really took the “Gay Disco” sound too far, no shocker Death Threat turned that on its ass.
I admit though I only hate one song each on their first two LPs, the remix of Kooler Than Jesus I love way more than the original…