Customer Reviews

Scarred

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Been a fan of the band Concrete Blonde and I've always checked out
their music over the years. I found this on Amazon and went to her website
to listen to the complete tracks and I've been really surprised at just
how amazing this collection is. The sound, vocals, writing all have
an edge you don't hear anymore so it stands out. Its different than
the Concrete Blonde days but you can't deny its got some great melodies
and off the wall vocal treaments and wide open raw lyrics. It rocks hard
in places and the acoustic guitar weaves its way around some great grooves. This is one of the best offerings this year so far and it would
be nice to see Johnette and these songs out on the road. so many favorites
but I do love the songs "My Diane", and the Coldplay cover "The Scientist",
"Amazing", the first single, & "Crazy Tonight", "Everthing for everyone".

Johnette Napolitano has one of the most alluring & haunting voices in music. This offering is no exception. Teeming with her signature sultry voice, she engages and pulls you into the music. Highly recommend this CD, as it is very listenable & I caught myself continually wanting to increase the volume just a bit. It is just a touch different from her Concrete Blonde days, but still connected. Saw her in Nashville (solo) last nite for the 1st time and must say that she is an engaging & soulful performer. Buy the CD and see her if/when you can.

What an array of wonderfully crafted songs. Johnette's songwriting is among the best in rock history--they are all different and interesting, and often overwhelmingly powerful. Easily the best rock singer still alive and performing--and better than ever. So underrated . . . If being a great musician is about expressing human emotions with all their breadth and profundity, and I think it is, the best I have ever seen live are Johnette Napolitano and Jerry Garcia. Will Crewdson clearly had a fine influence on one of the truly interesting musical artists of our time. There's something about the REAL musicians--most of them for me are older than me--but they just GLOW or something . . .

She's one of my all-time favorite artists and I already love this album... It's been streaming on her website for the past week or so. If you liked Concrete Blonde and/or Pretty and Twisted, just buy this immediately. It's as good or better than all of her old stuff.

Oh, and go see her live, there's nothing like Johnette live. She rocks more on her own with just an accoustic guitar and her insane voice, than any full band I can think of!

Johnette has repeatedly proven that she can make music that is clever, thought provoking, beyond entertaining and just plain rockin'!! This album is no different and will make you wonder how so many talentless hacks can get so famous, while an artist with Johnette's raw talent, power and wisdom can go so underappreciated. Thank you Ms. Napolitano!!

I loved her work in Concrete Blonde and with the Heads, so being disappointed by this album is even more disappointing. Her voice sounds seriously distressed here, which makes the songs about being old, rundown, and an alcoholic/junkie sound a little too embarrassingly close to the bone. Some of this stuff is sung like she's a done-in alcoholic. Or she half-speaks things, which generally sounds more pretentious. In "My Diane," her sung lyrics in the chorus keep running over the music in ways that sound highly unprofessional instead of poignant.

The catchiest song here is "Amazing," which unfortunately has.. uncomfortable lyrics in the stanzas. If you want an idea, think of someone with absolutely no self-esteem and a crush on someone so intense you feel pity for her/him. The sung chorus to the otherwise spoken word "Poem of the Native" is also catchy.

There are lots of great moments musically, but the lyrics and--I hate to have to say this for things Johnette sings--voice are often such a problem.

There are two cover songs here. One is an unpretty and occasionally twee cover of Coldplay's "The Scientist" that'll make you wish you were listening to the original instead, and the other is of Lou Reed's "All Tomorrow's Parties," in which Johnette's voice is so ragged, frail, and misused that I can't even listen to it all the way through.

This CD does no justice for the career of Johnette Napolitano. The album lacks her real song writing ability and lead vocals that we have come to love by her previous albums with Concrete Blonde.

I coulnd't think of a title for this review, so I settled on that one.

It did take me a year or so to really gather my thoughts on this CD, at first listen I had a few favs and the rest sorta felt so-so, and the more I listened to it the better I felt about it. Last week and into this week with the newest Hurricane heading into the New Orleans area, I decided to give this one a listen (for the first time all summer no less).

Really glad I did, from the soaring "Amazing" I was reminded how good this record sounded from the get-go. Along with perhaps "Just Like Time" really give you a reminder of Concrete Blonde, and on a song like "Everything for Everyone" you get the 90's retro feel along with some narrative from Johnette that also pops up in small doses on "Poem For The Native" and "I'm Up Here". I especially like the beginning parts of "Poem For The Native", it seems like some kind of stream of conciousness, somewhat sarcastic sequence of a partial dream.

I like the gentleness yet destructive power of a song like "Like A Wave", and am intrigued by the Nine Inch Nails vibe on a song like "Crazy Tonight", a quiet disjointed song that you would swear was written by Trent Reznor...at least to me anyway.

Overall to me it's not just a good song followed by a cover song, then a bunch of dull filler; it could have used some more pep in places, but it's a very honest record with good feel, also perhaps what it lacks in drive it makes up for in it's mood and sincerity I think.

Maybe it helps to be from New Orleans to enjoy this record, not really sure; but from afar and me being a Concrete Blonde fan to begin with I knew partially what to expect and how lifeless some solo records can be by a former lead singer of a popular band, this one is more on the good side of all that, not a direct departure from a past sound, hints of the artist, but perhaps not all at once like so many other throw at us.

bare bones... almost too real.
I love you Johnette... (long time fan).

An insanely amazing album. "Crazy Tonight" and "Everything For Everyone" are knockouts! Not that the other songs pale in comparison. It is one of the most satisfying albums I've come across in a long time. It's so honest, and raw, and real. Her voice alone is worth the money.