Blondie [1991] The Complete Picture - The Very Best Of Deborah Harry and Blondie

[01] Heart Of Glass
[02] I Want That Man
[03] Call Me
[04] Sunday Girl
[05] French Kissin' In The USA
[06] Denis
[07] Rapture
[08] Brite Side
[09] (I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear
[10] Well, Did You Evah!
[11] The Tide Is High
[12] In Love With Love
[13] Hanging On The Telephone
[14] Island Of Lost Souls
[15] Picture This
[16] Dreaming
[17] Sweet And Low
[18] Union City Blue
[19] Atomic
[20] Rip Her To Shreds



amg: This import CD is one of the best Blondie and Debbie Harry compilations for original music, unless one is looking for remixes and rarities. The 20-track disc covers the years 1977-1990, and includes "Heart of Glass," "Call Me," "French Kissin' in the U.S.A.," "Rapture," "Atomic," "The Tide Is High," and others. Very solid song selection (and track order). First released in 1993, the current version has superior sound quality. Casual fans will most likely choose Best of Blondie [Chrysalis], as it only has the best of Blondie. But some of Debbie Harry's songs will please the casual fan, so Complete Picture may be a better alternative than the more expensive Platinum Collection for the adventurous shopper.
(amg 8/10)

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)

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)