Music Concrete

It's genius still runs around in my head if the form of day of the dead inspired skeletons, the effortless duende of skilled flamenco dancers, the corrupt art scene, drunken adventures south of the border, travelling without escaping anything "still thinking of you..." and lastly of love and its agendas which none of us seem to have the map for.

Johnette's voice is the most evocative voice that I can ever remember hearing. The lyrical content of this album is so intricately layered that one could spend endless hours dissecting them. . .or just go with the music and you'll find yourself on familiar turf but translated throught the genius of Concrete Blonde.

Concrete Jungle: The Music of Bob Marley
Average customer rating:

I never knew....

Monty Alexander Concrete Jungle

So well done.

Jazz in Concrete

A Jazz-Reggae Summit

Concrete Jungle: The Music of Bob Marley
Monty Alexander
Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Jamaica | Caribbean & Cuba | International | Styles | Music
General | Reggae | International | Styles | Music
Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music
Hard Bop | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music
General | Jazz | Styles | Music
Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music
Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Stir It Up: The Music of Bob Marley

Rocksteady

Monty Meets Sly & Robbie

Below the Bassline

Live at the Iridium

ASIN: B000EBG0CM
Release Date: 2006-03-28

Tracks:

Africa Unite
Concrete Jungle
No More Trouble
War
Babylon System
Forever Lovin' Jah
Crazy Baldheads
Chant Down Babylon
Simmer Down
Trench Town
Three Little Birds
Selam

Customer Reviews:

I never knew...........2007-05-17

I never knew a whole lot about Monty Alexander other than he's played with Sinatra and Dizzy and the bunch. But this album....well, after hearing it on HD TV, I was actually late for work because I had to go order it immediately. Great versions of Marley songs which are always simple and pleasant to the ears. Especially the version of "forever lovin' Jah." Highly recommended.

Monty Alexander Concrete Jungle.......2007-01-26

excellent CD; love it play it at least twice a week; its on my ipod! great beat and rhythm

So well done........2006-09-15

Iam actually surprise at the lack of reviews on this another masterpiece from the one and only Monty Alexander.The music is conservative and stays true to the original spirit but with a new flavour and style.Great artist,great musicians,excellent song selections and we have another masterpiece...highly recommended.

Jazz in Concrete.......2006-04-06

Monty Alexander has done it again,a must have album for every
fan.One of my favourite is track five "Babylon System"Monty shows why he is so pivotal to Jamaican music.
Keith. Florida

A Jazz-Reggae Summit.......2006-04-02

If anyone is entitled to reinterpret Bob Marley's music, it's fellow Kingstonian Monty Alexander. For this, his second outright tribute to the reggae king (the first being 1999's Stir It Up), Alexander went down to the studio where he himself first recorded at the age of fifteen, the same studio that Marley bought near the end of his own life and rechristened Tuff Gong, and with the help of a batch of locals and N'Orleans trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, locked into a steady pulse on this set of Marley compositions. It's an attractive undertaking, smoothing out the rough edges of the composer's rebel spirit while deconstructing the simple but irresistible melodies. Marsalis marches "Simmer Down" through the French Quarter and the Rod Dennis Mento Band takes it loosely to the streetcorner on "Three Little Birds," but most of this CD is firmly rooted in mellow, groove-happy Trenchtown rock.

---Originally published in Port Folio Weekly - March 28, 2006
copyright © 2006 Port Folio Weekly. Used by Permission.

Average customer rating:

Wonderful voice
Fab
Great Album
Give me a break, please
lush, textured, pop album with deeper voiced singer

Concrete Love
Julia Fordham
Manufacturer: Vanguard Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Adult Contemporary | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Traditional & Vocal Pop | Pop | Indie Music | Stores | Music
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That's Life
Porcelain
Collection
Julia Fordham
That's Live

ASIN: B000066ARX
Release Date: 2002-06-18

Tracks:

Love
Italy
Wake Up With You (The I Wanna Song)
Concrete Love (featuring India.Arie)
Missing Man
Foolish Thing
Butterfly
It's Another You Day
Something Right
Roadside Angel
Alleluia (featuring Joe Henry)

Amazon.com

Fourteen years and six albums into her recording career, British thrush Julia Fordham hasn't quite earned the following one might have forecast for her when she arrived with a bit of fanfare in the late '80s. That said, she's persevered long enough to have garnered the admiration of a core of devotees and more than a few notable musicians, including this collection's guests, India Arie and Joe Henry. That Fordham has become something of a singer's singer is not surprising given the cool intelligence of her phrasing and the versatility of her husky-to-piercing range, which recalls trilling '70s singer-songwriters Minnie Riperton (a cover of Riperton's signature song, "Loving You," is hidden at the end of the album and the late singer provides the inspiration for the album's penultimate song, "Roadside Angel"), Phoebe Snow, and the towering Joni Mitchell. Mitchell's former husband Larry Klein, who worked the board on Fordham's 1994 effort, Falling Forward, returns to the producer's roll, cushioning Fordham's expositions on desire ("I'd take a bullet for you") and destitution ("Your friends warned me about you"). Concrete Love is the work of a stalwart singer who's perseverance has paid off. "I have not gone the distance but I am on my way," she sings on the album closer. That's quite apparent. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful voice.......2006-11-04

Julia's vocals are excellent. It's a great CD to own. Very soothing.

