THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508130129
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
AFTER THE breakup of Concrete Blonde, Johnette Napolitano's plan was to take it easy for a while.
But one record executive believed in her, and that support nudged her into returning with a new outfit, Pretty & Twisted. The group, which also includes former Wall of Voodoo guitarist Marc Moreland, plays the Abyss in Virginia Beach Tuesday night.
Warner Bros. Records head and former Atlantic executive Danny Goldberg told Napolitano that he wanted to release any post-Blonde record she made.
``It was very flattering, but it was also a little intimidating,'' the singer/songwriter said. ``It made me work. It made me wanna do my best.''
Napolitano's main concern with Pretty & Twisted was her knowledge that ``I wanted to do something different'' from the often dark pop of Concrete Blonde, whose hit ``Joey'' remains a radio staple. She entered the studio with Moreland and company around the time she completed the project ``Vowel Movement'' with ex-New Waver Holly Beth Vincent.
P&T's self-titled debut, which hit stores last week, is more rhythmically complex than Concrete Blonde's albums, with layers of beats intermingling with Napolitano's musings about art, business, romance and excess. She also remembers the early, pre-``Avalon'' Roxy Music with a faithful cover of ``Mother of Pearl.''
``People would kill to make a record like that now,'' she says of Roxy's warm sound, which she credits as an influence on the whole of ``Pretty & Twisted.'' She laughs as she acknowledges her debt to the original ``Mother'': ``I mean, I'm practically mocking (Roxy singer) Bryan Ferry.''
Napolitano says that Concrete Blonde's popularity wasn't a factor in any of her decisions about the new disc.
``I don't worry about that. `Over 250 billion served' is the American way of doing business, but it doesn't have anything to do with art. I made the right move by breaking up a band I really loved. I'm not intimidated by any of that. The first person I played this record for was James Mankey,'' Concrete Blonde's guitarist.
Dwelling in the past isn't her way.
``I don't have a single record in my house,'' Napolitano says of Concrete Blonde's output. ``I don't have any gold records; I gave all that stuff away a long time ago. It's like, what have you done lately?''
She found a similarly intense yet cavalier approach in Marlon Brando's description of his career in his 1994 autobiography.
``He puts his work in its proper place. `This is what I do, but it's apart from the rest of my life.' He got involved with causes and had to face the futility of what he was doing. In the end, I think his efforts frustrated him because he saw that he could effect no real change. He does love humanity in a big way. And if you watch his work, he is true to humanity.''
Napolitano hopes to tour with Pretty & Twisted for the rest of the year, if the album is successful. When she returns to her Los Angeles home, she'll complete co-production of the first album in a dozen years by the Mexican-American rock band Los Illegals. She also appears on the just-issued ``Spirit of '73: Rock for Choice'' CD with a cover of Patti Smith's ``Dancing Barefoot.'' She's irked, though, that the project, first due in 1993, was delayed.
``That's my frustration with benefits and charities. I've done a lot of them, and there's always trouble. I'd rather make my own money and give it to the people I wanna give it to.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Prety & Twisted, with Johnette Napolitano, performs Tuesday at the
Abyss.
by CNB