Blondie - Blondie
|
Music CD Cover Artist: Blondie Edition: Music CD Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered CD Release Date: 2001-09-11 Music Label: Capitol Soundtracks:
|
| New | New Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $5.37 | ||
| Used | Used Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $4.11 | ||
| Collectible | Collectible Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $9.99 |
Your purchase is protected by the A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee. Amazon.com automatically transfers your payment to the merchant so you'll never need to pay a merchant directly. Amazon.com A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee covers both the delivery of your item and its condition upon receipt.
Free Music Notes for Blondie Album
Free Music Review: '60s girlgroup sound meets '70s punk energy
Hit: 4 Stars
Though they'd get more famous, Blondie never got better than their debut. Their mixture of '60s girl-group pop and '70s punk energy was a unique sound among their New York contemporaries. While the Ramones were stripping rock 'n' roll to its 1'30" essence, Blondie matched the hook-filled melodies of the Brill Building with lyrics that pushed the Shangri-La's bad girl stance a few paces forward.Debbie Harry's vocals - alone, double-tracked or backed by harmonies - and the band's songs (only drummer Clement Burke didn't contribute songwriting) were at once heartfelt odes to the of 1960s while at the same time thoroughly modern in attitude. "X Offender" "Rip Her to Shreds" and "In the Flesh" are too in-your-face (and perhaps too ironic) to have actually been recorded by early-60s girl-groups, yet their spirit leaves one to imagine how great they would sound if sent back in time to the Shangri-Las.
Richard Gottehrer's production is spot-on, adding a polish that elevates these tracks to stand with their Brill Building inspirations. At the same time, the buzzing Farfisa organ and Clem Burke's power drumming keep an edge that plants these tracks firmly in the mid-70s.
Capitol's reissue adds five bonus tracks to the original dozen, all of which are more interesting for their historical peek into the band's development than for their musicality. A pre-LP single featuring "X Offender" and "In the Sun" shows the band still balancing their sound. The double-tracked vocal on the former pales in comparison to the LP version, and the melody on the latter (as well as its rambunctious spirit) had yet to fully emerge. An Alan Betrock produced take of the Shangri-Las "Out in the Streets" is fine, but doesn't capture the tortured mood of the original, while "The Thin Line" and "Platinum Blonde" sound like the demo track that they are - a band with an original idea that isn't yet fully expressed.
4-1/2 stars, if Amazon allowed fractional ratings.