Fab.......2005-09-15

As female singer songwriters go I just can't understand why Julia Fordham has never reach the heights that she deserved. Live - you will struggle to see as good a show; recorded this album captures this English songwriter's strengths.

Good tunes, catchy hooks great voice. Buy this!

Great Album.......2005-07-02

I bought this CD because I really like the song Butterfly when I heard it online one day. I never really buy a full album without hearing a few more songs than one, but I really liked the track so I went a head and bought it. Let me tell you, Butterfly ended up being just one of many stand out songs. I love Missing Man. This song is arranged so perfectly. I also like "Wake up with You (The I Wanna Song)", "Foolish Thing", and "It's Another You Day." This CD has made me become a huge Julia Fordham fan!

Give me a break, please.......2005-03-01

"Butterfly" is absolutely the worst song I have heard in my entire life. No kidding. I first heard it in a Crate & Barrel store in Michigan and I broke out laughing.

lush, textured, pop album with deeper voiced singer.......2004-09-24

Her voice is deeper than I'm used to, but the music is just too smooth and sexy to disaggree with. I know that people will be hung up on her voice, get over it, it's solid. Sure, it adult contemporary at its most unapologetic, but that's not always a bad thing.

Average customer rating:

Live Masterpiece
One of the best live rock CDs ever
Short and sweet review
Real Alternative Rock: Punk is Alive
wonderful album

Live In Brazil
Concrete Blonde
Manufacturer: Ark 21
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Live Albums | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Live Albums | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
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Mojave
Still in Hollywood
Walking in London
Concrete Blonde
Group Therapy

ASIN: B00008NGGH
Release Date: 2003-03-18

Tracks:

God Is A Bullet
Valentine
Tonight
Everybody Knows
The Vampire Song
Take Me Home
Little Conversations
Caroline
Joey

Tracks:

Days And Days
I Was A Fool
Violent
Someday
Scene Of The Perfect Crime
Your Haunted Head
Roxy
Mexican Moon
Tomorrow Wendy

Customer Reviews:

Live Masterpiece.......2007-05-11

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.

One of the best live rock CDs ever.......2006-08-20

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. J

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.

Short and sweet review.......2004-07-05

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

Real Alternative Rock: Punk is Alive.......2004-02-22

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.

wonderful album.......2003-12-21

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.

An Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music, Vol. 2

Average customer rating:

An Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music, Vol. 2
Various Artists
Manufacturer: Sub Rosa
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Ambient | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Techno | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Electronica | Compilations | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

House | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | New Age | Styles | Music

Experimental Music | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Dance & DJ | Imports | Stores | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
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An Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music, Vol. 3: 1952-2004
An Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music: First A-Chronology, Vol. 1
Anthology of Noise & Electronic Music, Vol. 4
Ohm: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music Special Edition 3CD + DVD
Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center 1961-1973

ASIN: B00008SHDM
Release Date: 2004-01-01

Tracks:

Incantation for Tape [1953]
Visage V [1958-59]
Aerial>Song [2002]
Music of the Spheres [1938]
Mandolin [1962]
Four Aspects [1960]
Emily [2003]
Quintet [1967-68]
Space Travel With Changing Choral Textures [1983]
Zephirum Scan [2002]

Tracks:

Bronchus One. I [1991]
On/Off Edit [2001]
Torture-Bodyparts [2001]
Purzuit Ov Noize [1994]
Pulp [1993]
Lathe [1988]
Industrial Ambients [1980-82]
Slogun [1979]
Free Music No. 1 (For Four Theremins) [1936]
Imagination [1965]
She's Too Much for My Mirror/My Human Gets Me Blues [1969]

Average customer rating:

Pure and True
Concrete Blonde
Out of the gate with a bang!
Remastered is better!
A rebuttal to the previous reviewer...

Concrete Blonde
Concrete Blonde
Manufacturer: Superfecta
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Free
Mexican Moon
Bloodletting
Walking in London
Still in Hollywood

ASIN: B0002234WM
Release Date: 2004-05-25

Tracks:

True
Your Haunted Head
Dance Along the Edge
Still in Hollywood
Song for Kim (She Said)
Beware of Darkness
Over Your Shoulder
Little Sister
Make Me Cry
Cold Part of Town
True (instrumental)
It'll Chew You Up and Spit You Out

Album Description

Concrete Blonde's first album not only entered the Billboard Top 100, but it also generated 3 singles: "Still In Hollywood", "Dance Along The Edge," and "True." Amazing accomplishment for a debut album.

