Customer Reviews

Live in Brazil

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I don't like live CDs, as a general rule. I bought this anyway because Concrete Blonde's live performances are so dynamic and amazing, much more emotional than their studio recordings. Live in Brazil does about as good a job as a live recording can do of maintaining the raw emotion that is the key ingredient in a powerful live show. Johnette explodes repeatedly, and Jim is on point, as usual. Highlights include Tomorrow Wendy (the best live performance I've ever heard of this song), Caroline, I Was a Fool, Violent, Roxy, and Joey. Why they omitted Jenny, I Read is beyond me, but I guess I can forgive them.

I've often thought that Concrete Blonde was one of the most underrated and overlooked bands that came out of L.A. during the late 80s/early 90s. Johnette's voice has always knocked me out and the passion with which she delivers her lyrics is amazing. I've also thought that Jim Mankey is one of the most underrated rock guitarrists out there, delivering solos and parts that are technically and emotionally amazing. I still have not heard Group Therapy yet, but will be buying it shortly, after hearing the versions of its songs on here...

Now to "Live in Brazil". The first word suitable for printing that comes to mind after hearing this is simply "WOW". For three people, the sound and fullness is amazing. Everybody is in fine form here, especially Johnette (who "tries to play bass" - major understatement there!). Her voice is the best I've ever heard it and she delivers the songs with such raw intensity and emotion that you almost forget that she is playing the amazingly solid bass playing that holds it all together... Jim's guitar playing is also top notch. His sound is totally original, the only way I can describe it is "fluid". It winds and bends and twists like a river... And the drummer on this recording is also rock solid and does a great job of holding things together... I'm not going to pick it apart and recommend particular songs, as all of this just plain rocks... definitely in my best of the year list!!!

Buy it!

Although I've heard several Concrete Blonde songs over the years ('Tomorrow Wendy', 'Bloodletting' and the amazing cover of Leonard Cohen's 'Everybody Knows', among them), 'Live in Brazil' is the first of their albums I listened to. Although 'Live in Brazil' is not a perfect introduction, it is truly a great album, and I'm sure I'll be listening to lots more from the Los Angeles Trio.

The greatest disadvantage is 'Live in Brazil' is that the songs lack something of an identity, blurring a bit with each other. Even after multiple listening, I'm still not quite sure, looking at the song lists, what 'Little Conversations' or 'Your Haunted Friend' are like, exactly.

But this is a minor flaw. This is an album with amazing guitars, powerful punky melodies, and lots of enthusiasm by the band. Mostly, it is Johnette Napolitano amazing vocal that carries the melodies, firing haunting eulogies ('Tomorrow Wendy') ironic love songs ('Tonight') and angst ridden tirades ('Violent') with equal conviction.

Among the highlights in these two albums is opener 'God is a Bullet', which features one of the best song titles I've encountered in recent times, combined with a great if simple ascending bass line and a great refrain: The music stops while Napolitano screams "God is bullet have mercy on us everyone".

Another highlight is the Leonard Cohen cover, "Everybody Knows", introduced with an amusing commentary, "This is a song by a great-great-great-great-great-great-greatgreatGREAT Man". If Cohen's song was an ironic satire, a tale of depression told with a laugh around the bar, Concrete Blonde turn it into a bitter, haunting punk rock song, ending, quite appropriately, with Napolitano's version of Cohen's bitterest lyric in the song 'Everybody knows that you've been discrete/ but there were so many bitches you just had to meet/ without your cloths/Every body Knows'.

Also memorable is 'I was a Fool', where the acoustic song becomes in the final chorus to a Post Punk yell, with heavy guitars and bass to match, "Scene of the Perfect Crime' which is just beautiful and sad, and set closer 'Tomorrow Wendy' an alternative rock classic, even if the guitar reminds me a little bit too much of the Pixies's 'Where Is My Mind?'

Concrete Blonde's live album is a must have for fans of alternative rock. If you like guitars distorted, songs aggressive, and vocals angry, bitter and chaotic, this is an album for you.

I have been a Concrete Blonde fan since I was twelve years old. They remain my favorite band. I have seen them live several times in the last 13 years. I along with a myriad of other devotees have been waiting patiently for an official live album. Johnette and co. deliver. Johnette's voice is coated in its usual velvet and explodes from its hard core (hence the concrete blonde metaphor). The band retains integrity with a lack of pretense as usual. I am completely satiated by this release.
Among the standout tracks, I recommend: "Valentine" for the sheer rage of it, "Everybody Knows" the Cohen cover is spat out with such venom live, "Little Conversations" good to hear this one again,"Mexican Moon" conjures its usual duende and callus warnings.

