| | Blondie CD Blondie Discography of CDs
 (2 Customer Reviews)
All tracks have been digitally remastered using 24-bit technology.
Recorded in 1976, Blondie's self-titled debut was part of the New York City/CBGB's crowd's initial salvo of punk/new wave, radically different from anything in the American mainstream at the time. While other CBGB scenemakers strove for either artiness (Television) or primitivism (Ramones), Blondie was always about pure pop, served with a healthy dose of irony. Its early-'60s rock & roll/girl-group roots were never so apparent as on this album--"In the Sun" sounds like a classic slice of sunny '60s West Coast pop, while "In the Flesh" reaches even further back for a '50s ballad feel.
The sly lyrics, Debbie Harry's knowing delivery, and especially Jimmy Destri's gloriously cheesy organ riffs make it apparent that revivalism was never Blondie's intention; the band simply used the past to hijack the punk present and lay claim to a new wave future. Over the next few years, countless groups would adopt the template laid down on the first couple of Blondie albums, with varying degrees of success, but, as this recording makes plain, Blondie did it first and best.
If new wave was about reconfiguring and recontextualizing simple pop/rock forms of the '50s and '60s in new, ironic, and aggressive ways, then Blondie, which took the girl group style of the early and mid-'60s and added a '70s archness, fit right in. True punksters may have deplored the group early on (they never had the hip cachet of Talking Heads or even the Ramones), but Blondie's secret weapon, which was deployed increasingly over their career, was a canny pop straddle -- they sent the music up and celebrated it at the same time. So, for instance, songs like "X Offender" (their first single) and "In the Flesh" (their first hit, in Australia) had the tough-girl-with-a-tender-heart tone of the Shangri-Las (the disc was produced by Richard Gottehrer, who had handled the Angels ["My Boyfriend's Back"] among others, and Brill Building songwriter Ellie Greenwich even sang backup on "In the Flesh"), while going one step too far into hard-edged decadence -- that is, if you chose to see that. (The tag line of "Look Good in Blue," for example, went, "I could give you some head and shoulders to lie on.") The whole point was that you could take Blondie either way, and lead singer Deborah Harry's vocals, which combined rock fervor with a kiss-off quality, reinforced that, as did the band's energetic, trashy sound. This album, released on independent label Private Sound, was not a major hit, but it provided a template for the future. [The 2001 CD reissue on Capitol, which spiffed up the sonics significantly -- thus diminishing the trashiness of the sound -- added five bonus tracks: 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."] ~ William Ruhlmann
Digitally remastered 1994 reissue on Chrysalis of their 1976debut for the label. Contains 11 tracks, including the cultclassics 'Rip Her To Shreds', 'X Offender' and 'In TheFlesh'.
Recorded at Plaza Sound Stuidos, New York, New York in August & September 1976. Originally released on Private Stock (2023) in January 1977, reissued on Chrysalis (1165) in September 1977. Includes liner notes by Mike Chapman.
Producer: Richard Gottehrer.
Reissue producer: Kevin Flaherty.
Composer: Marty Thau.
Personnel: Debbie Harry (vocals); Gary Valentine (guitar, bass guitar); Chris Stein (guitar); Jimmy Destri (piano, grand piano, Farfisa); Clem Burke (drums); Ellie Greenwich, Micki Harris, Hilda Harris (background vocals).
Audio Remixer: Craig Leon.
Liner Note Author: Richard Gottehrer.
Recording information: Plaza Sound Studios, New York, NY (08/1976-09/1976).
Photographers: Jonathan Postal; Ray Stevenson; Bob Gruen.
Blondie: Deborah Harry (vocals); Chris Stein, Gary Valentine (guitar, bass); James Destri (piano, organ, synthesizer); Clement BurkSpin (11/01, p.137) - "...Their inauspicious 1976 sock-hop debut..."
Entertainment Weekly (9/21/01, p.85) - "...Lays the pulpy melodrama on thick, with Debbie Harry coming on like a harried femme fatale..." - Rating: B+
Q (5/02 SE, p.134) - 4 stars out of 5 - Included in Q's "100 Best Punk Albums".
