Blondie - "Parallel Lines" (1978)

For a long time I was suspicious towards Blondie. All I'd heard was Heart Of Glass, sure, a cool song that found its way into my childhood through a dance competition at a disco where my brother won it, but still a relatively commercial disco song that the musically conscious Markus couldn't quite accept as a member in the collection. Blondie was a band that created commercial pop that amused the masses. Nothing for the connoisseur. This idea lingered on until quite recently. I was of course wrong, as so often when it comes to ideas about music you never actually heard. Blondie created, at least on Parallel Lines, really nice stuff. And yes, I have come to understand that music that speaks to the masses can actually be pretty good.

Of course, Blondie is the name of the band and not the singer, as I and so many others have believed. The singer is Debbie Harry.

When I first listened to this album I realized that I actually knew one other song with the band, One Way Or Another, was one of many hits from the album. I was only six years old when it was released, so obviously it is this song together with Heart Of Glass which have been best transferred to later generations.

The Australian Mike Chapman has produced the album and he has described that Blondie was the worst band he's ever worked with in terms of musical knowledge / performance. He urged several members to focus on songwriting instead of playing. But thanks to studio technique (I guess) I don't notice this. The atmosphere in the studio wasn't the best either, since none of the band members really liked each other, according to Chapman, besides Debbie Harry and Chris Stein of course, who were a couple.

Anyway, the record contains a string of pearls. It's usually described as a pop / new wave album, and I think you can clearly hear traces of punk in several of the songs. Heart Of Glass is not a representative song of the album, as it is quite alone in its disco sound. Half of the songs were released as singles, but my favorites are among those who wasn't - the more evocative and calm Fade Away And Radiate and the Bowie smelling Pretty Baby.

In general an up-tempo, cocaine-soaked, record with many qualitative songs. Debbie and Chris Stein got a few years later so severe drug problems that they more or less lost everything they owned, according to what I read on the reliable source internet. But in 1978, life was still pretty fun.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Hanging On The Telephone 2:17
2. One Way Or Another 3:31
3. Picture This 2:53
4. Fade Away And Radiate 3:57
5. Pretty Baby 3:16
6. Know Bur I Do not Know 3:53

Side B
1. 11:59 3:19
2. Will Anything Happen? 2:55
3. Sunday Girl 3:01
4. Heart Of Glass 3:54
5. I'm Gonna Love You Too 2:03
6. Just Go Away 3:21