Concrete Blonde

CONCRETE BLONDE
Album Title: Mojave
Producer(s): Johnette Napolitano, Jim Mankey, Gabriel Ramirez-Quezada
Genre: POP
Label/Catalog Number: Eleven Thirty/the Happy Hermit 7001
Release Date: June 29
Source: Billboard Magazine
Originally Reviewed: July 24, 2004

Concrete Blonde's "Mojave" is a sonic love affair with the desert of that name and its inhabitants—be they human or otherwise. It is filled with the desolation and foreboding wonder found within its sands, its expressions so eloquent you can almost hear the scamper of rolling tumbleweeds. Western spook story "Ghost Riders in the Sky" is told with a clucking drum and wobbling, ebbing guitar.

Bassist/vocalist Johnette Napolitano's throaty voice enriches the spoken-word "Hey Coyote" (a history of the animal's tragedies and perseverance). The title cut paints a day in the life of the desert, with its sunsets and vagabonds traveling along Highway 62. "Someone's Calling Me" invokes an extraterrestrial experience, and "Himalayan Motorcycles" is a drowsy ride. In feistier songs "True to This" and "My Tornado at Rest," Napolitano relates how her move to the
Mojave restored and rejuvenated her.

CLT

Oui, un drôle d'oiseau cette Johnette Napolitano, vue il y a quelques années par ici au Rockstore en compagnie de Steve Wynn... mais ça je vous l'ai déjà raconté, pas envie de me mettre à radoter sur mes vieux souvenirs d'une époque dorée, snif, snif...

See you buddies.