Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Concrete BlondeEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1990-08-24
Music Label: Capitol
Soundtracks:
- Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)
- The Sky Is A Poisonous Garden
- Caroline
- Darkening Of The Light
- I Don't Need A Hero
- Days And Days
- The Beast
- Lullabye
- Joey
- Tomorrow, Wendy
Free Music Notes for Bloodletting
Free Music Review: A lost gem from 1990, with many great songs.
Hit: 4 Stars
Concrete Blonde were casualties of the nineties alt-rock boom. Bloodletting is an openly melodramatic and theatrical album, inspired by the dark angst of goth rock and the ostentatious flair of Guns N' Roses-style hard rock. It's somewhat similar to the Sisters of Mercy's Vision Thing, another album from 1990 that combined moody goth poetry with hair-metal guitar riffs. The advent of Nirvana's Nevermind, just a year later, cut short Concrete Blonde's rise to fame.
Which is unfortunate, because Bloodletting is full of great songs. Both the goth and the hard-rock aspects turn out much better than, for example, on Vision Thing. Instead of the Sisters' willfully obtuse, arty writing, Concrete Blonde embrace theatre. They write a song about vampires ("Bloodletting"), but it's a splendidly extroverted song, with a loud sing-along chorus about drinking in New Orleans, and a wicked swaggering groove. In addition to vampires and death, the lyrics evocatively refer to "the river where it's warm and green," and conclude with the ambiguous statement, "I've got a lot to think about." No wonder the band couldn't fit into the gloomy, dull earnestness of grunge music.
There are other goth-inspired songs, like "Darkening Of The Light," which attempts to evoke the air of a mannered Victorian Romantic poem. It touches on ghosts, whispers, and darkness, uses vocal overdubs, and features REM's Peter Buck on mandolin. But, surprisingly many of the songs are closer in spirit to American country music. For instance, if you look through the power-ballad guitar and production, "Joey" (the single that pushed this album to gold status) is basically a typical country song about a man who just done gone wrong with drinkin', and whose tough but sweet gal is willing to forgive him after all he's done. But it doesn't feel at all out of place next to the songs about vampires. In fact, it underscores the similarity between goth and country -- isn't that why Nick Cave is scoring westerns these days? And it's really quite well-written: "If it's love you're looking for, well, I can give a little more...Joey, I'm not angry anymore." The vocals are a little histrionic, but it's kind of refreshing to hear a genuine expression of compassion in a popular song.
"Caroline" is also, at heart, a specifically American song about dusty roads and the flighty, mysterious girls who drift down them without letting anyone capture their mysterious hearts. The lyrics recall any number of outlaw-romance road movies. But the music is given a masterful goth-style production: very deep bass, lots of echo on the lead guitar, ethereal disembodied backing vocals. The combination of those drawn-out backing vocals with the fast tempo chosen by the rhythm section is especially effective. And in this setting, the chorus, which consists of singer Johnette Napolitano intoning "oh, Caroline," sounds just as beautiful, mournful and tragic as the dusty roads ought to be.
"I Don't Need A Hero" is much the same way, a down-to-earth love song that seems to advocate settling down and living a responsible and quiet life with the object of one's affection, but with a very goth production. The main guitar riff has a cold, low ring. The relaxed tempo of the riff creates a feeling of slow, serious reflection. But some songs work the other way around: "The Sky Is A Poisonous Garden" is a two-and-a-half-minute punk song with goth lyrics about a girl named Eleanor who "sighed, and she died, in his arms, and he cried." But it's got a great chorus and a good hard-rock guitar solo, so we'll forgive it the lyrical excess.
The last song, "Tomorrow, Wendy," stands apart from all the others. It is written by one Andy Prieboy, whom I know nothing about, and it just might be the strongest depiction of bitter helplessness (in front of a death in the family, as the lyrics seem to indicate) that I have ever heard on a rock album. It goes from escapist wishing, to ineffectual rage, to a tremendous outpouring of grief. The last verse in particular is beautifully written and delivered by Napolitano. The music, wisely, is very restrained and limited to a low-key guitar backdrop and some electronic chords. It's not often that the last song on an album is the best song, but this is one of those cases, and it's a brilliant ending.
In comparison, the guitar songs on the second side are kind of shallow. They're enjoyable enough -- the fast pace and guitar riffs guarantee that -- but "The Beast" has really silly lyrics insisting that, "Love is the leech sucking you up / Love is a vampire drunk by your blood" and so forth. It's all in the same unabashed theatrical vein as "Bloodletting" and "The Sky Is A Poisonous Garden," but the music stands out a little less. The band probably just felt that they needed some more fast songs to separate the slow section of the first side from the slow section of the second side.
Sometimes, an otherwise obscure band creates one excellent album that can easily stand up to most of the well-received, critically acclaimed bands. Bloodletting is that excellent album. It is very listenable (I am often moved to put it on repeat after listening to it once). It does goth better than most goth bands, but many of the songs on it (particularly "Bloodletting," "Caroline" and "Tomorrow, Wendy") transcend that subculture.
Bloodletting Poster
Concrete Blonde's best and most mainstream album benefits considerably from a stronger focus and good production. Consistent songwriting means a lack of weak material, and the dark inflection of most of the music gives the songs an edge. The title track remains a favorite of the goth set, though it was the hit single "Joey" that garnered the most attention. The up-tempo songs are the best; "The Sky Is a Poisonous Garden", "Days and Days", and "The Beast" really stand out. Of the slower songs, "Tomorrow, Wendy" has an irony that gives it an edge. Concrete Blonde's later albums don't really measure up to the quality of this one. -- Genevieve WilliamsAlternative Rock Music CDs
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