This CD is as vital today as is was when it was first released in 1986. Even more so now that Superfecta is reissuing this album digitally remastered with expanded packaging and lyrics.

Futhermore, noted journalist Kevin Couch has compiled new liner notes based on a 2004 interview with Johnette Napolitano and James Mankey in which they discuss the band's early years - a topic that has rarely been seen in print.

Twelve tracks in all, including the non-album cut "It'll Chew You Up And Spit You Out," an alternate version of "Still In Hollywood" with new lyrics.

Customer Reviews:

Pure and True.......2007-05-22

I'm so glad they finally remastered this classic, Concrete Blonde is one of my all time favorite bands and will forever be played on the Bradley Buzz. I just recently came up with the cash to buy the first CD in this remastered version and can't believe I didn't pick it up earlier. Featuring my ultimate fav CB song "True" plus their classic "Still In Hollywood", the moody and sassy "Dance Along The Edge", the hard rock chill of "Over Your Shoulder", the moody and sad (Makes my sister cry) "Little Sister" ('you're only half a heart away'), this is one of those albums that everyone in the world should own - so go buy it!

Concrete Blonde.......2007-01-16

I purchased this because I had (and liked) the LP back when this was the medium. Still like the group.

Out of the gate with a bang!.......2007-01-10

The debut from Concrete Blonde is a fierce piece of work. Featuring the bass playing, songwriting and vocal power of Johnette Napolitano and the tough guitar work of Jim Mankey, this album wasn't a big success, but it did show that the band was a force to contend with. If one just went by their first single, "Still in Hollywood", you would think that they were a punk band. Mankey plays a driving, repetitive riff over which Johnette sings a desperate lyric about being trapped on the seedy side of that town. No glamorous movie star life here! It's the album's classic track, but there was a lot more to the group than that.
There are more paranoid rockers, sure, like "Your Haunted Head", "Song for Kim" and "Dance Along the Edge" which also show the bleakness of Napoitano's world view. But there are also touching ballads like "Little Sister" and the acoustic "Make Me Cry" that show she has a vulnerable side, too. The album's second best tune, the loping, catchy "True", is a forthright statement of intregity. CB had a tradition of including a cover song on each of their early albums. But their first choice, George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" classic "Beware of Darkness", is the one track that doesn't really work. The band's lumbering hard rock style isn't well suited for the song.

Other than that, though, the album is a strong, melodic, guitar based rock record. Tied with "Bloodletting" for the best CB album, it's worth hunting up. The CD includes two extra tracks that weren't on the original LP: an instrumental version of "True", with some nice lead work by Mankey; and "It'll Chew You Up..", which is really "Still in Hollywood, Part 2". They add value to an already cool CD.

Remastered is better!.......2006-05-23

I can hear all the parts the way they were intended--better than a record because no scratches or turntable noise. One of the best CDs ever! Johnette can't be human can she??

A rebuttal to the previous reviewer..........2005-11-27

Contrary to what Gordon Wagner said, Concrete Blonde did not fall immediately into "...the standard L.A. blackhole of one-album-success-and-a-lifetime-of-heroin-use." CB has recorded a few more albums --and I believe are still a band and recording new material-- since this one; and, although they may not have duplicated the chart success with their later efforts over the subsequent years, they did have a modest hit on college and mainstream radio with the Bloodletting tracks "Joey" and "Caroline." Because CB had established a loyal fanbase on alternative radio --when that term still meant something--, singles from subsequent albums had regular airplay on the modern rock stations I listened to throughout the early and mid-'90's, long outlasting the shelflife of fellow bands that emerged at the same time in spite of the fact that the band was led by a female bassist-vocalist which was an original twist on the typical band format. Though rare, there have been bands over the years led by bassist-vocalists and there have also been bands with female bassists as well, but CB is the only one I can recall --Sonic Youth not included b/c Kim Gordon isn't SY's only vocalist on all of that band's songs - swaps singing duties with now-husband Thurston Moore-- to combine the two wildcard band line-up formats. They long outlasted the shelflife of those other bands because they had new things to say and new thematic territories to explore beyond what their first efforts offered, promised and delivered where the vast majority of bands fail to come up with something new to say after the success of thier first effort, hence the term "somphmore jinx." CB experienced no such shortfalls; in fact, they grew in new directions lyrically and mucically and became, in my opinion, one the better of the non-grunge alternative/modern rock acts of the late-'80's to mid-'90's.

--not having been familiar with this particular CB album prior to encountering it here on Amazon, I assigned the rating of 4 stars b/c, based on my high regard for CB's songcraft and musicianship, I'm sure this album's at least above avg., but due to my not actually having heard I'm reluctant to assign any value greater than 4 stars. However, I do plan to buy a copy as soon as I can, so I can get a listen and determine if it's worthy of a rating of 5.