Evil, by Konrad

Evil

by Konrad

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The 1982 classic with bonus vinyl-only three song 45

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Friends Of Mine, Trinidad Seed, Paradise Bird, Naked In The Park, Evil, I'm On Stage, Piano 1, I Saw You, and 18 more. , and , .

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1.	It's Only A Matrix 02:40	lyrics	buy track
We’ve got those laws up in space About bodies that move out in space The science of Physics, brought closer to home Energy of the folks you know. Well it’s only a matrix That we meet by chance It’s only a matrix Not a coincidance Science of how people meet With eight million people on the street Odds are against it, yet, we meet again Matrix of energies that blend. Energy for one and all You thought it was deaf to your call The science of Physics, brought closer to home Matrix can’t leave you alone.
2.	Music Scientist 02:27	lyrics	buy track
Fun and pleasure, that’s the game Where it leads you hard to say When it’s over start again Music Scientist, coming from the future to bring you this Music Scientist, analyze all the time to get this: Evil pleasure, on the T.V. news Satisfaction guaranteed Building up those evil needs Music scientist only sees the facts: “Be the best, forget the rest” It seems quite cracked! Fun and pleasure, that’s the game Where it comes from I can’t say You seemed so ‘sad’ just the other day
3.	Don't Want No Police 03:10	lyrics	buy track
Don’t want no police, on the radio Don’t want no police, telling me just what to do I am not talking about rock and roll They drive in squad cards, uniformed, Nothing’s wrong, till they get that radio call Don’t want no police, on the radio Just want some peace, between everyone you know If we’d behave ourselves And not be so damn evil We would not need protection From ourselves, by ourselves between ourselves Don’t want no police, on the radio Don’t want no police, ahhh, but what about the rules?
4.	Alien 04:08	lyrics	buy track
I find, given the time, no one can believe what they see in their mind They try to see with their eyes, and when they are deceived they sit and cry You’re really not a chicken cause you learned wrong Children of the future, don’t get burned! Alien, my brother Travelling out in space Alien, my brother Likes the human race I heard a nation will scream, when you take all its people and impose your dreams Could be, one of these days, the dream’s not yours and you’re lost in a maze Don’t you call it Evil If it moves you off your seat Teaches you a lesson So next time you won’t get beat You’re sickened and you’re saddened With countries that are poor You see all around you, people wanting more I find, given the time, now we can believe what we see in our minds You know, dreams are true, till you wake up tomorrow and there is no you.
5.	Working Man 03:06	lyrics	buy track
I know, you know the knowledge of the world I read it in a book that I saw in ‘Space World’ You know, I know extra-sensory Had it for a while, since I was three I’m a working man Working all day and for what? I’m a working man Spending my mind like a dollar (And I know it, yet I do it) I know, you know the knowledge of your life You smoked it up so fast in your cheap little pipe You know, I know life is out in space They patiently wait for the Peace Race Let’s all try to exercise our minds Fuse them all together and see what we will find Inside, outside, we are not the same The only thing that fuses, is our brains. . .
6.	Keep On Playing That Jazz 03:24	lyrics	buy track
Every now and then there is a new kinda music We give it a label and then dance to it It has a wild groove to make you move alright. Well long ago there was a new kinda music It took you by surprise when dancin’ to it It had a wild groove to make you move, alright. Keep on playin' that jazz As long as music lasts All that’s old was one time new Those evil beatniks attracting our youth How fast it seems to fade into the past I played piano and a trumpet too Grew my whiskers so I could boogie with you To that jazzy language evolving from the blues. Jazz on ice to cool your throat A new kinda music to rock your boat New is what you make it, old is how you break it, alright Well every now and then there is a new kinda music We give it a label and then dance to it But please don’t forget to keep on playin’ that jazz.
7.	My Girl Likes To Buy 04:27	lyrics	buy track
She’s like a crazy, when she starts to scream It’s just her way of sayin’, that she thinks I’m mean. I soothe her with frustration, till she’s half insane A smile spreads across her lips, and I get paid again. there’s no more talk. There’s no more walk. The inside is lost on the outside. My Girl Likes to Buy, something that will stimulate her mind My Girl Likes to Buy, all those things that money just can’t buy She’s more than a woman, going round the world Taking all those pictures, we never left her room. My baby get excited, cause I look insane A smile spreads across my lips, and I get paid again.
8.	Blue Sunrise 00:46	lyrics	buy track
(instrumental)
9.	The Man Of Mystery 02:51	lyrics	buy track
Love lies on the sidewalk Killer on the loose Will you stand and take action Or sit and take abuse? Satan’s knights come creeping With evil fantasies When you gonna move into a different world Forever you’ll be free The Man of Mystery, he might be you, he might be me The Man of Mystery, he has no fears, cause he can’t breathe I’ll hypnotize your bloodshot eyes I’ll bring you back to life All the time you’re hiding in your T.V. set Living out its hype The Man of Mystery, controlled the men in history And ninety million said YES They want “the PENALTY” blessed They wrote letters to D.C. So Satan’s knights won’t go free.
10.	One Way Motorcycle Ride 02:35	lyrics	buy track
Little child, little child on your crazy motorcycle ride Little child, little child, doesn’t seem to be a place to hide, on your One Way Motorcycle Ride Flyin’ by, touch the sky, I’m a Rainbow rider who’s hit a high Do it all the way The highway’s long, you’re feelin’ strong, The feeling’s right but the road is wrong Knew it all the way And then you’re gonna find some day, that everything has slipped away, and then your gonna fade away.
11.	Seems Like One Of Those Days 02:48	lyrics	buy track
Walking along those Manhattan streets Heading down to work just to make ends meet I am moving but not grooving ‘cause there’s People pushing me, I’ll take it easy Seems Like One of Those Days great to be back home Seems like one of those days just to be alone Seems like one of those days Twelve O'Clock comes and I get my break Go out to eat but it tastes so fake When you're moving but not grooving Just stand right up and yell, take it easy baby Five O'Clock comes, yes it's subway time Another little headache, another crime There's my station, so pardon me…
12.	DMZ Bolero 03:13	lyrics	buy track
(instrumental)
13.	People 01:35	lyrics	buy track
People, ‘O people Of the beautiful human race So many into Sci-Fi and Violence out in space If this reflects your expectations Well have another guess . . . The primitive minds fight and die, The intelligent ones live. People, ’O people The intelligent ones are you World leaders all caught up in Primitive systems, that includes war too If Outer Space life landed in New York You would shoot them all to hell If that’s the case, We’ll leave you by yourselves If that’s the case, boys, We’ll leave you by yourselves...

