For those unaware, today, Omnivore Recordings has announced Nomi, a special four-LP set from the late visionary German vocalist and performance artist Klaus Nomi, due out March 6th, 2026.

Packaged in a slipcase with the iconic Nomi logo, the vinyl collection includes his studio albums Klaus Nomi and Simple Man, plus the live LP In Concert along with the posthumous compilation release, Encore….

Bavarian-born Klaus Sperber emigrated to New York City in 1972 and soon became a staple in the East Village art scene, adopting the new last name of Nomi (fashioned after the popular science magazine Omni). After working on a production with Kristian Hoffman, whose band Mumps were playing Max’s Kansas City and CBGB, the two began working together — with Hoffman writing originals and picking cover versions of popular songs that would showcase Nomi’s multi-octave vocal range.

David Bowie hired Nomi as one of his background singers for a 1979 performance on Saturday Night Live, and the exposure caught the eyes and ears of Bowie’s label, RCA. Soon, Kristian and Klaus began recording Nomi’s debut album.

Klaus Nomi appeared in 1981 featuring covers of Lou Christie’s “Lightning Strikes,” Leslie Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me,” Chubby Checker’s “The Twist,” and Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Samson And Delilah (Aria),” plus originals from Hoffman including “Nomi Song” and “Total Eclipse” (memorably performed in the 1981 film Urgh! A Music War).

Simple Man appeared in 1982, featuring Hoffman’s title track and covers of Doris Troy’s “Just One Look” and “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” from The Wizard Of Oz — plus songs from Renaissance composers John Dowland and Henry Purcell. It would sadly be Nomi’s last album of original material, following his AIDS-related death in 1983.

Encore… was released posthumously, collecting tracks from the first two albums, the Urgh! performance of “Total Eclipse,” and three previously unissued tracks. In Concert (recorded at NYC’s Hurrah club in 1979) arrived in 1986, containing Nomi’s version of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love.”

KLAUS NOMI – SIDE 1:
1. Keys Of Life
2. Lightning Strikes
3. The Twist
4. Nomi Song
5. You Don’t Own Me

KLAUS NOMI – SIDE 2:
1. The Cold Song
2. Wasting My Time
3. Total Eclipse
4. Nomi Chant
5. Samson And Delilah (Aria)

His self-titled debut album is one of the most unique, incomparable, and unforgettable artistical musical releases in music history. So what makes it so noteworthy? Perhaps the most obvious thing is Nomi’s background as a classically trained opera singer. While a lot of pop vocalists have some degree of classical training, it’s rare to find one who worked so hard to bring ultra-mannered, literally operatic lead vocals into an otherwise pop context.

The other thing I should mention is that Nomi’s voice part was the “countertenor,” giving his vocals an even more unusual dimension. Countertenors are men who sing in a high range usually covered by women, and even in the operatic tradition, they weren’t necessarily all that common. But the combination of partially electronic, New Wave compositions with these bizarre, but ultimately “traditional” vocals results in something that sounds simply otherworldly.

SIMPLE MAN – SIDE 1:
1. From Beyond
2. After The Fall
3. Just One Look
4. Falling In Love Again
5. Icurok
6. Rubberband Lazer

SIMPLE MAN – SIDE 2:
1. Wayward Sisters
2. Ding Dong
3. Three Wishes
4. Simple Man
5. Death
6. Return

The unique vocalist’s 1982 album, Simple Man, contains even more Ska/Reggae/Disco tendencies, including even more Burlesque covers (Just One Look, Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead). But, for me, and once again, the best cuts are the operatic ones such as Icurok, Rubberband Lazer and Death.

For some (likely contractual) reason this very bizarre and larger-than-life singer got paired with a very mundane backing band and producer. One of the original members of Nomi’s live band actually whines about this in a documentary I recently saw.

Oh, and for the record, my own personal real favorites are the pop covers from Doris Troy, Marlene Dietrich, and the Wizard of Oz.

ENCORE… – SIDE 1:
1. Fanfare
2. The Cold Song
3. Total Eclipse (Live Version)
4. Can’t Help Falling In Love
5. Simple Man
6. Wasting My Time

ENCORE… – SIDE 2:
1. Wayward Sisters
2. Ding Dong
3. You Don’t Own Me
4. Der Nissbaum
5. Lightning Strikes
6. The Twist
7. Samson And Delilah (Aria)

Nomi’s voice is haunting, elegiac, and romantic depending on how you listen to these songs and what mood you’re in at the time. There’s even humor in some pieces, like Total Eclipse, The Twist and You Don’t Own Me (made famous by Leslie Gore in the 60’s). Sometimes a song like his aria from Samson and Delilah will make you profoundly sad, and other times you will marvel at the power and artistry he was capable of in so many styles of music, from rock ’n’ roll to opera.

Every track is a keeper, in my humble opinion, but especially these gems: Total Eclipse, Cold Song, A Simple Man, Wasting My Time, You Don’t Own Me, and of course, the magnificent aria from Samson and Delilah (which I believe is from the Massenet version, likely available in its entirety, with other soloists on other recordings).

IN CONCERT – SIDE 1:
1. Keys Of Life
2. Falling In Love Again
3. Lightning Strikes
4. Nomi Song
5. The Twist

IN CONCERT – SIDE 2:
1. Total Eclipse
2. I Feel Love
3. Samson And Delilah (Aria)

An incredible character and artist, this live concert album is a fundamental album and one that needs to be included in any true fans’ collections. Stand out cuts are live cuts such as Total Eclipse (which is one of the most effectively deadly hits I have ever listened to, a delightful pop madness), Nomi Song (which is a hypnotic and slowed-down reggae of Wasting My Time), and especially Keys Of Life; which is a disconcerting canticle of medieval monks on which Nomi proclaims his visionary prophecy.

Another would be the more frivolous and dance-like Lightning Strikes, which is one of his more completely transfigured of songs, which Nomi appropriates and impresses with his own indelible mark and my last observation would be the brilliant Samson And Delilah, where Nomi may well limit himself to purely interpretative work, even musically sticking without oddities to the original compositions, but it’s perfect as is.