Q (10/94, p.135) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Winking at their generation's fondness for trash culture, Blondie's pastiches of Brill Building pop swaggered with conviction..."All tracks have been digitally remastered. Purchase Blondie CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Blondie Autoamerican CD (1980) Bonus Tracks; Remastered
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All tracks have been digitally remastered using 24-bit technology.
Blondie's penultimate album before their breakup, 1981's AUTOAMERICAN is a fine collection of diverse, slickly-produced pop songs, featuring the all-pervasive "Rapture." It's difficult to explain just how omnipresent this song was on Top 40 radio in 1981--only Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes" and the "Stars on 45" medley had more airplay--or how enormous its cultural impact.
Before "Rapture," rap was little known outside of New York City's outer boroughs, but Debbie Harry's rap, namechecking scene legends Fab Five Freddy and Grandmaster Flash (alongside '60s film auteur Francois Truffaut, for the downtown hipsters), brought the style worldwide. The rap was so groundbreaking that it's easy to forget that the first three minutes of the song, where Harry coos luxuriantly over a slinky bass groove, is some of Blondie's best work, as is the rest of the album.
The basic Blondie sextet was augmented, or replaced, by numerous session musicians (including lots of uncredited horn and string players) for the group's fifth album, Autoamerican, on which they continued to expand their stylistic range, with greater success, at least on certain tracks, than they had on Eat to the Beat. A cover of Jamaican group the Paragons' "The Tide Is High," released in advance of the album, became a gold-selling number one single, as did the rap pastiche "Rapture," but, despite their presence, the album stalled in the lower half of the Top Ten and spent fewer weeks in the charts than either of its predecessors. One reason for that, admittedly, was that Chrysalis Records pulled promotion of the disc in favor of pushing lead singer Debbie Harry's debut solo album, KooKoo, not even bothering to release a third single after scoring two chart-topping hits. But then, it's hard to imagine what that third single could have been on an album that leads off with a pretentious string-filled instrumental ("Europa"), and also finds Harry cro
| | Blondie Eat To The Beat CD (1979) Bonus Tracks; Remastered
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All tracks have been digitally remastered using 24-bit technology.
1979's EAT TO THE BEAT was Blondie's fourth album, and the first to follow the enormous commercial breakthrough of 1978's PARALLEL LINES. Though its singles, the brilliant "Dreaming" and the disco-influenced "Atomic," were lesser hits than PARALLEL LINES' "Heart of Glass" and "One Way or Another," EAT TO THE BEAT's success cemented Blondie's status as by far the most commercially viable of the first wave of New York punk bands.
By this time, the band's always-tenuous connection to punk was barely noticeable; the artsy "Victor," the Springsteen-ish "Union City Blue," written for the soundtrack of Debbie Harry's first film, Steeltown, and the reggae-tinged "Die Young Stay Pretty" are early evidence of the sort of casual genre-hopping which defined the band's next album, AUTOAMERICAN. The ripping title track, "Accidents Never Happen" and the dreamy "Living in the Real World," however, are more typical Blondie fare.
+ 4 Bonus Tracks
Recorded at the Power Station, Electric Lady Studio and Media Sound, New York, New York in 1979. Originally released on Chrysalis (1225). Includes liner notes by Mike Chapman.
Producer: Mike Chapman.
Reissue producer: Kevin Flaherty.
Blondie: Frank Infante (vocals, guitar); Jimmy Destri (vocals, keyboards); Deborah Harry (vocals); Chris Stein (guitar); Nigel Harrison (bass); Clem Burke (drums).
Additional personnel: Randy Hennes (harmonica); Elle Greenwich, Lorna Luft, Donna Destri, Mike Chapman (background vocals).
| | Blondie Plastic Letters CD (1977) Bonus Tracks; Remastered
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Considered by many to be Blondie's best, their second album catches the group poised on the brink of global superstardom. PLASTIC LETTERS' first single, a gender-switched cover of the '60s pop hit "Denise" by Randy and the Rainbows, was a massive British hit which went far towards dispelling the band's second-tier status on the New York punk scene.
