Concrete Blonde are one of my favourite bands. Definitely my favourite female-fronted rock band of all time, with Johnette Neapolitino being my all-time favourite female vocalist. -- My first experience with Concrete Blonde was 32 years ago, in 1987. I was about 14 or 15 at this time, a young lad with a serious love for rock music. I came across their debut LP, self-titled Concrete Blonde, in a Newcastle-upon-Tyne music shop...though which shop escapes me. I think that my persuasion to buy the record was seeing the "IRS records" logo on the back, from which REM had already impressed me with two albums Fables and Lifes rich Pageant. I was very struck on the record. Still in Hollywood is one of my favourite songs from the record, a lively upbeat hard-rocker with real hardcore-punk attitude! Another great cut for me is Little Sister which showcases perhaps most proficiently the beautiful, soulful side of Concrete Blonde's music, as well as probably some of Johnette's best vocals. I replaced this album with a CD in the mid-1990s (the CD I bought in the US) as I did with most non-CD albums I owned, but I still keep the old LP. My favourite song of theirs is God is a Bullet, for which I have the "7 single from 1989. I love that song, definitely one of the greatest album openers ever! I bought the Free album on CD not long after hearing the single, and to this day I regard that album as my favourite. The cover of Its Only Money, at that time already one of my favourite Thin Lizzy songs, gets the Thin Lizzy fan seal-of-approval, being absolutely brilliant. Help Me is another great rocker from this record! I remember my dad really loving Scene of a Perfect Crime! Their 1990 album Bloodletting was this bands entry to the mainstream for Concrete Blonde in the US. Its not my favourite Concrete Blonde album, but there is some stuff I really like on there. I love The Beast, a song that for me expertly balances the heavy-rocking and soulful sides of the bands music. The Sky is a Poisonous Garden is the closest Concrete Blonde ever got to metal, it has a hint of Steel-era Judas Priest in it, and is another one of my choice cuts for the band. I love Waking in London and Mexican Moon too, but I honesty don't want to write an essay with this post! -- This band was and is virtually unknown in the UK. My understanding is that all of their albums, while obviously available, failed to chart here. I don't think they even had a single in the British charts. Did they even tour in the UK during their initial run? I did have the fortune of seeing Concrete Blonde live three times...but the first two occasions were while on foreign visits, 1992 in Paris, France and early 1994 (if memory serves) in Atlanta, Georgia. The third time was in the UK, but that was in 2005, after the band got back together. -- I don't really know what the chances are of this band ever getting back together again? Quite slim I should think. A great band whichever way you look at it, which in the UK anyway never really got the recognition they deserved. My thoughts when hearing God is a Bullet for the first time was "they're going to be huge!"...they never were. Id love to hear from some more fans!
Soo..tell us how you really feel about them. Yep, very good group but I don't love them as much as you do.
I Love them as well...."BEWARE OF DARKNESS" Is my favorite cover of a george Harrison song ever!the mankey brothers involvement with SPARKS was quite interesting too!"JOEY" Is my favorite song... "BLOODLETTING" my favorite album!!
Love them! Was fortunate enough to see, and meet, them a handful of times in the late 80's and early 90's. They should have been bigger than they were. The last time they reunited was back in 2010 for the 20th anniversary of Bloodletting, which they toured behind. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see them on that tour, and they split up again in 2012. I was very happy when their catalog got re-issued on vinyl a few years ago. It gave me the chance to finally fill in some holes in that format. They always did great covers, too. Killer versions of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing", Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows", Cheap Trick's "Mandocello", Thin Lizzy's "It's Only Money", the aforementioned George Harrison cover, and more.
Great band for sure! Johnette has a fantastic voice and James Mankey a unique style. Johnette's solo record is pretty good too and her cover of "The Scientist" is awesome. Saw her solo a few years back and it was disappointing. I believe she said she had imbibed a bit during her trip to the gig and it showed. Still a fan though.
Love them....but, at the same time, they were always my example I used as "worst sounding recordings of great music" when I went to shop for stereo systems. I've got original vinyl for the first two. It's a little better than the CDs I grew with, but not a ton. I'd hoped the 192khz would be something to hear but it just wasn't--someone made the call to crush it, so even though it's nicer transfer from tape, it's been molested.
Great band! Saw them only once at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto. Mexican Moon and Walking In London are two all time fave LPs of mine. I waited 24 years for Mexican Moon to released on vinyl. There was a Greek pressing from 1993 but the cost was way too high.
The original CD version of "Bloodletting" is really quiet. Too quiet. You really have to crank it (just like P J Harvey's "Rid Of Me", it's just too quiet and lacks punch) That said, "Bloodletting" was a good album and the same producer worked on The Tragically Hip's finest album called "Fully Completely" (because the band liked the sound he got on Concrete Blonde's album)
Can anyone comment on the vinyl reissues that came out a couple years ago? I'm curious what people have thought of them.
Great band a personal favorite. I bought the first Lp to hear their version of Beware of Darkness and loved the whole record. I got all the rest on CD and saw about half a dozen times. Bloodletting was brilliant, as was Walking In London, Mexican Moon, their CD singles with the odd b side covers, too. I saw a few drummers with them, but it was always Jim Mankey and Johnette that made the band for me. She's a great writer and singer and the right bass player for the Blonde. And Mankey should be a role model for budding guitarists everywhere with his textures, layering, melodic soloing and playing to enhance the song. Just a great band with a lot of great songs who put on great shows for their fans and got spit out by the corporate machine.
