Customer Reviews

Mojave

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I know that "I've been a fan of [artist name here] since the beginning, but..." is the Amazon reviews version of "I never used to believe these letters were real, until..." With me and Concrete Blonde, though, it's true. I've loved the band ever since "Dance Along The Edge" was getting regular play on MTV. The band I love combined gorgeous dark melodies with an uncompromising lyrical attack to create such fantastic songs as "Your Haunted Head", "Caroline", "Roxy", "God Is A Bullet", "Jenny I Read", "Happy Birthday", "Someday?", "Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)", "Heal It Up", "Free", "Lullaby"... I could go on and on.

Unfortunately, such songcraft is in short supply on the disappointing new album MOJAVE. What we get instead is mostly lead singer Johnette Napolitano declaiming poetry in a low monotone a la Jim Morrison, leavened with the occasional sung chorus. A little of this kind of thing goes a long way, and MOJAVE has a whole lot of it. Some of the poetry is good, although some of it is wincingly bad, such as the image of a "healthy young male coyote" who is environmentalist enough to snarl in disgust at the litter dropped by a passing motorist, or the line "Well ya know he took it badly when his kitty died," complete with "Awwwwwww!" in the background. Sometimes it's not even poetry at all: "Hey Coyote" has Johnette reading what sounds like an encyclopedia entry in a gratingly sanctimonious tone. One of the few tracks that's musical enough to be called a tune and is actually sung all the way through is "Ghost Riders In The Sky" -- a cover, tellingly enough, of the old Stan Jones song. The minor-laden melody and spooky imagery fit Concrete Blonde perfectly, and the song is a highlight of the album, though it would be much better if it weren't slowed to the point of somnolence.

I'm not somebody who rejects an artist for taking a new direction or recharging the creative batteries. In fact, sometimes those departures can be some of the best work of the artist's career, like Fleetwood Mac's TUSK or Bruce Springsteen's NEBRASKA. The problem with this particular departure is that it just yields a very dull harvest. The songs range from pretty okay ("'A' Road", "Ghost Riders In The Sky") to downright dreadful ("Hey Coyote", "Jim Needs An Animal"), with not one track that's as magical as any of the band's best work. I would say that it feels like a collection of B-sides, except that Concrete Blonde's B-side anthology (STILL IN HOLLYWOOD) is one of my favorite records of theirs. It feels more like the noodling, half-finished tracks that sometimes get posted on the Concrete Blonde web site. These are cool and everything, but they're not album caliber. Here's hoping that MOJAVE was just an aberration, and that the Blonde's next album sees them returning to their former magnificence, or even going back to the perfectly satisfactory level of GROUP THERAPY. Maybe if they all moved back to Los Angeles...

Concrete Blonde is back, and while no skins are shed or true lives revealed, it is a very atmospheric album. Johnette Napolitano & Jim Mankey still work well together, turning the Yucca Valley skies into a black velvet painting and the desolate Southern California landscapes into burning melancholia. But is this the real Johnette? I can't tell if these songs are ripped from her heart or from a lime-soaked beer bash she had once upon a time in the desert. The cowboy cliches get a little thick(although I always thought she might do a decent cover of "Ghost Riders in the Sky", and she does), but the grooves are deep enough to warrant repeated, pleasurable listenings(which I couldn't say about the too-wicked "Group Therapy"). Too bad a more astute music editor wasn't aboard to help abort some of Napolitano's more pretentious leanings(and spoken word aberrations). The CD's best song, "True to This", is hurt slightly by Johnette's rushing of some of the lyrics(and apparently creating some new ones, throwing off the song's rythmn). "The 'a' Road" is a great, gritty opener and "Because I Can" shows there's still fire in this unit, whether their scenario now evokes Anne Rice in the desert or lonesome West Coast vampires sleeping in tumbleweed graves.

The first thing you notice is the CD cover, a complete departure from the clear images of the past. That's just the beginning.

On "Mojave" Concrete Blonde expand their musical palette. That's not to say they completely parted ways with their old tricks - check Jim's guitar sound and phrasing on their cover of Ghost Riders In The Sky for a taste of the classic Concrete Blonde sound. "Because I Can" is also the kind of fierce rock attack fans will instantly recognize, top drawer material with sharp hooks that dig deep.

It isn't apparent that big musical changes are afoot until the fifth song, "Hey Coyote". Johnette talks her way through the verses of this effective piece, singing a plaintiff chorus slathered in squeals of guitar that amplify the outrage of the words.

"Himalayan Motorcycles" follows - an atmospheric piece with washes of guitar and feedback spiced with a psychodelic vibe as suggested by the title and lyrics like "baby fishes... following their mama butterfly". A literal take on the song might be a desert drug trip, but it seems more of a meditation on the infinite mysteries of the universe, a reflection maybe of how the seeming nothingness of the desert can spark the imagination.

The title track is an evocative spoken word piece, poetic, very much like something Bruce Cockburn often does, to much the same effect. Musically it begins with a couple of guitar notes calling over a broken guitar chord that recalls House of the Rising Sun, and keeps its bluesy blood throughout.

The album's centerpiece comes next, the deliciously moody "Snakes". Shimmering gongs, creepy organ, percussive elements poking their heads at you at all turns, a terrific short bass hook, this is a slow thrill ride through the creepy desert night. A great vocal by Johnette.

Unfortunately the band decides to break the mood by following with the joke song, "Jim Needs An Animal". Think of a light piece of fluff in the middle of "Dark Side of the Moon". It's like they wanted to tell us not to take it too seriously... but man, it's the same as waking up from a great dream that's not finished.