In short. . .I love this band's work. Live In Brazil finds them still socially relevant and in peak form.

This live album is something I've been waiting for. I can't get enough of this cd. It's worth it. If you love Concrete Blonde, like me, you'll love "Live in Brazil". Johnette refers to Leonard Cohen as a "great, great, great" man, Concrete Blonde is a "great, great, great" band. Definitely one of the best out there.
At first I wasn't sure about Group Therapy but hearing songs off that album live made me enjoy that album much more now then when it first came out.
It's a must have for the Concrete Blonde fan. Johnette and Jim are awesome!
If you don't have it get it now!

Happened to catch a song by Concrete Blonde in a store and went looking for an album. I am surprised that I haven't discovered this great band before now. I want to particularly thank the guy who complained that entertainers should not express their political opions (unless, presumably, it agrees with the opinions authorized by Big Brother). I am particularly pleased to have the opportunity to take a small action in opposition to this particularly repugnant and unAmerican notion, and to support a band with the courage to speak out against those who are trying to destroy the most cherished American values.

Johnette is the best rock singer ever, in my opinion, as since her 2002 comeback she has surpassed even Janis Joplin and Grace Slick. And she is a much more prolific songwriter than either, especially Janis who hardly wrote. And she's one of the best rock bass players ever. Whew. Mankey is godlike as always, but better, as they have both improved. Ramirez is Bonham-like, as always live with the Blonde. I only wish I could have seen more shows before they broke up. Oh well, Johnette is still the most important rock musician right now, and fans should check out her myspace site and offical website for tour and other info. This is a poem that I wrote about Johnette after seeing Concrete Blonde live for the first two times in the summer of 2002. It's kind of cheesy, but heartfelt. I'm working on a PhD in poetry, and she is still a better poet than me. 

Nature embodied, force uncontainable
Yet wielded with large consciousness
Who could constrain you, your wild lightnings
Crackling, surging
No one, no nation of fools
Living in a past that never was, never could be
There should be no mold for truth
What hammer or chain could withstand its
Inevitable flowering?
I do not wish to.
The eloquence of your vocal surge
Is a connecting link, a lightning rod.
Life and love - can they be one and the same?
I dare not think so
Unless they both flowed from you
Like a shimmering tidal wave
On the verge of sweeping over me
And all the traditions that I walk, sit, sleep among,
Bringing a clean destruction
And hope for this failing world.
God's lioness come to full power
How can such a sensitive spirit
Live as a warrior?
She moves with the assuredness of a warrior
Going into battle
And the enemy is everywhere - she cares not.
This is beauty - the exercise of the will
In poetic expression.
This is song - the harmony of courage and
Self-possession.
The poise that shuns the comforting façade
And moves from moment to moment
Without false security.
She is her message - the meaning is pure
Beauty of the soul - there is no other.

how do you write a standing ovation! finally a cd that rewards the long time fans. i could not believe how incredible Johnette's voice sounded, especially on Someday. i highly recommend this cd. at first i was offended at her slur toward the president. then i remembered that i don't buy cds for the artists personal beliefs. i buy it to experience the joy of music.so, for a joyful experience,one that celebrates concrete blondes energy& gifts, buy this cd.

This album is tied for my favorite live album of all time with Nocturne by the Banshees. Johnette Napolitano was really pumped up and inspired for this show. She has such emotion in her delivery and great nuances in her voice. The selection of songs is excellent. You get the best of their old songs and the best of their first comeback album 'Group Therapy.' This would be a good choice if you were looking to have that first Concrete Blonde album. Johnette has announced that the band is officially retired. They were one of the greatest rock bands and one of the most overlooked given their talent. Johnette writes greatlyrics plays awesome bass, sings, screams, dances and twirls in front of a super talented band. I 've seen them live and it was an unforgettable enriching memory. Since evidently they will never play together again, get this album, which captures their live energy quite well. If you don't know the band your missing out and should get this album. This was an easy 5 stars.

As many "Live in Rio" albums do....this one really ROCKS. Buy it.