Pretty baby (Blondie) (LP 956 - 958)

Blondie  Plastic Letters (CD, Chrysalis Records, 1978) ***  

Blondie  Parallel Lines (CD, Chrysalis Records, 1978) *****  

Blondie  Blondie Live (CD, Chrysalis Records, 1999) ****  

Genre: Pop/ rock

Places I remember: The Warehouse (Hastings)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Hanging On The Telephone (Parallel Lines)

Gear costume: Sunday Girl (Parallel Lines); Rip Her To Shreds (Blondie Live)

Active compensatory factors: Blondie's second album, Plastic Letters, is interesting as it still hangs on to some punkish sensibilities while expanding into rock and pop areas at times.

The hits were Denis and (I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear and they stand out from the rest of the album. Fan Mail would have been a good single too IMHO.

Nothing on Plastic Letters prepared the world for the mega success of Parallel Lines though. It signaled a giant leap in production, song-writing and sheer presence (dear). It's a pop master class.

Blondie and Debbie Harry were everywhere in 1979 - that video for Heart Of Glass alone had an immense impact. It managed to skirt around the fringes of disco and was just palatable enough for rock fans like me in 1979.

By 1999 the band had broken up, Debbie Harry had split from Chris Stein and had had an intermittently successful solo career. 

The live album was recorded during their successful 1998-1999 comeback tour with most of the classic lineup present (Harry, Stein, Jimmy Destri and Clem Burke).

It's made up of songs recorded at a variety of gigs but sounds like one unified concert. All of the big hits are there from their career to that point so it doubles as a great retrospective.

It's recorded really well and the band are in fine form. Debbie is, of course, the iconic star of the show as is right and proper!

Where do they all belong? That's it for Blondie. Next up in this genre is Bon Iver.