"Someone's Calling Me" tries to delivers us back with a piece of space rock, though it's inner space that's being explored. It's somewhere between the old and new Concrete Blonde. This song is driven by a drum riff, something I can't recall the band doing before, and has a dancy element to it. I should add that Gabriel Ramirez Quezada's drum and percussion work is terrific throughout.

The plodding "True To This" is an out and out clunker, and "The "A" Road" is a mediocre funk number ("Fried" on Group Therapy is much better). Throw in (out)the aforementioned "Jim Needs An Animal" with that group. What you have left is a very good record that holds up over repeated listening. While some might lament the band's move away from the catchy fare of the past, "Mojave" is probably as good as anything they've done with the exception of "Bloodletting'. And the metamorphosis probably isn't complete.

this album won't be what you expect, but albums never should be. with the first listen, i was unsure how to feel about it, but i've listened to it every day since i bought it last week and am definitely addicted. imagine the sounds of concrete blonde moving out to the desert and this starts to make sense - especially since at least two out of three of the members now live way out... you won't find any of that city-inspired angst on this CD, instead there is something looser and overall much freer than other albums... no commitment to any one form. johnette said recently in one of her online journal entries something to the effect that she doesn't enjoy listening to rock so much anymore as she does to other styles, hence you hear less of that in the music. i highly recommend this album, particularly for true fans.

I remember Concrete Blonde from their Bloodletting days but was absolutely smitten when I saw their rendition of 'Joey' on some MTV segment. With 1994's 'Mexican Moon' I was hooked. That album ripped through me like a scythe. I had never heard anything so raw, so right and so powerful. 'Still In Hollywood' further whet my appetite.

Then they all but disappeared.

I loosely followed the sojourn of the members of Concrete Blonde with Johnette's side projects but missed the Group Therapy album due to other musical interests. However, recently I stumbled across this one. I think I was a bit hesitant to listen to it due to such high expecations.

It isn't 'Mexican Moon' Part II. No, this is something totally different. Gone are the externally focused lyrics, gone are the guitar driven songs that rattle the cage of the listener, gone are the catchy hooks. Don't expect Bloodletting; don't expect 'Joey' or 'God is a Bullet'.

This one is darker, more brooding, more difficult, the lyrics more introspective, the guitars much slower, bluesy even, talking as only Jim Mankey can do.

The desert influence is all over this one. Desolate, introspective, slow, lumbering, intense and quite addicting.

Mojave is a dreamy, slo-mo, rock-n-roll peyote trip. Dark and lush, crazy as a sandstorm. Not their usual fare here, all the catchy rock hooks and riffs they're famous for. There's some of that, yes, of course, but this recording is a bit too epic, a bit too experimental, to rely solely on that. After a few focused listens, it really started to move me. You DO feel like you're at the edge of civilization, out there in the desert with the spiders and the coyotes and the sun. I saw them perform tracks from this new album yesterday at Amoeba Records here in LA, and they were absolutely stunning. I have never experienced so pure and raw a trio of true rock-n-rollers. Breathtaking.

To be totally honest, I thought this CD was horrible and it has ended up in the floorboard of my car. Disjointed, too ephermal, too PURPOSELY atmospheric, too grit and sand and reptillian for me. It seemed soulless and barren, much like a desert. Add that to the fact that it is NOTHING like anything done before, and you have one dissapointed long-time fan. Johnette's voice, while probably even better than it used to be, is not used to maximum effect. She whispers through half the songs and talks through the other half. 1/4 of the songs sound like funeral marches, another 1/4 is either spoken or whispered, and another 1/4 is just silly, sub-sophomoric, and innane. Only 3 or 4 songs have the Concrete Blonde quality and sound that I'm used to. Tornado, A-Road, and Because are the only decent tracks on the album, and I leave myself wondering, has Johnette finally had one too many cocktails?

A definitive work that gives up all of their "pop" sounds from the past, Johnette and Mike make some very interesting tracks, apart from the silly "Mike needs an animal". Striking are the mystical tunes "The A Road", "Hey Coyote" and "Mojave". A psychedelic tour on "Himalayan Motorcycles" is a nice trip. Johnette's interpretation of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" is hypnotic.

Overall, this is not an album for someone looking for another "Joey" is looking for. This is the transition to Johnette's "Scarred" and other works.

Group Therapy was a nice return album a bit different from the earlier Blonde I was used to listening to, but I liked it quite a bit. I read some reviews about this one being "different", and bought it knowing not to expect a similar experience. I think knowing this, prepared me for the different style of the CD/Album. Don't expect any soaring vocal jewels like Joey, Everybody knows, or great hooks like Roxy and Marlon Brando (RIP) - they aren't here. However..

Having said this, I can also say that I bought this on Saturday July 3rd and have listened to it about 20 times. Yep...I like it. It has a desert theme, and I'm almost certain they met the talking coyote. Favorite songs (IMHO) are:
A Road
Because I can
My Tornado at rest
I'm through with this
and yes, Jim Needs and animal (and if I'm not mistaken, there's a strong Bryan Ferry vocal influence to "Jim needs an animal").

To sum it up:
If you take Johnette's solo work (Pretty & Twisted) and meld it with CB,and stop by the Pet store to buy Jim a pet, this is what you might expect to hear. Any time there is something new by CB or Johnette is a good day for me, and this is a very listenable CD/Album - Thanks CB! Hopes this helps!

For a lack of a better word Group Therapy was boring,the offering didn't even sound like a Concrete Blonde production. Mojave sounds like a Concrete Blonde recording,very dreary, a atmospheric shady kind of ride. On the first song just listen to the Guitar work buzzing along a very bluesy smokey album. To me this is the comeback of the year.