Blondie [1978] Parallel Lines

[01] Hanging On The Telephone
[02] One Way Or Another
[03] Picture This
[04] Fade Away And Radiate
[05] Pretty Baby
[06] I Know But I Don't Know
[07] 11 59
[08] Will Anything Happen
[09] Sunday Girl
[10] Heart Of Glass
[11] I'm Gonna Love You Too
[12] Just Go Away
Bonus Tracks
[13] Heart Of Glass (7 Inch Single Version)
[14] Sunday Girl (French Version)
[15] Hanging On The Telephone (Nosebleed Handbag Remix)
[16] Fade Away And Radiate (108 Bpm Remix)



amg: Blondie turned to British 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 new wave) and emerged as a pure pop band. But it wasn't just Chapman that made Parallel Lines Blondie's best album; it was the band's own songwriting, including Deborah Harry, Chris Stein, and James Destri's "Picture This," and Harry and Stein's "Heart of Glass," and Harry and new bass player Nigel Harrison's "One Way or Another," plus two contributions from nonbandmember Jack Lee, "Will Anything Happen?" and "Hanging on the Telephone." That was 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. The result is state-of-the-art pop/rock circa 1978, with Harry's tough-girl glamour setting the pattern that would be exploited over the next decade by a host of successors led by Madonna.
(amg 10/10)

Boston [1978] Don't Look Back

[01] Don't Look Back
[02] The Journey
[03] It's Easy
[04] A Man I'll Never Be
[05] Feelin' Satified
[06] Party
[07] Used To Bad News
[08] Don't Be Afraid



amg: The follow-up to Boston's mega-hit first album, Boston, Don't Look Back took two long years to complete, and it's hard to figure out why because it's almost exactly the same as their debut. The guitars still sound like they are being fed through computers and stacked into great walls of sound by robots, lead singer Brad Delp still sounds like he is ripping his throat out, and the harmony vocals still sound like a choir of androids warbling angelically. Most importantly, the songs are overflowing with hooks, there are plenty of riffs to air guitar to, and the songs stick in your head like dirt on a dog. The main difference lies in the semi-melancholy tone of the record. Boston was a nonstop party of a record but one look at the song titles lets you know that Don't Look Back is a little different: "A Man I'll Never Be," "Used to Bad News," "Don't Be Afraid." These songs reveal a reflective side that was nowhere to be found on Boston. Not to say the record doesn't rock because it does mightily. "Don't Look Back" has a killer riff that's very similar to the timeless riff in "More Than a Feeling," "Party" is a storming rocker much like "Smokin'" and "It's Easy" is mellow 70's AOR at its absolute best. Don't Look Back is basically Boston, Pt. 2, but don't let that put you off because even though the band was treading water they were treading it like Esther Williams. This record is better than 96.7% of the AOR records released in the 1970s, combine it with Boston and you are looking at two tickets to AOR paradise.
(amg 8/10)

Band [1978] The Last Waltz

[101] Theme From The Last Waltz
[102] Up On Cripple Creek
[103] Who Do You Love
[104] Helpless
[105] Stagefright
[106] Coyote
[107] Dry Your Eyes
[108] It Makes No Difference
[109] Such A Night
[110] The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
[111] Mystery Train
[112] Mannish Boy
[113] Further On Up The Road
[201] Shape I'm In
[202] Down South In New Orleans
[203] Ophelia
[204] Tura-Lura-Lural (That's An Irish Lullaby)
[205] Caravan
[206] Life Is A Carnival
[207] Baby Let Me Follow You Down
[208] I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
[209] Forever Young
[210] Baby Let Me Follow You Down (Reprise)
[211] I Shall Be Released
[212] The Last Waltz Suite - The Well
[213] The Last Waltz Suite - Evangeline
[214] The Last Waltz Suite - Out Of The Blue
[215] The Last Waltz Suite - The Weight
[216] The Last Waltz Suite - The Last Waltz Refrain
[217] The Last Waltz Suite - Theme From The Last Waltz

With [103] Ronnie Hawkins, [104] Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, [106] Joni Mitchell and Dr. John, [107] Neil Diamond and Dennis St. John, [109] Dr. John, [111] Paul Buterfield, [112] Muddy Waters and Paul Butterfield, [113] Eric Clapton, [202] Dr. John, [204-205] Van Morrison, [207-210] Bob Dylan, [211] Ringo Starr, Ron Wood, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Neil Diamond, [213] Emmylou Harris, [215] The Staples, [217] With Orchestra