The rest of the disc improves immensely on their self-titled debut, with sharper songwriting and better production. Jimmy Destri's Farfisa organ is still the band's main musical focal point, but his playing has evolved, along with the melodies, beyond the simple '60s pastiches of the debut. "Youth Nabbed as Sniper" and "Contact in Red Square" continue the band's fascination with trash culture, but the glorious "I'm Always Touched by Your Presence Dear," written by departed bassist Gary Valentine, is a genuinely heartfelt, if ironic, love song.
In artistic terms, Plastic Letters, Blondie's second album, was a classic example of the sophomore slump. If their debut, Blondie, was a precise update of the early-'60s girl group sound, delivered with an ironic '70s sensibility, its follow-up seemed to consist of leftovers, the songwriting never emerging from obscurity and pedestrian musical tracks. The production (again courtesy of Richard Gottehrer) was once again bright and sharp, but in the service of inferior material it alone couldn't save the collection. The two exceptions to the general mediocrity were "Denis," a revival of Randy & the Rainbows' 1963 hit "Denise," for which Deborah Harry sang a verse in French to justify the name and gender change, and "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear," written by Gary Valentine, who had left Blondie shortly before the recording of the album. Due to these two songs, the album became a commercial success, at least overseas. British-based Chrysalis Records had bought out Private Stock, giving Blondie greater distribution and more of an international marketing focus. The result
| | Blondie Parallel Lines CD (1978) Bonus Tracks; Remastered
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All tracks have been digitally remastered using 24-bit technology.
Madonna and Michael Jackson aside, this is supreme pop music and as good as the genre can ever get. Everybody loved Blondie; fans, children, critics, other musicians and senior citizens - and not just because Debbie Harry was its frontperson. This is an unintentional greatest hits record that doesn't let up until the last note of 'Just Go Away' has died. If one wanted to carp, you could have asked for 'Denis' and 'Call Me' to have been included, but that would be just plain greedy. One of the greatest 'up' records of all time.
Blondie turned to Britain-based pop producer Mike Chapman for their third album, on which they abandoned any pretensions to new wave legitimacy (just in time, given the decline of the style) and emerged as a mainstream, contemporary pop/rock band. But it wasn't just Chapman's influence that made Parallel Lines Blondie's best album; it was also the band's own songwriting, including Deborah Harry, Chris Stein, and Jimmy Destri's "Picture This"; Harry and Stein's disco-styled "Heart of Glass"; and Harry and new bass player Nigel Harrison's "One Way or Another"; plus two contributions from non-band member Jack Lee, "Will Anything Happen?" and "Hanging on the Telephone." Together, they were enough to give Blondie a number one on both sides of the Atlantic with "Heart of Glass" and three more U.K. hits, but what impresses is the album's depth and consistency -- album tracks like "Fade Away and Radiate" and "Just Go Away" are as impressive as the songs pulled for singles. Still, Chapman's contribution is not to be discounted; a producer with a track record full of punchy British pop hits with his former partner Nicky Chinn for Suzi Quatro, Mud, the Sweet, and Smokie, he brought his sense of precise arranging and playing to a band that previously had been quite sloppy in execution, and he did it without sacrificing the group's spirit, particularly Harry's snotty yet sophisticated voc
| | Blondie Hunter CD (1982) Bonus Tracks; Remastered
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All tracks have been digitally remastered using 24-bit technology.