This "comeback" album of theirs came out in early 2002 (it was their first proper album in 9 years) and was a welcome addition to their discography. It's really solid and sounds great too! I saw them "live" on this tour and they were great.
Yes! Their cover of Little Wing is fantastic! As many times as this song has been covered, CB's version from the Caroline CD Single is right there with SRV's as the best covers of this Hendrix classic. Johnette's vocals are in great form (what a voice) and the guitar is incredible. They got some airplay here in the States with, of course, Joey, and also Tomorrow Wendy. I also like the Mexican Moon album. CB's first release is actually an EP under the name Dream 6. Same lineup and worth checking out. I picked up my copy from a Bay Area Tower Records (damn, I miss Tower Records) in 1996 as a free giveaway. I see it listed occassionally on ebay.
Big fan here. Caught on from the start with the debut album and saw them a number of times in LA as well as various Johnette shows. 5/1/87 Whisky A Go-Go (Johnette's little sister was there the night of her prom, triple bill over two nights with Downy Mildew and The Dream Syndicate, Dream Syndicate and CB swapping headline slot) 12/3/87 Hollywood Palladium opening for The Replacements (guest sax player on a new song, I think it may have been Scene of a Perfect Crime) 11/22/88 Bogart's Long Beach (quartet with Alan Bloch on bass, Johnette just sang) 11/25/88 Whisky A Go-Go ( " ") 6/20/89 Ventura Theater ( " ") 6/23/89 Embassy Hotel Theatre L.A. ( " ") 7/1/90 The Palace (Andy Prieboy opened and sat in on Tomorrow Wendy, Paul Thompson on drums) 10/15/92 Greek Theater (biggest L.A. show ever, perhaps biggest headline ever? Chris Bailey sat in for 1 song) Nov? 1993 Whisky A Go-Go (Billed as Dream 6, Texacala Jones joins in on "One of My Kind", Harry back on drums! ) 2/26/94 Wiltern (Steve Wynn sits in on "When You Smile") 3/10/94 Wiltern (final show of the original band) Post CB (never caught Pretty and Twisted) 10/25/96 Roxy Johnette and the Heads 5/5/97 Hollywood House of Blues Concrete Blonde y Los Illegals 10/10/97 Hollywood Palladium Johnette solo opening for Paul Weller 5/4/02 The Palace (Group Therapy tour) 6/28/10 Fonda Theater (Bloodletting 20 year anniversary tour) For me, Harry was *the* drummer for Concrete Blonde, I never cared much for Paul Thompson or the later other drummers (Gabriel Ramirez, etc).
They played at least a few dates in the UK in 1990-1992. setlist.fm has these dates: Jul 8 1992 - Clapham Grand, London Jun 12 1991 - Studio, Bristol Oct 15 1990 - Kilburn National Ballroom, London Oct 8 1990 - T&C 2, London May 19 1990 - The Borderline, London May 16 1990 - Kilburn National Ballroom, London They played Atlanta Feb 15, 1994
i had, and liked, everything they did up to this, and i found group therapy a very difficult listen.......something was missing from before. never could put my finger on what it was, but i traded this album in long ago, kept everything else though.
Never saw them live unfortunately. Can't even imagine what that would be like. Have everything from Dream 6 through Live in Brazil and Scarred. This band needs a box set.
I listened to Bloodletting a lot back then. Love the artwork too. I recall they had the drummer from Roxy Music drum for them and some great singles which should have taken them to the next level. Didn’t really happen and the next album wasn’t as good.
Great to hear CB getting some love. Like the OP I first heard ‘God Is A Bullet’ when I was about 15 and hunted down the LP and loved it. ‘Still In Hollywood ‘ stills rocks hard. Also think Free is a slightly better record and Bloodletting a step up in recording quality and an excellent record that included aside from Joey, Caroline, the title track and the heartfelt Tomorrow, Wendy. I Don’t Need a Hero another good track. Walking In London and Mexican Moon are also solid records with some good tracks and Heal It Up has one of Johnnett’s greatest vocals ever. I loved the Group Therapy album in 2002 but wasn’t so enamoured with the Mojave album; seemed a little flat Have also really enjoyed Jonette’s Sketchbook series and loved her Scarred album from 2007. I also grabbed her last one called Naked which came with a DVD of just her on stage. She still has a phenomenally powerful voice. I met Johnette after a show in Melbourne years ago and was invited to stick around for beers and shots of tequila. She was smart, ferociously funny and a sweet person to get to know. She had a niece who lived here then and she joined us well. This was during a mid 1990s tour of Australia.she’s good fun and a more passionate singer songwriter you’d hardpressed to find.
My opinions on favourites change with mood and time but today I agree with both of your statements here. I love CB but came to them a bit later to you when Bloodletting released in Oz, Joey was a big hit there. These days I have all CB albums which get plenty of spins, plus a couple of Johnettes solo albums - Scarred and The Naked album. They seem to be a perfect compliment to her band work with CB. Cheers
OMG, has it been that long?!?! I always liked "Ghost Of A Texas Ladies Man" but lost track of what these folks are up to. Time to listen to the stuff I never heard.
I dig them, have all the albums but have never seen them live. Great singer, interesting guitar player, catchy songs, what's not to like?
