Bloodletting - Concrete Blonde
Track List:
Bloodletting
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
Songs I have heard before this listening:
Joey
Songs I think could have been singles:
Bloodletting - It's too campy and polished to not be the lead single
Days and days - To me this screams some record executive made a choice that the band had to work with.
Joey - I've heard it before and it's pretty well polished.
Tomorrow Wendy - If this wasn't a single then a huge injustice has fallen upon the world.
Other artists this reminds me of:
The Cure - I refuse to believe that there could be any existence in which this band was not influenced by The Cure.
Alanis Morissette - Gritty female vocals
Natalie Imbruglia - Painful raw emotion on display
The Wallflowers - Folky open soundstage
Cake - Delivery of very flat toned lyrics
Notes on the music:
Shaker insead of high hats is a really interesting choice on a lot of the songs retaining a rock feel but softer and more organic.
Soundstage is wide and open. Creates a folky feel with primitive sounding drums.
There is a round!
Notes on individual Songs
Bloodletting
This is a fun introduction song. Campy and playful goth. It also shows off the grit and rawness the singer's voice is capable of, bluesy at times. Bluesy solo. Heavy use of synth effects in this song, the effects are not as prevalent in the rest of the album; which I think is a good decision. Really good title track, it draws the listener into the album. Neat song about a newly turned vampire who is coping with the reality of undeath and a bit overwhelmed.
The Sky is a Poisonous Garden
Much more punky, the throbbing bass and the snare hit on each beat. Similar formula to the title track but more of a punk instead of blues. This song is not as polished. However after the guitar solo they do this neat thing where they duet the lead guitar and the vocals. The song is a story about a man whose lover dies and his lament, or his watching her struggle and die after he poisoned her, it's a bit unclear to me.
Caroline
This song tells the story of a woman named Caroline who the narrator knew once and now can only fantasize about. It's a story of coping with the ending of a relationship where the narrator is left with unanswered questions. We have a rock beat and the real star of the song is the singer's voice and the layers that are created. They record the lead guitar and ethereal "Caroline" voice on different tracks and have them overlapping slightly in the soundspace which creates a neat net effect.
Darkening of the Light
The singer has a round with herself. OMG it is so fucking beautiful. The song is about death, it's not that deep. Did I mention that it's a round and it's done really really really really well? I also would like to think the line "Shine on friend" in the chorus is a subtle nod to Pink Floyd's "Shine on you Crazy Diamond". But it's also a round that has a background of a ren faire minstrel group.
I Don't Need a Hero
The narrator is so hurt and scornful about life and they are upset with their reliance upon their spouse, along with their feeling that their spouse is not giving them the attention they feel they should. They want to be loved. The musical composition is very stylistic of the band. Layers in the sound, primitive percussion.
Days and Days
This song seems out of place. It's thematically not the same. I like the bass driven composition however the rap-like delivery of the lyrics I don't think are fitting with the rest of the content of the album. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this song was written because the label wanted something more marketable than the sad songs about love lost and the macabre.
The Beast
A complaint about how love can make someone overlook flaws or bright red flags. This song is the first I've noticed that seems to have a lot of guitar lead licks played alternating from right to left and back behind the lyrics. It's a neat layer and works well with the drone-like delivery of the lyrics.
Lullabye
There appears to be a slowly changing filter on the vocal track. You can sometimes hear the sine wave cut thru the vocal track, it's a neat effect and now you can hear similar effects when folks use auto tune. I don't think this was an early attempt at auto tune rather used for effect and making the singer almost sound underwater at times. The filter effect may also be used on the guitar solo. I think the song is about familial love. Honestly the composition is more interesting to me on this one than the content.
Joey
This one I have heard before and for the life of me cannot place when or where I have heard it. This song is excellent. I suspect this was a single. The narrator and Joey are lovers and have had a spat. The narrator says something that sets Joey off and she is attempting to calm him down. Joey may have some form of PTSD and was triggered into a self destructive sequence of events.
Tomorrow Wendy
This song made me cry and this is a deep dive.
This is a narrative of a person that has a loved one going through end of life care due to a terminal disease. I don't believe this is sung by the person who wrote it, I suspect the songwriter wrote this based on personal experience and the delivery is too sterile, caring and painful yet clean and rehearsed, yet powerful!
The song starts:
It is complete, now
Two ends of time are neatly tied
A one-way street
She's walking to end of the line
And there she meets
The faces she keeps in her heart and mind
Wendy has accepted her fate, she has an inception and an expiration date. She knows her remaining life is limited. She has met with her family and friends. One thing that is curious is the statement "Two ends of time are neatly tied" which is neatly tied into the song again later. This leads us into the first rendition of the chorus.
They say, "Goodbye"
Tomorrow, Wendy you're going to die
Tomorrow, Wendy you're going to die
Second verse:
Underneath the chilly grey November sky
We can make believe that Kennedy is still alive
And we're shooting for the moon
And smiling Jackie's driving by
This is an account from when the narrator first found out about Wendy's disease. The narrator is in a state of denial. This sounds to me that Wendy may be the narrator's sibling or friend from childhood. We can go and act like things were 25 years ago. But as the slightly altered chorus says, Wendy had already accepted her illness.
And they say, "Good try"
Tomorrow, Wendy you're going to die
Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die
So Wendy pulls the narrator to reality yet they have a hard time accepting it. It shakes their faith.
I told the priest
Don't count on any second coming
God got his ass kicked
The first time he came down here slumming
He had the balls to come
The gall to die and then forgive us
No, I don't wonder why
I wonder what he thought it would get us
Hey, hey, goodbye
Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die
Hey, hey, good bye
Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die
Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die
The narrator is angry. They have rejected their faith because of the cruelty of their friend being ripped from their life. They have lost themself.
Only God says, "Jump"
So I set the time
Cause if he ever saw it
It was through these eyes of mine
And if he ever suffered
It was me who did his crying
After the narrator rejects God they become delusional and belive God tells them to commit suicide. The narrator accepts the challenge and plans their own demise. They are so hurt because of the pending loss of their loved one that they believe this is a way to punish God who foolishly challenged them.
Now the outro which is the chorus in a wispy ethereal rendition repeated over with changing inflections. I think this is to represent the suicide attempt. Perhaps an overdose attempt as the world grows strange under the influence of heavy sedatives.
Hey, hey, goodbye
Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die
(Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die)
Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die
(Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die)
Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die
Hey, hey, goodbye
Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die
Hey, hey, goodbye
Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die
Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die
Tomorrow, Wendy is going to die
The song fades...
Into speculation! The narrator is unsuccessful in their suicide attempt. It perhaps could have just been a binge and not a very serious attempt. The entire song the narrator is distraught and unreliable with at least grief.
As for Wendy, she died, cancer or AIDS won. The narrator understood upon awakening perhaps to the news of Wendy's departure that their life was not yet complete and we ended up with an ode to their Wendy.
