Rock Records Reviewed Episode 46 - This week I review and rank every album by post-punk pop pioneers Blondie
Жүктеу.....
Пікірлер: 38
@daviddecouto4791 Жыл бұрын
1. Plastic Letters 2. Eat to the Beat 3. Parallel Lines 4. Blondie Along with the B-side “Suzy & Jeffery,” it’s all you need till Pollinator. Great band.
@TheMafrand3 жыл бұрын
Autoamerican might not be their best album but it certainly has the best album cover. Love that picture.
@jamesscarselletta3446 Жыл бұрын
I am a Blondie fan. Debbie Harry is a great singer. I really feel their album Parallel Lines is best. I also love Pollenator.
@jasonchace4942 жыл бұрын
Here we go, I'm a top fan since 77. I'd have to put Panic on the bottom. Ghosts much higher than most do- it's a fantastic DANCE album! At the top of the list, I'd put Autoamerican, followed by Blondie, Plastic Letters, ETTB and then Parallel Lines. All of these are excellent albums. No Exit and Curse are also excellent.
@Bysanthus Жыл бұрын
I really enjoyed this!!!
@jasonchace4942 жыл бұрын
Pollinator is not really a return to their sound- they did this perfectly with no exit! I waited 17 years for it, and I couldn't have been happier
@Leftfield716 ай бұрын
I've been a Blondie fan since I first heard Plastic Letters back in early 1978 and they remain my favourite band 35+ years later. I quite like your rankings but mine are a little different, at #1 I have Blondie followed by Plastic Letters, Parallel Lines, Eat To The Beat, AutoAmerican, The Hunter, Curse of Blondie, Pollinator, No Exit, Ghosts of Download and Panic Of Girls.
@MrX-wd8cm Жыл бұрын
I'm going to rate just the top 5 in reverse order. #5 Autoamerican - A very underrated album and a justifiably radical departure from their previous material mixing styles from extreme ends of musical entertainment, including theatre, 50's rock n roll, rap, calypso, electro, rock. The lyrical content and musical excellence of tracks such as the mercurial Do the dark, Angels on balcony and Walk like me are apparent only after multiple listens. #4 Blondie - Again much like AA, a pretty eclectic and fun mix of styles here with plenty of quality too, very listenable and as others have said, a pointer for things to come. #3 I'm going to be controversial and put Parallel lines at #3, I just did not like the whole of Side B, way too commercial for me and very unBlondie like. Side A I loved but it's not quite enough to carry it. #2 - Plastic Letters, another underrated album though it did give them a break through single, Dennis. Many other tracks were real artistic winners like Fan Mail, Bermuda triangle. #1 - Eat to the beat. In many ways the perfect Blondie album, to come up with this after the monster hit that was PL is an achievement itself. As others said , every track a winner even the raucous Victor. The quintessential Blondie - eminently accessible but retaining the Heart of ... no, not glass but of of Blondie ! Quirky, punky, rocky and very individualistic.
@eugenehewitt2917 Жыл бұрын
Terrific job! I agree with all of it.
@roberthardin21333 жыл бұрын
I just want to add: the song "Victor" a deep cut from Eat to the Beat ROCKS LIKE HELL!!!
@rockrecordsreviewed1880
3 жыл бұрын
That song used to scare me when I was a kid!
@roberthardin2133
3 жыл бұрын
ha ha ha! first she sings me a sweet lullaby, and then she emits this blood-curdling scream! wtf?!!
@aus80srockradio94
3 жыл бұрын
@@rockrecordsreviewed1880 It still scares me, particularly the video.
@roxannewalsh3 жыл бұрын
Even as they came out of CBGB (Ramones, Patti Smith, New York Dolls and Television are all time favourites of mine) they always were more pop than all the others. I still liked them for their songwriting and "pleasant lightweight" sound. My ranking, it seems, is not too different from the video, and if you twist my #1 and #2 around, that is fine as well. My number #1 to 3 are great records, 4 to 7 are still good, the rest are listenable (Blondie always are) but no loss if you miss them. PS - it might have been interesting to mix Debbie Harry's solo albums into the list. 11. Ghost of Download (Just as you explain in the video, nothing to add to this) 10. Panic of Girls 9. The Curse of Blondie 8. No Exit 7. Pollinator 6. The Hunter 5. Blondie (More of a promise of what was to come, it has not aged well for me) 4. Autoamerican (The first half of the album - LP side 1 - was great, side 2 was almost unlistenable) 3. Plastic Letters 2. Parallel Lines (This is almost a greatest hits album...a bit too light to be my #1 but still I sing along with every song - bad for the rest of the world. Even Robert Fripp liked it enough to do a great appearance.) 1. Eat to the Beat (Not a single bad track on this one and a few more edges than on Parallel Lines.)