about

From a post about the LP reissue at the Dangerous Minds blog, 2014:

As for who discovered Konrad, I believe that honor belongs to Mike Ascherman, one of the mostly east coast vinyl collectors who coalesced around their interest in psych records in the early 1980s, gradually expanding the search to embrace all manner of private press and outsider music, psychedelic or otherwise. These were the gold rush days, the early recognition of the primacy of the handmade in records, the handmade cover, the home recorded blast from the fringe.

Without a doubt, psychedelics lend themselves to an atemporal, long view of art. That is to say, taking mushrooms can only improve one's chances of discovering ahead of its time music with something resembling the clarity of hindsight.

The appeal of outsider music seems obvious in retrospect, but hardly anyone in the Reagan era knew or cared about the thing we now call private press. The term for artist-financed records made outside the label system for most of the 20th century says it all -- in those days it was called vanity press.

It wasn't vanity that compelled Konrad to make his 1982 album Evil, which manages to blend cosmic grandiosity and working class sympathies in equal measure. Konrad ends the record with an plea for world peace sung from outer space, and clearly wants the world to listen to what he has to say, but you never get the sense he actually expects that to happen. He comes off less as an ego tripper than as someone with an impossibly large heart, almost childlike. Once you get past the cover, there's absolutely nothing menacing about Evil.

Sometime around 1987, Ascherman found a copy and decided to investigate. He wrote about it in the comments section of a blog post about the album:

The copy I found in a local NYC store had a business card for the label inserted under the shrink wrap.

I called and spoke to the label owner, Barry Konarik. He was friendly and spoke at length about Konrad’s music, though he told me no personal info about the man. He never really talked about the lyrics, but only about how Konrad was making dance music... To that point, he had only released Konrad’s music (the LP + 2 45s), but waxed poetic about a forthcoming cassette-only release, an album by a nephew of Jim Morrison. He didn’t divulge the nephew’s name or any other info except that it was to be an album of dance music.

It seemed that our conversation always led back to dance music. No info about who Konrad was, why he was dressed in satanic-looking robes or what any of the lyrics meant. Just it was about dance music.

As we wound down, I ordered a box of the LPs and a few of the 45s. At the agreed upon time, a man showed up carrying a box. I asked if he was Barry. He said there was a picture of Barry in the box. The only picture in the box was the photo of Konrad on the cover.

It would be two decades before anyone else contacted Barry Konarik about his music. No one knew where he was. Aside from Ascherman no one even knew his real name. Enjoy The Experience author Johan Kugelberg obtained a copy from Ascherman in the early 90s and played it for anyone who would listen. Interest snowballed, with copies eventually trading hands for as much as $300 a piece. All the while, people wondered what it all meant. No one knew why the album was called Evil, and no one knew what to make of its fixations on alien intelligence and the importance of synchronicity as described in the track 'Only A Matrix'.

Konarik saw the blog post and on the afternoon of December 23, 2008 did something quite unexpected -- he put his phone number in the comments section and invited fans to "give me a yell and let me know that you are a konvert."

That posting would change Konarik's life forever. After a quarter century of carrying a sense of failure and regret not uncommon with artists who thought they might just set the world on fire, pre-internet -- Konarik spent the rest of the day answering the phone and talking to fans and/or people looking for cheap copies to grip and flip.

I was one of the lucky ones who got through, and struck up a relationship with Barry, and eventually was given the chance to bring Evil back into the world and revive the Ethereal Sequence label. In 2012 I met up with my good friend Niels Alpert in Boise Idaho, where Konarik lives, and shot a rather crazy video you can watch at vimeo.com/99802254.

credits

released December 2, 2022

Words and Music - Konrad
All Vocals - Konrad
Keyboards, Guitars, Bass, Drums, Violins, and all other instruments - Konrad
Produced by Konrad
Arranged by Konrad
Engineered by Konrad at Ethereal Sequence Studios, Earth
Photographs of Konrad taken by S. Talkovsky
Synthesizer Programming, Jacket Design, and General Incandescence - K-D
Words and Music
Ⓒ 1982 Konrad
℗ 1982/2014 Ethereal Sequence Records
Unauthorized duplication is prohibited by law.
PLAY THIS RECORD LOUD!

Reissue produced by Douglas Mcgowan and Niels Alpert
Original master tape transfers and restoration by Wojciech Czern
Cover scans and retouching by Dennis Loren
Cover reconstruction by Niels Alpert
Vinyl by Musicol
Covers by Stoughton Printing Co

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