Group Therapy

The new album by Concrete Blonde|I was surprised and excited to hear that the Blonde had gotten back together. The album opens with a tribute to Roxy (which I'm inferring is a reference to The Roxy), a nice pop tune with a 60's feel. Next up is Violent, a classic Blonde song with the classic sound, this one's a keeper. There's a dark and melodic road song called True that really captures the changes they've been through during the break up. Tonight is a kind of trippy strange love song, it's interesting but the vocal experimentation is a little disconcerting. Valentine is another love song of a different variety, more of a Bloodletting type love song, with a really cool guitar line and a nice impassioned groaning chorus from Johnette.

They pick up some international flavor with My Llorona, a subtle and romantic samba. Take Me Home is a nice plaintive song about getting older and perhaps even growing up. Next up is a more aggressive track, Inside - Outside, a sort of metaphysical groove. Fried is another 60's influenced track with a sick bass line and Johnette's recitative delivery. Angel is an interesting dirge about believing in the supernatural, and is one of CB's more ambitious experiments. The album is closed out by the scratchy, nostalgic Memory which makes interesting use of static and compression to create the illusion of an old radio broadcast.Overall, it's clear that the Blonde has mellowed and matured in the last 5 years, but in a good way.

I'd been hearing negative reviews of the album, so I approached it with trepidation and was quite pleasantly surprised. There is nothing here that smacks of filler or "get back together for the money", and I would recommend checking it out.