Autoamerican was Blondie's last real album (until their 1999 reunion with No Exit), after which the band collapsed in legal problems and solo aspirations. The Hunter was only made because they still owed Chrysalis an album on their contract, and it sounds like the obligatory record it was. "Island of Lost Souls" (the album's only U.S. singles chart entry and, in fact, the only song released as a single in the U.S.) was a try at remaking "The Tide Is High," while "The Beast" tried to re-create at least the rap section of "Rapture." "War Child," which made the U.K. Top 40, was a dance rock effort in the style of "Call Me," and one of two somewhat autobiographical Debbie Harry lyrics, along with "English Boys." (Harry wrote all the album's words except for those to keyboard player Jimmy Destri's "Danceway" and the cover of the Marvelettes' 1967 hit "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game," which was written by Smokey Robinson.) "For Your Eyes Only" had been intended as the theme song for the 1981 James Bond film, but rejected (rightly) in favor of a competing entry by Bill Conti and Mike Leeson that went on to become a Top Five hit for Sheena Easton. The rest of the material was equally second-rate, consisting of funk-rock tracks with the barest of melodies, and lyrics that ranged from impenetrable ("Orchid Club") to incoherent (the science fiction epic "Dragonfly," which alternated recited and sung sections having something to do with a spaceship race). Blondie was always a band with ideas -- musical, lyrical, and visual -- but The Hunter found them running short conceptually as well practically. It was a disappointing end. ~ William Ruhlmann
Autoamerican was Blondie's last real album, after which the band collapsed in legal problems and solo aspirations. The Hunter was only made because they still owed Chrysalis an album on their contract, and it sounds like the obligatory record it was. "Island of Lo
| | Vanduras In The Dark CD (2002)
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Father and son duo Gary Brandin and Geof Brandin pool their resources in perpetual twilight, a subdued marriage of surf and exotica, with the Marketts or the Lively Ones at the wheel, Esquivel in the back seat, and Martin Denny riding shotgun. The results go down super-smoothly, with lap steel frequently buttering the ears. The mixes frequently put the Hawaiian lap steel under the spotlight, so much so that everything else takes on a supporting status (the cautious prowl of "El Monte" loses some of its edge as an example). This being said, consistency is what makes In the Dark such a good album. If you agree with the mood of any one track, you will most likely embrace the entire thing. The tones are consistently warm, and the relaxed disposition of the musicians is contagious. The title cut is a dreamy coastal sunset, flirting with Jerry Cole over post-surf mai tais under the umbrella. "The Big Hurt" tips its hat to Wayne Shanklin in a fun little upbeat diversion, "Cybele's Reverie" builds infectiously with jangly acoustic guitar chugging along the interstate, and "Lost Beach" glides along so absently, it almost wants to stay lost in its balmy palm tree clichés. "Dinner With Robert" changes up the mood a bit, like a gunslinger's tango with his mysterious past, investing in a heightened sense of melodrama that pays off wonderfully. "Charlotte" floats south of the border for margaritas and bittersweet love, and "Sarajevo Rose" follows as a tender jazz ballad with a mellow pinch of cayenne, flirting curiously with the satellites overhead before touchdown. The haze wears off for "Rope'n Pineapples," an aptly titled two-minute Don Ho-down that winks its way through the hula. In terms of energy, this is the rare exception to the otherwise subdued shoreline stroll that the Vanduras repeatedly take, and take well. "Levitare'" marks the close of the album, a completely ambient cloud of guitar vapors passing over a sleeping volcano. Solidly (and supposedly in rotation), Jeff Donovan, Michael Kramer, and Larry Mitchell all take turns passing the sticks to each other as supporting drummers. Front to back, In the Dark is a low-stress, high-fidelity tiki torch flame that intoxicates as it burns. It's only flaw may be how consistently gorgeous it is -- sweet like cotton candy, though thankfully not as forgettable. ~ Glenn Swan
If anyone could creep up and offer you a glimpse into the void, it would most certainly be 'The Vanduras.' The enchanting melodies on their new album, 'In The Dark' combine the essence of surf-noir and spaghetti-western with a twist of exotic schmaltz. The Vanduras go for the jugular and create an instrumental album that is anything but uneasylistening.
Audio Mixer: Erik Godal.
Recording information: Cat Box, South Pasadena, CA (2000-2001); The Cat Box, South Pasedena, CA (2000-2001).
Photographers: Geof Brandin; David Pascal.
The Vanduras: Geof Brandin (guitar); Gary Brandin (steel guitar).
Personnel: Geof Brandin (guitar, pump organ, keyboards, percussion); Gary Brandin (Hawaiian steel guitar); Jeff Donavan, Michael Kramer (drums).
| | Bevis Frond Bevis Through The Looking Glass CD (1988)
Blondie music CDs
$10.69
This collection was originally released in 1987 as a vinyl only edition of 500.
