''The Blind Leading the Naked'' is the third
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by
Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes are an American folk punk band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The band consists of founding members Gordon Gano (guitar, lead vocals) and Brian Ritchie (bass, backing vocals), joined by multi-instrumentalist Blaise Garza (joined 200 ...
. It was produced by
Jerry Harrison
Jeremiah Griffin Harrison (born February 21, 1949) is an American songwriter, musician, producer, and entrepreneur. He began his professional music career as a member of the cult band the Modern Lovers before becoming keyboardist and guitarist ...
of
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.[Talki ...](_blank)
and released in 1986. The title is a play on the figure of speech "
the blind leading the blind
"The blind leading the blind" is an idiom and a metaphor in the form of a parallel phrase, it is used to describe a situation where a person who knows nothing is getting advice and help from another person who knows almost nothing.
History
Th ...
."
''The Blind Leading the Naked'' was the band's first album to reach the Billboard chart, peaking at #84, and its only one to chart in Britain.
Production and recording
The band said
Leo Kottke
Leo Kottke (born September 11, 1945) is an acoustic guitarist. He is known for a fingerpicking style that draws on blues, jazz, and folk music, and for syncopated, polyphonic melodies. He overcame a series of personal obstacles, including parti ...
and
Fred Frith were both persuaded to appear on the album after approaching them at their concerts. "I just went along and asked him if he'd like to come down and try something out in the studio," Ritchie said of Frith.
Members of the band said they were unhappy with the choice of Harrison as producer, with Ritchie saying, "We knew Jerry and he'd seen us live and, uh, he didn't like it... And when I heard the reasons that he didn't like it, well, they were the reasons why we do like it! We didn't think he was right to produce music as weird as ours." Gano further claimed that Harrison had been suggested by Warners, "solely on the basis that he lives in Milwaukee, because we'd stipulated to them that we had to record there. This was outrageous from their point of view."
Reception
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
gave the album a positive review, stating the album was a "more mainstream effort" that "rocks harder" than previous albums.
''
People
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
'' gave a positive review, stating "the group maintains enough humor and angst to keep even their religious songs fresh.... This third album gives more evidence that the Violent Femmes rank with the very best bands of the 1980s", while singling out the song "Breakin' Hearts" as a highlight.
However, in a retrospective of their debut album, ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' mentions ''The Blind Leading the Naked'' is "their first unmitigated disaster, a crassly commercial piece of pandering."
atlantic
/ref>
Track listing
Personnel
Violent Femmes
* Gordon Gano
Gordon James Gano (born June 7, 1963) is an American musician widely known as the singer, guitarist and songwriter of American folk punk band Violent Femmes.
Early life
Gano was born in New York City to actor parents Norman and Faye Gano, and gr ...
– lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars
* Brian Ritchie
Brian Ritchie (born November 21, 1960) is the bass guitarist for the alternative rock band Violent Femmes. Ritchie was born and raised in the United States and is currently a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, with his full-time residence i ...
– acoustic and electric bass guitars, electric guitar, jaw harp, slide whistle, vocals
* Victor DeLorenzo
Victor DeLorenzo (born October 25, 1954) is an American musician, actor and filmmaker who was the founding drummer for the folk-punk band Violent Femmes.
Biography
DeLorenzo was born in 1954, the son of Victor and Charlotte DeLorenzo, grew up in ...
– drums, percussion, tortoise, vocals
Additional musicians
* Jerry Harrison
Jeremiah Griffin Harrison (born February 21, 1949) is an American songwriter, musician, producer, and entrepreneur. He began his professional music career as a member of the cult band the Modern Lovers before becoming keyboardist and guitarist ...
– keyboards, guitar, melodica
* Fred Frith – homemade instruments, guitar
* Leo Kottke
Leo Kottke (born September 11, 1945) is an acoustic guitarist. He is known for a fingerpicking style that draws on blues, jazz, and folk music, and for syncopated, polyphonic melodies. He overcame a series of personal obstacles, including parti ...
– acoustic 10-string guitar
* Sigmund Snopek III
Sigmund Snopek III (born 1950) is an American musician and composer.
Career
Snopek began his career in the late 1960s with a prog-rock band called Bloomsbury People. He has since created concept albums, pop songs, and classical compositions. A ...
– keyboards
* Peter Balestrieri – alto saxophone
* Steve Mackay
Steve Mackay (September 25, 1949 – October 10, 2015) was an American tenor saxophonist best known for his membership in the Stooges. His performances are showcased on three songs on the band's second album, '' Fun House'' (1970).
The Stooge ...
– saxophone
* Steve Scales – percussion
* Abdulhamid Alwan – tabla, daf
* Junior Brantley – keyboards
* Jim Liban – harmonica
* Bill Schaefgen – trombone
* Drake Scott – vocalizing
Charts
See also
*Ronald Reagan in music
The appearance of Ronald Reagan in music includes mentions and depictions of the actor-turned-politician in songs, albums, music videos, and band names, particularly during his two terms as President of the United States. Reagan first appeared ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blind Leading the Naked, The
Violent Femmes albums
1986 albums
Albums produced by Jerry Harrison
Slash Records albums