@rockrecordsreviewed1880
3 жыл бұрын
Yes very similar list to mine Roxanne. I think apart from one or two albums it's fairly apparent where they should roughly be. Back to the classic rock, though, very soon!
@jasonchace4942 жыл бұрын
Autoamerican proved that there was nothing that they could not do!
@tomasandrew93543 жыл бұрын
I would switch No Exit and Panic of Girls positions (I like the latter better). And I would also switch Parallel Lines and Eat to the Beat. ETTB is flawless, all their influences fused perfectly. I do agree that Parallel Lines is among the greatest rock albums of all time.
@franko66773 жыл бұрын
Great review, you know your stuff. ;-) I mostly agree with you. I have to say I consider ETTB my #1. I think it’s a more exciting album than Parallel Lines. It has the same kind of infectious energy and hooks but at the same time a twist of weirdness that makes it even more appealing to me. Autoamerican is bonkers, it really shouldn’t work, but it does. Over the years its brilliance revealed itself to me and now it’s probably in my top 3.
@rockrecordsreviewed1880
3 жыл бұрын
Really good points on ETTB's weirdness, and even Autoamerican's eccentricity....but I am a sucker for a great pop tune and Parallel Lines is choc full of them...!
@CursiMusic3 жыл бұрын
I am a huge Blondie fan. I enjoyed this, thank you. I'd rank them slightly different. I actually like Panic of Girls album best from the later catalogue. think Plastic Letters was my favorite. I had eat to the beat VHS as well.
@petersp632 жыл бұрын
I love the Newer Albums except Ghosts! 4 good songs that's about it! Pollinator ROCKS!! The Hunter is Sh*te!!
@RJS19742 жыл бұрын
I believe Eat to the Beat is a near perfect album. Critics back in 1979 who tried to compare it to Parallel Lines and thought it felt short of the brilliance of of that album missed the point. ETTB is the peak where it all comes together in flow and feel. Harry’s singing and the bands playing has never been better than it was on ETTB.
@aus80srockradio943 жыл бұрын
Oh and BTW, I was a member of Suzi Quatro's Aussie fan club and also Skyhooks. It was so exciting when a newsletter would arrive in the mail! Those were the good old days...
@roberthardin21333 жыл бұрын
listened to Pollinator today. it doesn't reinvent Blondie or surpass their early albums, but I love the last song-which is a cover of an Unkindness' "Fragments." when Debbie Harry sings the line, "Do you love me yet?/Fucking prove it" I melted! I never had the pleasure of seeing Blondie live but I've seen solo Harry 3 times-the 1st was opening for Tears for Fears on the Seeds of Love tour. her energy on stage blew TFF away (I'm sorry guys-I still love you but she WAY outperformed you!)
@rockrecordsreviewed1880
3 жыл бұрын
She's great live isn't she....saw her solo at the Brixton Academy many years ago and she rocked!
@paulsimister9443 жыл бұрын
Always good to watch your videos Adam. I had no idea Blondie had eleven studio albums. My focus has been very much on Plastic Letters and Parallel Lines. It sounds like I don't need to dig too deeply but I will try a couple of the others at the top of your list.
@rockrecordsreviewed1880
3 жыл бұрын
Yes, definitely stick to the top of the list Paul!
@brando72662 жыл бұрын
This guy is a blondie fan ,but doesn't know how to pronounce stein' s name?
@aus80srockradio943 жыл бұрын
Big fan since I was a kid! Eat to the beat for me is my favourite. Living in the real world, accidents never happen & the hardest part - hard to go past that brilliance. Love Plastic & Parallel as well as the debut and agree Pollinator is great as far as the later material goes.
@NaughtyVampireGod3 жыл бұрын
Hi. I just found this channel/video. Basically I agree with your rankings. It comes down the the first four; however, I really really enjoy Autoamerican as well and would incl that in the top album discussion. I wouldn't necessarily put Parrallel Lines in the top spot. Somethimes I prefer Plastic Letters and Eat to the Beat. The debute is so fantastic as well. I will have to give the entire discography another listen.I've already played the original six plus No Exit to death. I certainly agree w the bottom three on your list. Happy that Polinator is a return to form.
