For the last couple of years I’ve
been trying to read more. I went from 24 books read in 2010 down to just 9 in
2013. Last year I had a bit of a comeback with 17 (and 13 plays as well) and
this year I’ve already read 9 and hoping to keep up the positive momentum.
Why does it matter? I suppose it
doesn’t, but it just feels more rewarding spending my lunch break reading a
book instead of idly surfing the web.
For those who prefer to surf the
web, I’m glad you ended up here. Now read this review, and when you’re finished
go pick up a book.
Disc 726 is…. Walking in London
Artist: Concrete
Blonde
Year of Release: 1992
What’s up with the Cover? Judging by all the
slap-dash props and gold foil I assume the band has stumbled into an elementary
school music production involving one of Martha Stewart’s kids.
Also
of note is that organic sun/moon thing going on in the title. In the nineties
this whole sun/moon decorating thing was everywhere. Sheila and I even had a
rug with a similar design in our kitchen when we first lived together. Although ours did not have the sun trying to slip the moon the tongue like this one does. Yeesh.
How I Came To Know It: By the time “Walking in London”
came out I had been a fan of Concrete Blonde for years, so this was just me
buying their new album when it was released.
How It Stacks Up: I have four Concrete Blonde albums and this is my
least favourite. I still like it in places, but it doesn’t hold up against
their previous three records.
Since
this also represents the last Concrete Blonde album in my collection that I
have to review at present, a ranking recap is in order:
- Bloodletting: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 197)
- Self-Titled: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 711)
- Free: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 229)
- Walking in
London: 2 stars (reviewed
right here)
Rating: 2 stars but almost 3
“Walking in London” was Concrete Blonde’s first
album following their commercial breakthrough with “Bloodletting” and it is
clear from the first track they are ready to keep pushing the boundaries of
their music.
The basic Concrete Blonde sound is still there. A
fuzzy cocoon of rock, heavy on the bass and the haunting but jagged edged tone
of lead singer Johnette Napolitano’s voice. It’s as if the Cure got drunk on
Jack Daniels and is looking for someone to punch in the mouth.
This feeling comes across on the title track. “Walking in London,” is a song with a menacing
saunter to it that makes you feel like you got a bit too cocky in a foreign
city and taken a wrong turn into a bad neighbourhood. This is a mood piece and
an old friend for Concrete Blonde fans that enjoyed their first three albums.
While holding on to this core sound, the album also
branches into a number of other directions. The hit single “Ghost of a Texas Ladies’ Man,” mixes
this ice cold saunter with an up tempo drum beat that would be more at home on “Ballroom Blitz.” The moody vampire
imagery common to “Bloodletting” is replaced with a racy encounter with the voyeuristic
ghost of a long tall Texan. It is a fun song, and Napolitano displays a
playfulness that isn’t to be found much on her earlier records. Best line:
“’You don’t scare me, you don’t
scare me’, I cried
To my ectoplasmic lover from the
other side.”
“Woman to
Woman” is a dark brooding bit of revenge as the ‘other woman’ comes clean
to the wife, but as a show of female solidarity. This is “Jolene” calling Dolly back to tell her she’s got nothing to worry
about, other than the fact that her husband is a jerk.
There are lots of other little forays into other
styles as well. “Why Don’t You See Me” is a weightless Pink Floyd mood piece, “Les Coeurs Jumeaux” is a bit of
continental whimsy and “City Screaming”
is a song about riding the bus.
Sadly, “City
Screaming” also shows one of the record’s negatives; an excess use of
ambient sound. Beeping horns, helicopters and car engines are added to make you
feel like you’re in downtown traffic. I prefer when the music conveys those experiences
directly, without resorting to the tricks of the sound stage. Similarly, “I Wanna Be Your Friend Again” has an
interminable section where we overhear not only one half of an awkward phone
conversation between ex-lovers, but Napolitano’s voice-over telling the woman what
she should be saying. Again, I’d
prefer some evocative lyrics over a self-referential radio play.
My favourite tracks are actually where the band just
focuses on a simple melody. “Someday?”
and “…Long Time Ago” are both oddly
punctuated but solid pop songs. They could have ended up too sugary if it weren’t
for the bitter grounding Napolitano’s vocals and lyrics give them. “Someday?” is “Joey”-lite but truth be told, I like it better than the band’s
biggest hit.
The album ends with a strong version of James Brown’s
“It’s A Man’s World.” This song has
been a bit ruined for me by the parade of also-ran American Idol contestants
that sing it every season. Concrete Blonde reminds me that it can be
covered in a way that does the original credit, rather than as the vocal
exercise it is reduced to on reality television.
“Walking in London” tries a bit too hard, and in
places it loses focus or falls into bad production decisions, but the missteps
come from an honest place of experimentation, so I tend to forgive its faults. It
is like Metallica’s black album; not the classic sound of what came before, but
still worth a listen in its own right if you give it a chance.
Best
tracks: Walking
in London, Someday, …Long Time Ago
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