amg: As a film, The Last Waltz was a triumph — one of the first (and still one of the few) rock concert documentaries that was directed by a filmmaker who understood both the look and the sound of rock & roll, and executed with enough technical craft to capture all the nooks and crannies of a great live show. But as an album, The Last Waltz soundtrack had to compete with the Band's earlier live album, Rock of Ages, with which it bears a certain superficial resemblance — both found the group trying to create something grander than the standard-issue live double, and both featured the group beefed up by additional musicians. While Rock of Ages found the Band swinging along with the help of a horn section arranged by Allen Toussaint, The Last Waltz boasts a horn section (using Toussaint's earlier arrangements on a few cuts) and more than a baker's dozen guest stars, ranging from old cohorts Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan to contemporaries Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Van Morrison. The Band are in fine if not exceptional form here; on most cuts, they don't sound quite as fiery as they did on Rock of Ages, though their performances are never less than expert, and the high points are dazzling, especially an impassioned version of "It Makes No Difference" and blazing readings of "Up on Cripple Creek" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (Levon Helm has made no secret that he felt breaking up the Band was a bad idea, and here it sounds if he was determined to prove how much they still had to offer). Ultimately, it's the Band's "special guests" who really make this set stand out — Muddy Waters' ferocious version of "Mannish Boy" would have been a wonder from a man half his age, Van Morrison sounds positively joyous on "Caravan," Neil Young and Joni Mitchell do well for their Canadian brethren, and Bob Dylan's closing set finds him in admirably loose and rollicking form. (One question remains — what exactly is Neil Diamond doing here?) And while the closing studio-recorded "Last Waltz Suite" sounds like padding, the contributions from Emmylou Harris and the Staple Singers are beautiful indeed. It could be argued that you're better off watching The Last Waltz on video than listening to it on CD, but either way it's a show well worth checking out.
(amg 8/10)

Buzzcocks [1978] Love Bites

[01] Real World
[02] Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't 've)
[03] Operator's Manual
[04] Nostalgia
[05] Walking Distance
[06] E.S.P.
[07] Just Lust
[08] Love Is Lies
[09] Nothing Left
[10] Sixteen Again
[11] Late For The Train



amg: More musically accomplished, more obsessively self-questioning, and with equally energetic yet sometimes gloomy performances, Love Bites finds the Buzzcocks coming into their own. With Devoto and his influence now fully worked out of the band's system, Shelley is the clearly predominant voice, with the exception of Diggle's first lead vocal on an album track, the semi-acoustic, perversely sprightly "Love is Lies." Though the song received even further acclaim on Singles Going Steady, "Ever Fallen in Love," for many the band's signature song, appears here. With its note-perfect blend of romance gone wrong, a weirdly catchy, treated lead guitar line, and Shelley's wounded singing deserves its instant classic status, but it's only one of many highlights. The opening "Real World" is one of the band's strongest: a chunky, forceful yet crisp band performance leads into a strong Shelley lyric about unrequited love and life. "Nostalgia"'s strikingly mature, inventive lyrics about where one's life can lead, and the sometimes charging, sometimes quietly tense, heartbroken "Nothing Left" are two other standouts. The group's well-seasoned abilities, the members' increasing reach and Martin Rushent's excellent production make Love Bites shine. The Garvey/Maher rhythm section is especially fine; Maher's fills and similar small but significant touches take the music to an even higher level. His undisputed highlight is the terribly underrated concluding instrumental "Late for the Train." Originally done for a John Peel radio session and rerecorded with even more a dramatic sweep here, it gives the group's motorik/Krautrock new power. Not far behind it is "E.S.P.," a strong rock burn that only fades out at the end very slowly and subtly.
(amg 7/10)

Blondie [1977] Plastic Letters

[01] Fan Mail
[02] Denis
[03] Bermuda Triangle Blues (Flight 45)
[04] Youth Nabbed As Sniper
[05] Contact In Red Square
[06] (I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear
[07] I'm On E
[08] I Didn't Have The Nerve To Say No
[09] Love At The Pier
[10] No Imagination
[11] Kidnapper
[12] Detroit 442
[13] Cautious Lip
Bonus Tracks
[14] Once I Had A Love (Aka The Disco Song)
[15] Scenery
[16] Poets Problem
[17] Detroit 442 (Live)



amg: 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 was that "Denis" broke them in Europe, nearly topping the U.K. charts and followed into the Top Ten by "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear," with the album also peaking in the Top Ten. In the U.S., Blondie finally charted, making the Top 100. The songwriting problem did not seem to bode well, but they would take a distinctly different approach next time out. (The 2001 reissue added four bonus tracks including an early version of the breakthrough hit "Heart of Glass," here called "Once I Had a Love [AKA The Disco Song]"; "Scenery," another catchy song written by Valentine; "Poets Problem," the non-LP B-side of the single "[I'm Always Touched by Your] Presence, Dear"; and a previously unreleased live version of the rocker "Detroit 442.")
(amg 9/10)

Boston [1976] Boston

[01] More Than A Feeling
[02] Peace Of Mind
[03] Foreplay - Long Time
[04] Rock & Roll Band
[05] Smokin'
[06] Hitch A Ride
[07] Something About You
[08] Let Me Take You Home Tonight



amg: Boston is one of the best-selling albums of all time, and deservedly so. Because of the rise of disco and punk, FM rock radio seemed all but dead until the rise of acts like Boston, Tom Petty, and Bruce Springsteen. Nearly every song on Boston's debut album could still be heard on classic rock radio decades later due to the strong vocals of Brad Delp and unique guitar sound of Tom Scholz. Tom Scholz, who wrote most of the songs, was a studio wizard and used self-designed equipment such as 12-track recording devices to come up with an anthemic "arena rock" sound before the term was even coined. The sound was hard rock, but the layered melodies and harmonics reveal the work of a master craftsman. While much has been written about the sound of the album, the lyrics are often overlooked. There are songs about their rise from a bar band ("Rock and Roll Band") as well as fond remembrances of summers gone by ("More Than a Feeling"). Boston is essential for any fan of classic rock, and the album marks the re-emergence of the genre in the 1970s.
(amg 9/10)