@carybenjaminportway3 жыл бұрын
Great review! I too was a member of the international Blondie fan club (based in the UK), and had the Eat to the Beat VHS. I agree with many of your comments but, as you'll see in my list below, diverge a bit in my rankings. 1. No Exit 2. Eat to the Beat 3. Parallel Lines (would have preferred the shorter version of Heart of Glass here) 4. Plastic Letters 5. The Hunter 6. Blondie 7. Pollinator 8. Autoamerican 9. Panic of Girls 10. Curse 11. Ghosts of Download (mainly for Take It Back, the only 'classic' sounding song on here) PS: Would love it if you ranked Deb's solo albums!
@aus80srockradio94
3 жыл бұрын
Agree on the single version of Heart of Glass being superior to the ho-hum longer version on the LP. The best version is the one on the late 1981 compilation, The Best Of Blondie.
@grooveyerbouti3 жыл бұрын
Ah fan clubs I was member of the international (no less) queen fan club and Marc Bolan fan club when it was pretty much only way to get albums by t.rex ( that weren't comps). Blondie albums post comeback I don't think are as strong as Deborah Harry slo.
@chrisboerger4653 жыл бұрын
Unfortunately I never explored their complete albums much, aside from Parallel Lines, which almost plays as a Best of Blondie on its own. However, one of my favorite albums is their double CD compilation, because to me they were always more of a singles band. So many great songs, and almost all of them, at least from their first iteration, are on that one double disc, the ultimate party album. I'm usually not like that, I prefer to explore bands I appreciate through their original records, but in this case I never really felt that I was missing anything. But maybe it's time to give the first four or five albums their due. What do you think? Have you heard the compilation? Do you think it stands on its own as a valid compendium of the band's output?
@rockrecordsreviewed1880
3 жыл бұрын
Hi Chris, I think their first four albums are all worth a listen, especially if you like the late 70s NY scene. The rest..hmmm...bit patchy I think.
@Supersyncopation3 жыл бұрын
Please rank albums by The Clash
@rockrecordsreviewed1880
3 жыл бұрын
On the To Do list!
@stefanlacny8143 жыл бұрын
Along with others here, I've always had Blondie down as a good singles band, but with not enough depth to be a good albums band. The exception to that being Parallel Lines, which is the only one of theirs I own and have ever listened to. It is without doubt a cracking album, but having said that it does sound to me more like a collection of separate songs than a cohesive album. I'll be honest and say I only bought it originally because Fripp played on Fade Away and Radiate, which is excellent. The rest more than holds up, though. Now I'll check out the other three in your top four, and hope to be surprised. Thanks for another informative video.
Пікірлер: 38
1. Plastic Letters 2. Eat to the Beat 3. Parallel Lines 4. Blondie Along with the B-side “Suzy & Jeffery,” it’s all you need till Pollinator. Great band.
Autoamerican might not be their best album but it certainly has the best album cover. Love that picture.
I am a Blondie fan. Debbie Harry is a great singer. I really feel their album Parallel Lines is best. I also love Pollenator.
Here we go, I'm a top fan since 77. I'd have to put Panic on the bottom. Ghosts much higher than most do- it's a fantastic DANCE album! At the top of the list, I'd put Autoamerican, followed by Blondie, Plastic Letters, ETTB and then Parallel Lines. All of these are excellent albums. No Exit and Curse are also excellent.
I really enjoyed this!!!
Pollinator is not really a return to their sound- they did this perfectly with no exit! I waited 17 years for it, and I couldn't have been happier
I've been a Blondie fan since I first heard Plastic Letters back in early 1978 and they remain my favourite band 35+ years later. I quite like your rankings but mine are a little different, at #1 I have Blondie followed by Plastic Letters, Parallel Lines, Eat To The Beat, AutoAmerican, The Hunter, Curse of Blondie, Pollinator, No Exit, Ghosts of Download and Panic Of Girls.
