Blondie - Greatest Hits (CD+DVD)
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Free Music Notes for Greatest Hits (CD+DVD)
Free Music Review: PERFECTION
Hit: 5 Stars
There is no other way to describe BLONDIE or the musical legacy, other than PERFECT POP. Their crossovers into Punk, Funk, Reggae, Calypso, Disco and New Wave are legendary. THERE WERE AND ARE NO OTHER ROCK ARTISTS AS DIVERSE OR AS SUCCESSFUL........as BLONDIE was in this amazing era of rock. From 1978-1982, and their amazing resurgence in 1999, Blondie have racked up hit after hit after hit. In which time created some of rock music's all time best classics, Call Me, One way or Another, Heart of Glass and Rapture to mention but a few.
The most successful of all New Wave and Punk bands, Blondie helped define a generation and opened the door for the likes of Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Cyndi Lauper, Amee Mann, Berlin, etc.
Here on this compilation you get 4 American Certified #1 million selling singles, Heart of glass, Call Me, Rapture, and The Tide is High. You get an additional 3 British #1 Singles, Sunday Girl, Atomic and Maria.
Rapture released in November 1980, was the first Rap song the vast majority of people ever heard, in fact it wasn't even called Rap then, it was just known as Street Rapping in the Ghettos of NYC, but it took the then #1 Band in the world to break this musical format wide open. Rapture from the 1980 album Autoamerican also produced another #1 Chart topping first, The Tide is High, was a reggae influenced smash, again a music format that millions never heard until Blondie broke it wide open. GROUNDBREAKING, Blondie scored 3 straight #1 singles in 1980 in USA, Canada and the UK.
Materpiece rock songs like One Way or Another, Dreaming, Call Me and Atomic are simply delicious and infectious songs, you can listen to them over and over. Never dated.
Included on this album, was the European Mash Up Smash that reached European top 20 charts in feb 2006 with Rapture Riders and also hit #10 US Billboard Dance charts in 2006. The mash up uses the #1 Blondie Classic with The Doors "Riders on the storm" track, and poof, you have literally one of the best rated Mashups ever produced.
Heart of Glass & Call Me were the definitive songs that influenced and open the doors for the UK Invasion of Electro Pop of the early 80's. The very fact that Heart of Glass and Call Me were the #1 International selling songs of 1979 and 1980 respectively is now a matter of music history fact. Blondie's music still in 2006, is FRESH and still CREATIVE, and nothing coming out today can compete with the their diversity, songwriting, edgy cool, or depth.
No rock music fan should be without this album, and the added DVD doesn't hurt either. Blondie were in fact the first rock band in history to release an full length video album for 1979's classic album "Eat to the Beat", which was grammy nominated, so the videos are cool and mega sexy with Goddess Deborah Harry, the original Madonna.
Blondie Fun Facts
......Call Me #1-6wks in the Usa #1 Song of 1980 and #42 charted song all time
......Heart of Glass 6 Million copies sold Internationally
......Rapture has gone Top Ten in 3 decades, with 3 different Blondie versions in the USA Billboard Dance Charts (80/90/00's)
.......Maria debuted at #1 19years after Blondie's last UK #1 IN 1999, making DEBORAH HARRY the oldest female then at 55 years to have a #1 record.
Free Music Review: Classic Cuts And New Sounds.
