Don't buy Blondie's Greatest Hits. You don't need it. You'll only get stuff like "The Tide is High" a poor song made poorer by Atomic Kitten - as they would.
Buy "Parallel Lines" instead. It's a classic. All the best singles are here: Hanging on the Telephone Picture This Sunday Girl Heart of Glass
okay, not all of them, you'll need "Touched By Your Presence Dear" in there somewhere too, and probably "Atomic".
But 4 classic singles on one album? Most of us remember those from the halcyon days of New Wave when fresh new bands who wrote their own material were emerging & getting signed to major labels, rather than all these manufactured cover bands we get these days. Blondie not only had the tunes, but also wrote some very good lyrics. For example "All I want is a photo in my wallet, a small remembrance of something more solid" (from Picture This) Hmm, actually, I can see an innuendo in that now I've typed it out... ooops! Or, "I know a girl from a lonely street, cold as ice-cream, but still as sweet. Dry your eyes Sunday Girl" (from Sunday Girl)
With "Heart of Glass", the thing that stands out in my mind was the shock at the time. "What? Blondie doing a DISCO record??" With the wobbly Giorgio Moroder backing, almost straight from the best disco record ever made ("I Feel Love" by Donna Summer). Only a few weeks ago I tried to recreate the same sound on one of my own recordings by playing a keyboard through a tremolo pedal. Unfortunately, it just sounds like the keyboard is broken though!
Yeah, we know the singles, But what's the rest like I hear you ask? Well, actually, pretty much nearly as good in entirety, and definitely as good in part. One Way or Another, Fade Away & Radiate, I Know But I don't Know.. were easily good enough to be singles. "I Know But I Don't Know" still gets played on TV these days as footage accompaniment. You'll probably recognise the riff, if not the song when you hear it. The track was rather wasted when originally released as the b-side to their first UK hit "Denis".
Pretty Baby, 11:59, Will Anything Happen? are all good enough to be considered decent album tracks, despite being nothing particularly spectacular.
Only 2 I reckon are fillers & not up to scratch (I'm Gonna Love You Too, Just Go Away) You can almost tell from the titles of songs sometimes that they aren't up to much lyrically at least, and these are almost as shoddy musically. I reckon they were written last minute as album fillers, or maybe discarded songs they had to pick up again at the last minute to finish the record off!
..then again, others of you may disagree. Such is the world of music.
Overall, definitely the Blondie album to buy. Get it on vinyl if you can, just for the fabulous & much copied cover photo!!
Get on Ebay now. I bet you can get this album for a snip..
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Like your style of writing - bit like the Spanish Inquisition sketch - There are three really good points about this album - the lyrics, the music and . . . no there are four really good points about this album - the lyrics, the music, the album cover and the four hit singles. Good stuff!
Nov 8th, 2002
(Nov 9th, 2002)
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