I'm going to rate just the top 5 in reverse order. #5 Autoamerican - A very underrated album and a justifiably radical departure from their previous material mixing styles from extreme ends of musical entertainment, including theatre, 50's rock n roll, rap, calypso, electro, rock. The lyrical content and musical excellence of tracks such as the mercurial Do the dark, Angels on balcony and Walk like me are apparent only after multiple listens. #4 Blondie - Again much like AA, a pretty eclectic and fun mix of styles here with plenty of quality too, very listenable and as others have said, a pointer for things to come. #3 I'm going to be controversial and put Parallel lines at #3, I just did not like the whole of Side B, way too commercial for me and very unBlondie like. Side A I loved but it's not quite enough to carry it. #2 - Plastic Letters, another underrated album though it did give them a break through single, Dennis. Many other tracks were real artistic winners like Fan Mail, Bermuda triangle. #1 - Eat to the beat. In many ways the perfect Blondie album, to come up with this after the monster hit that was PL is an achievement itself. As others said , every track a winner even the raucous Victor. The quintessential Blondie - eminently accessible but retaining the Heart of ... no, not glass but of of Blondie ! Quirky, punky, rocky and very individualistic.
Terrific job! I agree with all of it.
I just want to add: the song "Victor" a deep cut from Eat to the Beat ROCKS LIKE HELL!!!
@rockrecordsreviewed1880
3 жыл бұрын
That song used to scare me when I was a kid!
@roberthardin2133
3 жыл бұрын
ha ha ha! first she sings me a sweet lullaby, and then she emits this blood-curdling scream! wtf?!!
@aus80srockradio94
3 жыл бұрын
@@rockrecordsreviewed1880 It still scares me, particularly the video.
Even as they came out of CBGB (Ramones, Patti Smith, New York Dolls and Television are all time favourites of mine) they always were more pop than all the others. I still liked them for their songwriting and "pleasant lightweight" sound. My ranking, it seems, is not too different from the video, and if you twist my #1 and #2 around, that is fine as well. My number #1 to 3 are great records, 4 to 7 are still good, the rest are listenable (Blondie always are) but no loss if you miss them. PS - it might have been interesting to mix Debbie Harry's solo albums into the list. 11. Ghost of Download (Just as you explain in the video, nothing to add to this) 10. Panic of Girls 9. The Curse of Blondie 8. No Exit 7. Pollinator 6. The Hunter 5. Blondie (More of a promise of what was to come, it has not aged well for me) 4. Autoamerican (The first half of the album - LP side 1 - was great, side 2 was almost unlistenable) 3. Plastic Letters 2. Parallel Lines (This is almost a greatest hits album...a bit too light to be my #1 but still I sing along with every song - bad for the rest of the world. Even Robert Fripp liked it enough to do a great appearance.) 1. Eat to the Beat (Not a single bad track on this one and a few more edges than on Parallel Lines.)
@rockrecordsreviewed1880
3 жыл бұрын
Yes very similar list to mine Roxanne. I think apart from one or two albums it's fairly apparent where they should roughly be. Back to the classic rock, though, very soon!
Autoamerican proved that there was nothing that they could not do!
I would switch No Exit and Panic of Girls positions (I like the latter better). And I would also switch Parallel Lines and Eat to the Beat. ETTB is flawless, all their influences fused perfectly. I do agree that Parallel Lines is among the greatest rock albums of all time.
Great review, you know your stuff. ;-) I mostly agree with you. I have to say I consider ETTB my #1. I think it’s a more exciting album than Parallel Lines. It has the same kind of infectious energy and hooks but at the same time a twist of weirdness that makes it even more appealing to me. Autoamerican is bonkers, it really shouldn’t work, but it does. Over the years its brilliance revealed itself to me and now it’s probably in my top 3.
@rockrecordsreviewed1880
3 жыл бұрын
Really good points on ETTB's weirdness, and even Autoamerican's eccentricity....but I am a sucker for a great pop tune and Parallel Lines is choc full of them...!
I am a huge Blondie fan. I enjoyed this, thank you. I'd rank them slightly different. I actually like Panic of Girls album best from the later catalogue. think Plastic Letters was my favorite. I had eat to the beat VHS as well.
I love the Newer Albums except Ghosts! 4 good songs that's about it! Pollinator ROCKS!! The Hunter is Sh*te!!
I believe Eat to the Beat is a near perfect album. Critics back in 1979 who tried to compare it to Parallel Lines and thought it felt short of the brilliance of of that album missed the point. ETTB is the peak where it all comes together in flow and feel. Harry’s singing and the bands playing has never been better than it was on ETTB.
