VIOLENT FEMMES - The Blind Leading the Naked

LP / CD Slash Records 1986



"The Violent Femmes burst out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the early '80s, a remarkably original trio playing acoustic instruments and singing intense, personal songs with remarkable candor and love. Initially resembling a punk version of the Modern Lovers, the Femmes - Gordon Gano (vocals, guitar, songs), Brian Ritchie (bass) and Victor De Lorenzo (drums) - have grown more uncommon over the years, fixing a flexible style that resembles no other band. (...) The Blind Leading the Naked was produced by Talking Head Jerry Harrison with conscious mainstreaming intent. Of course, the Femmes at their most commercial are still pretty radical, although I Held Her in My Arms does sound unnervingly like Bruce Springsteen. As if to prove their orneriness, a vituperative attack on Old Mother Reagan and the similarly anti-authoritarian No Killing demonstrate an undying rebellious spirit. But it's another type of spirit that invests the bluesy Faith and the Stonesy Love & Me Make Three, keeping god in the grooves alongside Marc Bolan, who gets worked over with a misbegotten Headsish version of Children of the Revolution. The Velvet Underground fares better on Good Friend, a Femmes original that uncannily echoes Lou Reed".
(Ira Robbins / J. Poet, Trouser Press)

ENJOY


Good Friend