Although the Bevis Frond only appeared on disc with 1987's Miasma, Nick Saloman had in fact been a struggling musician for a good two decades before that breakthrough. (Indeed, the final track here, the paisley pop "Alistair Jones," was recorded in 1967, when Saloman was all of 14 years old.) Originally released in a signed limited-edition record of 500 copies, then reissued as a double-LP set on Reckless (with all of the tracks eventually showing up as filler on Reckless' CD releases of the Bevis Frond's first several albums), Bevis Through the Looking Glass is a strictly historical collection of tracks that are primarily for the complete Bevis Frond devotee. Surely the average listener will find the 14-minute noodlefest "1970 Home Improvements" a tiresome slog, much less the side-long murk of "The Shrine." The more concise tracks on disc two are much better, with "Rat in a Waistcoat" being among Saloman's most biting early pop songs. Still, even this material is distinctly second class; Bevis Through the Looking Glass is completely unessential for all but the most die-hard Bevis Frond fans, but those diehards will find much to like, if not love. ~ Stewart Mason
Unknown Contributor Role: The Bevis Frond.
| | Shane Endsley 2nd Guess CD (2002)
Blondie songs
$14.25
A Denver native, Shane is a graduate of the Eastman School Of Music where he studied trumpet, drums/percussion and composition. Shane has had the privilege of playing and recording with a variety of artists, including David Murray, Art Lande (Book of Bhu), Ralph Alessi(Hissy Fit, Vice & Virtue), and Ravi Coltrane. He has toured extensively throughout the United States, Africa, Japan, and Europe with artists such as Ani DiFranco (Revelling & Reckoning) and Steve Coleman (Genesis and The Opening of the Way, Sonic Language of Myth, Ascension into Light).
| | Hototogisu Some Blood Will Stick CD (2006)
Blondie album
$11.79
Track Listing of songs: Part I; Part II; Part III; Part IV; Part V;
| | Summer Hymns Backward Masks CD (2006)
Blondie CD music
$13.05
As of their fourth full-length, Backward Masks, Summer Hymns are a trio of multi-instrumentalists, with founder/members Zachary Gresham and Philip Brown now joined by Chris Riser. But the band remains a showcase for Gresham's contemplative musings, delivered in a fey high tenor that occasionally breaks into falsetto, yet never becomes emotional. Gresham's dreamy vocal persona, supported by the slow tempos and shambling rhythms, is particularly notable since his lyrics, which are easily discernible for the most part, are overwhelmingly concerned with romantic love. "I like the way you walk/I like the way you walk into your room," he begins on the first track, "Way You Walk," and by the fifth song, "Fearanoia," he is declaring, "There's no reason for you to be afraid of love." No reason to be afraid, it seems, but the singer's object of affection might have reason to be frustrated with her paramour, if his other observations about himself are to be trusted. "I was passed out on your floor," he sings in "Pity and Envy," "while you banged upon my door." Indeed, Gresham never sounds ardent in these songs of love; most of the time he sounds like he's having trouble staying awake, and thus it's no surprise that the performances sometimes break down suddenly, after starting with a lazily strummed acoustic guitar. Still, Gresham's hapless character remains ingratiating, and that's the charm of the songs, which keeps them from being as self-consciously arty as they otherwise might be. Echoes of the Beatles and the Byrds of 1966-1967 abound, but as a singer Gresham is borrowing most prominently from Ray Davies of the Kinks; his very enfeeblement is part of his attraction, and he knows it. ~ William Ruhlmann
Summer Hymns: Zachary Gresham, Chris Riser, Philip Brown .
| | Jacuqes Pellen Lament For The Children CD (2007) (Import)
Blondie music CDs
$24.95
Track Listing of songs: Batitude; Olloll; Spered Holvedell; Lament For The Children; Naer Vor; God Bless The Child; Ba's House; Anna Jaouen; Sonerion Bleimor; Shh...; Ballade; Pie Jesu;
| | RSP Crew Vol. 1 CD (2007)
Blondie songs
$15.89
Recording information: The RSP Studio.
| | Sybersound Billboard Top 10 Karaoke: 1970'S Vol. 3 CD (2007)
Blondie album
$12.35
Billboard Top 10 Karaoke: 1970's, Vol. 3 includes instrumental remakes of favorite hits of the era, including "We've Only Just Begun," "Me and Bobby McGee," "Baby I Love Your Way," and "Best of My Love." In addition to its ten instrumental selections, the disc also includes vocal mixes. ~ Al Campbell
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
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