Concrete Blonde is an alternative rock band based in the United States. They were active from 1982 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, and then reunited in 2010 and have been active since. They are best known for their 1990 album Bloodletting, their top 20 single “Joey”, and Johnette Napolitano’s distinctive vocal style. (More from Wikipedia)
“You’re Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond” sounded like an old-time blues number, with a strong-throated black background singer doing a duet with Deviants frontman Mick Farren.
But it turns out I was wrong about that: The singer in the duet (who is quite white) is actually the lead vocalist for the alternative rock band Concrete Blonde, Johnette Napolitano. Napolitano and another member of Concrete Blonde, Jim Mankey actually contributed quite a bit to the Dr. Crow album: Johnette Napolitano is one of the background singers on the album called the Deviettes – along with Blare N. Bitch of Betty Blowtorch – and Jim Mankey played bass on their version of the Beatles’ classic “Strawberry Fields Forever”.
On one of my Atlanta shopping trips to the Criminal Records store, I found one of the most delightful albums I have purchased in the past five years: a collection of early 1980’s punk rock simply called The D.I.Y. Album. (The album is described as using the “Han-O-Disc” recording process, whatever that means). On it is the first known song by the band that later became Concrete Blonde: “Heart Attack” by Dreamers. This song was made even before they took the name Dream 6 in 1982. Johnette Napolitano’s reedy but compelling vocal on “Heart Attack” could hardly sound more different from the way it is on the Deviants’ version of “You’re Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond”. As a result of these two recordings, I have gained a whole new respect for Concrete Blonde and Johnette Napolitano.
(August 2013)
