A Very Therapeutic Reunion

***CONCRETE BLONDE, “Group Therapy”, Manifesto

The Los Angeles institution opens its reunion album with a heart-on-the-sleeve homage to Roxy Music and, by extension, to an era when rock music could be both primal and experimental, flamboyant and expressive, beautiful and emotional.

If that’s an unspoken challenge to itself, the trio meets it pretty well with a collection that’s more moody than aggro. “Group Therapy” is true to its title, a reflective set whose self-affirmations and summings-up entwine looks at past failings and triumphs with a newly earned perspective.

What’s lost is the messy urgency of the earlier Concrete Blonde, although the old rage and feistiness do flare up a couple of times. But Johnette Napolitano’s rough and raspy voice has never sounded truer than on these confessions of a mid-40s bohemian at a crucial point in life.

The music is marked by a corresponding freedom. Bassist Napolitano, guitarist Jim Mankey and drummer Harry Rushakoff strike a comfort level at which nothing is forced, giving even the grandest moments an intimacy, and lending quieter ones the easy empathy and spontaneity of a jazz combo.

--Richard Cromelin

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.