Oh and BTW, I was a member of Suzi Quatro's Aussie fan club and also Skyhooks. It was so exciting when a newsletter would arrive in the mail! Those were the good old days...
listened to Pollinator today. it doesn't reinvent Blondie or surpass their early albums, but I love the last song-which is a cover of an Unkindness' "Fragments." when Debbie Harry sings the line, "Do you love me yet?/Fucking prove it" I melted! I never had the pleasure of seeing Blondie live but I've seen solo Harry 3 times-the 1st was opening for Tears for Fears on the Seeds of Love tour. her energy on stage blew TFF away (I'm sorry guys-I still love you but she WAY outperformed you!)
@rockrecordsreviewed1880
3 жыл бұрын
She's great live isn't she....saw her solo at the Brixton Academy many years ago and she rocked!
Always good to watch your videos Adam. I had no idea Blondie had eleven studio albums. My focus has been very much on Plastic Letters and Parallel Lines. It sounds like I don't need to dig too deeply but I will try a couple of the others at the top of your list.
@rockrecordsreviewed1880
3 жыл бұрын
Yes, definitely stick to the top of the list Paul!
This guy is a blondie fan ,but doesn't know how to pronounce stein' s name?
Big fan since I was a kid! Eat to the beat for me is my favourite. Living in the real world, accidents never happen & the hardest part - hard to go past that brilliance. Love Plastic & Parallel as well as the debut and agree Pollinator is great as far as the later material goes.
Hi. I just found this channel/video. Basically I agree with your rankings. It comes down the the first four; however, I really really enjoy Autoamerican as well and would incl that in the top album discussion. I wouldn't necessarily put Parrallel Lines in the top spot. Somethimes I prefer Plastic Letters and Eat to the Beat. The debute is so fantastic as well. I will have to give the entire discography another listen.I've already played the original six plus No Exit to death. I certainly agree w the bottom three on your list. Happy that Polinator is a return to form.
Great review! I too was a member of the international Blondie fan club (based in the UK), and had the Eat to the Beat VHS. I agree with many of your comments but, as you'll see in my list below, diverge a bit in my rankings. 1. No Exit 2. Eat to the Beat 3. Parallel Lines (would have preferred the shorter version of Heart of Glass here) 4. Plastic Letters 5. The Hunter 6. Blondie 7. Pollinator 8. Autoamerican 9. Panic of Girls 10. Curse 11. Ghosts of Download (mainly for Take It Back, the only 'classic' sounding song on here) PS: Would love it if you ranked Deb's solo albums!
@aus80srockradio94
3 жыл бұрын
Agree on the single version of Heart of Glass being superior to the ho-hum longer version on the LP. The best version is the one on the late 1981 compilation, The Best Of Blondie.
Ah fan clubs I was member of the international (no less) queen fan club and Marc Bolan fan club when it was pretty much only way to get albums by t.rex ( that weren't comps). Blondie albums post comeback I don't think are as strong as Deborah Harry slo.
Unfortunately I never explored their complete albums much, aside from Parallel Lines, which almost plays as a Best of Blondie on its own. However, one of my favorite albums is their double CD compilation, because to me they were always more of a singles band. So many great songs, and almost all of them, at least from their first iteration, are on that one double disc, the ultimate party album. I'm usually not like that, I prefer to explore bands I appreciate through their original records, but in this case I never really felt that I was missing anything. But maybe it's time to give the first four or five albums their due. What do you think? Have you heard the compilation? Do you think it stands on its own as a valid compendium of the band's output?
@rockrecordsreviewed1880
3 жыл бұрын
Hi Chris, I think their first four albums are all worth a listen, especially if you like the late 70s NY scene. The rest..hmmm...bit patchy I think.
Please rank albums by The Clash
@rockrecordsreviewed1880
3 жыл бұрын
On the To Do list!
Along with others here, I've always had Blondie down as a good singles band, but with not enough depth to be a good albums band. The exception to that being Parallel Lines, which is the only one of theirs I own and have ever listened to. It is without doubt a cracking album, but having said that it does sound to me more like a collection of separate songs than a cohesive album. I'll be honest and say I only bought it originally because Fripp played on Fade Away and Radiate, which is excellent. The rest more than holds up, though. Now I'll check out the other three in your top four, and hope to be surprised. Thanks for another informative video.