Hit: 5 Stars
Just in time for their induction into the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame comes this new Blondie collection that showcases some of the band's most popular, influential songs, material from their recent releases and a mash-up with one of the bands that influenced them. "Sound & Vision," like most Best Of sets is both a good introduction to the band's music and a well-assembled collection for the casual listener who likes Blondie, but enough to purchase every album. There is no doubt that Debbie Harry and the gang not only produced good music, but were one of the main reasons why we have real chick rockers like Shirley Manson, Gwen Stefani and yes, Madonna. Befire Princess Diana ever graced magazine covers, Harry was the most photographed woman in the world but a real Punk at heart, posing at times with such figures as Joey Ramone and Iggy Pop (eventhough at one point Patti Smith told her to "get the f--k out of rock n' roll"). "Sound And Vision" nicely shows what all the fuss was about in the late 70's through mid-80's. A lot of the songs have survived the test of time with a real sense of fun and energy like "Call Me" with it's roaring chorus and electro sheen while "Heart Of Glass" is still a classic jam, disco has died and yet this song remains. "Rapture" is still a long, dreamy anthem that brought hip-hop to a wider audience before Aerosmith and Run DMC ever broke the barrier of rock and rap. Newer material is also present here, "Maria" was a single off the band's 1999 album "No Exit," but it still has that classic Blondie sound. However I do believe listeners are cheated here when it comes to the song "Good Boys" off their latest release, "The Curse Of Blondie." The original version is a great song, but the remix here makes the song kind of cold and hollow, the same for the "In The Flesh" remix which rips the song apart, turning it into cold, techno sludge. Luckily there is one worthy remix present, "Rapture Riders," which brilliantly meshes "Rapture" with The Doors' "Riders On The Storm." Both songs flow perfectly together and it's a fitting combination since Blondie have always named The Doors as a prime influence and favorite band. Too bad Jim Morrison died in 1972, you get the feeling he and Harry would have done a marvelous duet. The extra DVD that comes with the set is a must for Blondie fans, many of the band's videos are included for classics like "Heart Of Glass," "The Tide Is High" and even the recent videos for "Maria" and "Good Boys." "Sight In Sound" a fun ride through the Blondie catalogue and a must for collectors of classic rock anthologies, and a neat teaching tool for those who wanna know why girls like Gwen, Shirley and even Britney have been scandalous and glamorous and know how to pull it off and who they learned it from.Free Music Review: Deleted Songs/Other Trivial Questions
Hit: 5 Stars
First Off...BUY THIS PACKAGE! It's one of the best of Blondie Compilations out there simply because you have the videos to go along with a very visual band.
Secondly...there are whimpers and complaints that they deleted the two songs for the U.S. release, X-offender and Preasence Dear, due to the fact that they were primarily U.K. hits and singles. X-offender was only relased in the U.S. as a promo single to their 1st album and Preasence Dear was only a U.K. single as well as a top ten hit there and I'm sure record execs found no need an American audience would buy UK hits.
They deleted them to compliment the CD/DVD package.
(SOUND)
Also, the songs featured here are in ther SINGLE EDIT form because you can only fit so many songs onto an 80-minute CD.
Atomic is the 3:50 single version
Heart Of Glass is the radio version at 4:10 not the original single version that was only 3:22
Maria is the short radio version at 4:10
Rapture is the heavily edited radio version at 4:57
Tide Is High thankfully is at the radio edit of 3:51
In The Flesh is a NEW RECORDED MIX with Miss Guy on backing Vocals
One Way Or Another is the radio mix version (it's slightly shorter and varies from the album version)
Island Of Lost Souls is the single version at 3:47
Good Boys is the Blow-Up 12" Version which frankly is an awesome remix
Call Me is the ever popular single version at 3:30
and Sunday Girl is the original single version which is several seconds longer in the fade out at 3:12
I do however like the fact they added Fade Away and Radiate to the Greatest Hits compilation. It was always one of thier better songs.
(VISION)
The videos that are here are in their complete entirety EXCEPT Rapture (which for soem unknown reson taken from the home video version of Best Of Blondie and is grainy) and Heart Of Glass (which was taken from the home video The Complete Pitcture which used the 1981 remix of Heart Of Glass instead of the original video audio and is grainy).
All videos look exceptional given their age and have a fantastic remastered 2.0 stereo sound to them.
UNFORTUNATELY, the video for The Tide IS High is the VH-1 Version and not the original conceptual video. This video uses video stills from Eat To The Beat and pans the Record Cover.
The video for Rapture Riders is just ok given it's just two videos split next to each other so it looks like Debbie and Jim are singing together.
Buy the superior European edition Blondie: Greatest Hits: Sight & Sound rather than the US Sound & Vision. It's a better CD and DVD companion since they have extra tracks included.
