Blondie - Blondie
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Free Music Notes for Blondie
Free Music Review: Five In The Flesh
Hit: 5 Stars
With the CBGB's music scene at full throttle during the mid 70's there were,of course talent scouts from many different record labels looking to sign up anyone who represented this new sound gestating there that a lot of people were calling punk. Even in this scene where the "no more than 3 chords" attitude reigned supreme there were bands were defied even that ethic in terms of just total rock n roll freedom of expression. There were Talking Heads and there was Blondie. No sexism intended but outside Patti Smith there wasn't an enormous female presense on this particular scene at the time. Not only that but Blondie stood out in other ways too. A band started by the glamorous,movie star-like singer Debbie Harry and guitar/bassplayer/songwriter Chris Stein the band had an approch that was not as much based in creating a lot of loud guitar riffing as opposed to putting emphasize on pop songwriting. James Destri's use of organs,electric pianos and even a synthesizer also set the sound apart. The music had a certain punk style edge but also emphasized a pop sensability and is part of the beginning of the sound people would later call new wave. That's why it doesn't particularly sound like something from the mid 70's. The Police,The Cars and others would soon make a killing with songs with the same type of surf/60's garage pop style songs such as "X Offender","Little Girl Lies","Look Good In Blue","A Shark In Jets Clothing","Rip Her To Shreds","Kung Fu Girls" and "The Rifle Range". Not only do these songs represent the basic repitoire at CGBS's during their early years in residency there but also have a strong sense of songcraft and,frankly use so many clever chord changes that this music will appeal far more to conventional pop fans than those of punk. That is especially true for the the doo-wop soaked "In The Flesh",the bands first hit even if it was in Austraillia. The bonus songs "Out In The Streets","The Thin Line" and "Platinum Blonde" are somewhat rawer variations of the same sound as most of the rest of the album. The song "Man Overboard" tells a very different story however;with it's straight ahead groove and a phat,chunky bassline it's Blondie's first forray into a disco-funk sound that would serve them well in years to come. Even though this album barely went noticed in America very far outside the CBGB's scene it was more than a fair indication that even for such a then new and vital music scene that yet another new "thing" was emmerging.Free Music Review: The mocking girl group sound of Blondie's debut album
Hit: 5 Stars
Blondie was the most commercially successful band to emerge from the punk/new wave movement of the late 1970s. The lineup changed a lot over the years but at the core of the group from the day it was formed in August 1974 was singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein, who had both been in the Stilettos. This debut album was released in late 1976 by Private Stock Records and clearly defines the group's style as taking the girl group sound of the Sixties and fusing it with the punk sensibilities of the Seventies to become new wave icons. Blondie was never punk the way the Ramones or the Talking Heads were punk, but they still had serious attitude. This is amply proven by this album's first track and the group's first single, "X Offender." The song was originally entitled "Sex Offender," before the record company changed it, and the lyrics tell of a criminal falling for the cop who busts her. At the same time that the song fits the formula of the teenager in love angst songs of the 1950s and 1960s it also clearly mocks such songs as well. "In the Flesh," one of the few songs where Harry tries to sound really sexy, sounds like it should have come out of the Brill Building a decade earlier except Harry's vocal performance here, with its echoes of Marilyn Monroe, keys you in that there is some serious deconstruction at work here. Just listen to the final line of "Look Good in Blue" and clearly there is a tongue in cheek attitude to the double-entendres.
Rating this one is fairly easy because while Blondie would get better there is some historical significance to this debut effort and this remastered CD offers up five bonus tracks consisting of three demos, including the archetypal "Platinum Blonde," a cover of the Shangri-Las' "Out in the Streets," as well as the original single versions of "X Offender" and "In the Sun." "Blondie" is not a great Blondie album, but it does establish the group's definitive high gloss trashy sound. The result was a group whose greatest hits collection is one of the most popular every produced (i.e., everybody I know has it and listens to it on a regular basis). That strongly suggests the rest of their oeuvre is worth examining as well.
Free Music Review: the perfect start
Hit: 5 Stars
There's a couple things that have been bothering me lately concerning Debbie Harry and the music of Blondie, and I want to take a moment to get these things off my chest-
Young kids nowadays seem to think the music of Blondie is mainly the kind of power pop that *only* girls should like, because Debbie Harry and Blondie influenced hundreds and thousands of female power pop bands. This is NOT true.
Back in the 70's it was totally cool and perfectly normal to be a man and a fan of Blondie. Guys liked Debbie Harry for her incredible looks and the bands heavy and energetic style, and women liked her because the music of Blondie was danceable and poppy. Nowadays, the attitude that Blondie can only be a band women should admire is absolutely ridiculous.
Just because cute, fluffy, light power pop/rock with female lead singers is thrown under the category of wimpy pop/rock according to todays generation does NOT mean Blondie should be listed under this category as well. The fact Blondie's debut album rocks pretty darn hard makes such a belief even MORE ridiculous. This isn't wimpy pop/rock at all. It's borderline punk at times! Not to mention, this (and the follow-up Plastic Letters) holds up extremely well over the years.
In fact, what's so appealing about Blondie's debut is how the band has an incredible knack for the catchiest vocal melodies you'll ever hear, and mix them with a radically different sound that was brand new in 1976. Nothing in 1975 or before sounded quite like Blondie as far as female energy, pop hooks, and an influence on the new wave scene is concerned. This was totally different from everything else in 1976.
Also, this is definitely NOT disco music. Blondie had some songs that probably resemble the disco movement, but mainly the band is focused on rock, pop and new wave.
Blondie's debut is an absolute winner from the first note to the last. Please pick up this legendary recording.
Free Music Review: The best BLONDIE album!
Hit: 5 Stars
I don't agree with the other reviewer who said this is their punkiest album. BLONDIE was never punk, and this album wasn't their hardest. I do agree that it's their best, with PARALLEL LINES a close second. PLASTIC LETTERS & EAT TO THE BEAT tie for third, then EXIT, then AUTOAMERICAN, and do we even need to mention HUNTER?
But this album is so consistently great. Songs like "Kung Fu Girls" and "Rifle Range" are as good as any pop song ever recorded, but it seems they've been completely forgotten. In fact, this whole album seems to be forgotten. There's a DVD I found that has some of these songs performed live. Look for it! The title is BLONDIE - THE BEST OF MUSIKLADEN LIVE (1978).
Free Music Review: In the FLESH!!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
A primeira vez que ouvi o Blondie foi em 1978, num clipe transmitido pela Globo, da música Rip her to Shreds. Na época, Blondie era totalmente alienígena em terras brasilis. Tive que ir do Rio a São Paulo para conseguir um disco do Blondie, por sinal o segundo, Plastic Letters. Este primeiro só consegui muito depois, numa das minhas idas e vindas a Sampa, que na época tinha uma verve mais punk que o Rio. O fato é que desde então, sou fã INCONDICIONAL do Blondie. Só lamento não terem tido no Brasil o mesmo reconhecimento que tiveram all over the world.