After coming out of the L.A. post-punk scene of the early 1980s, the members of Concrete Blonde found their niche in modern rock nearly 10 years later. The band was not a part of the pop-rock or hair rock genres of the ’80s and preceded the popular grunge movement of the early ’90s. Nonetheless, they enjoyed considerable commericial success once they were established on I.R.S., the label REM made famous.

What they did bring was a punk attitude over a competent hard rock base, augmented by brilliant melodic structure, dark edgy lyrics and the distinctive and powerful voice of Johnette Napolitano. Let’s not forget Jim Mankey, who wrote much of the material with Napolitano, and displayed a highly proficient and inventive approach in his guitar playing.

Almost always a trio, except for an imaginative collaboration with Los Illegals in 1997, the band featured various drummers, including mainstay Harry Rushakoff. Since their successes of the early-to-mid ’90s, the group had regrouped on occasion before breaking up for good in 2007, with valid, creative efforts that had been largely ignored by the general public.

So what has become of bassist/singer Napolitano in recent years? Well, she has retreated a bit to Joshua Tree, Calif., but is still creating as an artist and as a musician with a solo release in 2007, Scarred, and occasional independent releases in her Sketchbook series. The Sketchbooks are not demos per se, but rather song fragments, ideas, flashes of brilliance caught in the moment, sometimes solo, sometimes in collaboration, often using GarageBand software.

I almost accidentally came upon Sketchbook #3 over at CD Baby when I was looking for a couple of other titles and I couldn’t be more pleased with the find.

Admittedly some tracks, although interesting and creative, can become a little tedious such as Bass Idea or Drum Practice. Perhaps she’s offering those to other musicians to expand upon. But in many of the other tracks, the old magic surfaces. That familiar proficient and explosive voice and that wonderful engaging of melody is still there.

There are many highlights. Friday Silvertone Mix sounds like it’s ripped from a Concrete Blonde songbook. Considering, one of the most fully formed compositions featuring vocals and acoustic guitar, gives the listener a taste of Johnette’s intriguing melodic and lyrical sense, and Good Vocal Chorus provides a typically haunted vocal sound complemented by a fragment of verse structure.

It’s In The Blood includes a narration by Ed Calls Him, which brings to mind John Trudell’s and Jesse Ed Davis’ collaborations to good effect. The Accident creates an eerie, moody atmosphere that recalls the scene of a collision of sorts, as Napolitano puts it in her notes “the alignment/clash of the organic human and the higher frequencies of the electric feel harmonize perfectly.”

The Ballad Of Juan Quezada, with Gabriel Ramirez, creates a majestic soundscape over which lead guitar lines weave and soar through the heady mix that also features organ, acoustic guitar, drums and Johnette’s lyric-less vocal treatment.

More intriguing tracks include SF/LA/JT, a long-distance (literally) vocal duet collaboration with Terri Phillips that is bulit around an ambient piano from San Francisco’s Cafe Du Nord; Song For A Soldier with violinist Laurie Sargent, inspired by thoughts of our current wars and the state of the economy; and I’m A Wire, an unused track from the ’90s recorded at Cherokee Studios, revisited in a home recording that speaks of “receiving a signal but not knowing who or from where.”

The Bearded Monk is perhaps the most darkly atmospheric piece with its insistent drum and bass rhythm and hynotpic vocal stylings, drenched in echo. EYE is one of the roughest guitar and vocal ideas but shows much promise for development into a more fully formed one. And that in itself captures a lot of the spirit of this disc. These tracks are almost all hints at the future and a glimpse inside the creative process in its earliest incarnations. Fascinating stuff.

Sunset Ranch closes the collection, one of the longest pieces, with drums, guitar and piano that calls to mind western/cowboy music, almost in the same way as Concrete Blonde’s Ghost Of A Texas Ladies’ Man.

Incomplete, dark, dangerous, captivating, riveting, mesmerizing, hypnotic. All of these traits come to mind while listening to Sketchbook #3, something a little different than the average CD release, but well worth the investment.

Besides the live solo shot of Johnette below, check out the remarkable Concrete Blonde performance of Someday on Letterman and a duet with Jim Mankey on Leonard Cohen’s Everybody Knows.