Free Music Review: Blondie Ambition
Hit: 5 Stars
If you're already asking yourself, `Do I really need another Blondie compilation?' then I must tell you that the answer is most definitely "Yes!" This is the most comprehensive collection the band has delivered in their thirty-year history. No, it's not a box set of rarities, it's a two-disc set with one disc of "sound" that contains their greatest hits of the past three decades and one DVD disc of "vision" that provides solid proof of why this amazing New York-based band, fronted by Debbie Harry, was recently inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Of course, the obvious hits are here, beginning with the song that put them on the worldwide map - the #1 smash "Heart Of Glass." Other #1 smash records that follow are the Deborah Harry/Giorgio Moroder penned "Call Me," the reggae-tinged "The Tide Is High" and "Rapture," which made them the first new wave turned mainstream band to have a #1 rap song, not to mention by a female lead. The widely exposed "One Way Or Another" is here along with the 1979 classic "Dreaming" and the 1999 rocker "Maria." In between those obvious inclusions are tracks that have become Blondie staples ranging from their 1976 debut single "Rip Her To Shreds," through 2003's "Good Boys" with a new mix added in 2005. Other masterpieces include "Atomic," which topped the charts in the UK in 1979, "Sunday Girl," a new remix of "In The Flesh," "Denis," "Picture This," "Fade Away And Radiate," "Hanging On The Telephone," "Union City Blue," "Island Of Lost Souls" "End To End" and a new single that's burning up the clubs as I write this, "Rapture Riders," billed as Blondie VS. The Doors, with the classic 1981 track mixed with the phenomenal Doors' 1971 epic "Riders On The Storm." Everything old is brand new again and sounding fresher than ever. The DVD of their performance videos include most of what's on the CD with the inclusion of "Detroit 442," and a personal favorite "The Hardest Part." The Bonus DVD track is a UK version of the Blondie VS. The Doors' "Rapture Riders." It's inevitable that Blondie will one day deliver a box set of hits and rarities in one package, but until they do, pick up this "Sound & Vision" set, and hear and see why Blondie was, and is, one of the most important rock and roll bands of all-time.
Free Music Review: BLONDIE FOR BEGINNERS - A FANTASTIC CD AND DVD COMBO
Hit: 5 Stars
This Blondie greatest hits collection, with one cd featuring 20 of their hits and most popular songs and a DVD with 16 music videos, is one of the best my best cd buys in a long time - the discs are constantly in my cd and dvd players. I always liked Blondie as a group but never actually had bought an album of theirs before - probably afraid their "punk music" image might dominate their albums and be less appealing than their famous pop radio hits of the past, maybe I felt the campy edge of things like THE ISLAND OF LOST SOULS would be too strong, but if this collection is any indication of the full Blondie discography I'm ready to join the Blondie fan club!! The songs are great and span every path of American pop/rock from the girl group sound (a neat trick with only one girl!) to rap to hard rock to techno.
Listening to this collection makes me realize what an underrated singer Deborah Harry is. I'm thinking she may even be the best pop/rock female vocalist of the past 35 years. Her voice is terrific and extremely versatile. And how amazing that songs recorded 20 years after some of the earliest tracks blend in seamlessly with the earlier works; certainly one would never guess the singer is now 20 years older.
The Billboard smashes of course are all here. HEART OF GLASS sounds as fresh and new today as it did 30 years ago. The band really rocks out in the sensational, underrated followup hit DREAMING. Their 1999 number one British hit MARIA deserved a similar status in America but alas our pop/radio is much too ageist and sexist to have a 55-year-old female vocalist have a smash record even if it's a great song and great performance. New songs to me that I loved include SUNDAY GIRL, HANGING ON THE TELEPHONE, and UNION CITY BLUE.
Great to see these old music videos as well, nearly all of them made before the MTV era of expensive, complicated productions.
This greatest hits compilation succesfully accomplishes what a greatest hits collection should do - feature the artist at their band and create new interest and new fans. It certainly did it for me - I can't wait to get more BLONDIE music!