Saw this in a second-hand record shop in London and was struck by the Nomi-ness - The Manhattan Transfer's 1979 album Extensions.
It's also very New Wave graphic design with its angular blocs of primary color. Shades too, on the back cover, of Kraftwerk's Man Machine.
In 1979 Klaus Nomi - although a couple of years away from releasing his debut album - was active on the Manhattan downtown scene. And at some point during that year Nomi appeared on Saturday Night Live with David Bowie alongside Joey Arias, another downtown performer type.
Still, this would be a somewhat recherche thing to be ripping off by a group as nostalgia-oriented as the Manhattan Transfer.
Presumably the idea came from the designer and the Transfer went along with it, perhaps hoping for access to the New Wave market.
The team behind the design, costuming and photography is quite stellar:
Art Direction and Design – Tako Ono
Front Cover Illustration – Pater Sato
Back Cover Photo – Matthew Rolston
Costume Design – Jean-Paul Gaultier
Hair – Pascal
Make-Up – Koelle
From the Manhattan Transfer website:
Visually, the group wore futuristic costumes designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier that gave them a distinctive look onstage (as well as on the back of the album cover.) The audiences loved it, and the album tour was widely successful at home and especially in Europe.
Here's the group looking back to hooking up with Gaultier
And here's a video for the lead single off the album, which is techno-jazz-disco - vaguely pointing towards the likes of Landscape. Very retro-future - harking back to The Twilight Zone.
5,000 light years from Birdland
But I'm still preachin' the rhythm
Long-gone, uptight years from Birdland
An' I'm still teachin' it with 'em
Years from the land of the Bird
An' I am still feelin' the spirit
5,000 light years from Birdland
But I know people can hear it
Bird named it, Bird made it, Bird heard it, then played it
Well-stated! Birdland--
It happened down in Birdland
In the middle of that hub
I remember one jazz club
Where we went to pat feet
Down on fifty-secon' street
Everybody heard that word
That they named it after Bird
Where the rhythm swooped and swirled
The jazz corner of the world
An' the cats they gigged in there
Were beyond compare
Down them stairs, lose them cares - where?
Down in Birdland
Total swing, bop was king - there
Down in Birdland
Bird would cook, Max would look - where?
Down in Birdland
Miles came through, 'Trane came too - there
Down in Birdland
Basie blew, Blakey too - where?
Down in Birdland
Cannonball played that hall - there
Down in Birdland
Yeah---
There may never be nothin' such as that
No Mo' - No Mo'
Down in Birdland, that's where it was at
I know - I know
Back in them days bop was ridin' high
Hello! 'n goodbye!
How well those cats remember
Their first Birdland gig
To play in Birdland is an honor we still dig
Yeah---that club was like--
In another world, sure enough--
Yeah, baby
All o' the cats had the cookin' on
People just sat an' they was steady lookin' on
Then Bird--he came 'n spread the word--
Birdland
Yes, indeed, he did
Yes, indeed, he did
Yes, indeed, he did
Yes, he did, Parker played at Birdland
Yes, he really did
Yes, indeed, he really did
Yes, he really did
Told the truth down in Birdland
Yes, indeed he did, Yardbird Parker played in
Birdland
Everybody dug that beat
Everybody stomped their feet
Everybody digs be-bop
An' they'll never stop
Down them stairs, lose them cares - yeah!
Down in Birdland
Total swing! bop was king - yeah!
Down in Birdland
Bird would cook, Max would look - yeah
Down in Birdland
Miles came through, 'Trane came too - yeah!
Down in Birdland
Basie blew, Blakey too - yeah!
Down in Birdland
Cannonball played that hall - yeah
Down in Birdland
Most U.K. people of a certain vintage associate Manhattan Transfer with this atrocity, which was number one and whose chart run felt like an eternity
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