CD Odyssey Disc 958: Blondie

Another busy day has me feeling a bit knackered and it is only Tuesday. I need a weekend but while I wait for it to arrive I’ll draw a little sustenance from musical genius.

Disc 958 is….Parallel Lines

Artist: Blondie

Year of Release: 1978

What’s up with the Cover? Debbie Harry and the boys looking sharp in black, white and – in the case of Harry – blonde. Possible exception the shoes: suits look better with dress shoes, boys. I guess that’s why its rock and roll, and not a wedding portrait.

How I Came To Know It: A few years ago I bought a bunch of Blondie albums on CD and this was one of them. I already knew Blondie from my youth, though, so it wasn’t exactly a blind leap of faith; I knew it would be good.

How It Stacks Up:  I have three Blondie albums, and this is by far the best so…#1!

Ratings: 5 stars

I have almost 19,000 songs in my collection, yet I can’t remember the last time I made a party mix that didn’t feature at least one – and usually two – of the 12 songs on “Parallel Lines.”

“Parallel Lines” is a perfect record, so perfect it seems to simultaneously be ahead of its time and yet have a sound so timeless it could have been released any year from the birth of rock and roll all the way through to 2017.

I’ve heard very few albums with as much range as this one. When “Parallel Lines” wants to rock out, it rocks out it with a vengeance. “Hanging on the Telephone” starts things off with a punk edge, and it is quickly followed by the riff heavy “One Way or Another.” Harry’s voice is a combination of sex and snarl, provocative and aggressive in equal measure. She’s that girl you desperately want to ask out but you don’t because even though you talk tough about her with your friends deep down, she kind of scares you.

But by track three, the record switches gears to a romantic pop song. “Picture This” has a lilting melody, with a rounded off and gentle production, but still with an urgency about it that says this isn’t just the girl next door. When Harry sings:

“I would give you my finest hour

The one I spend watching you shower”

She evokes the perfect combination of coquette and voyeur, without ever surrendering her power. You’re in her picture, buddy, not the other way around.

Then, before you can blink you’re whisked away with “Fade Away and Radiate” which sounds like it would be at home on Queen’s soundtrack for “Flash Gordon;” all futuristic and full of an ambient but undeniable authority.

A few minutes later and you’re listening to the sixties-inspired “Pretty Baby” which mixes doo wop chorus with the glitter and glam of the seventies club scene.

My favourite song (and a party standard) is “11:59” which combines elements of several of these themes, including an ominous guitar riff that could also be inspired by science faction. It features a drum beat that is New Wave to its core and Debbie Harry singing high and sweet as she calls for the night to never end:

“Pumping like a fugitive in cover from the night

Take it down the freeway like a bullet to the ocean”

It’s 11:59, and she reminds you that you want to stay alive forever in that magical moment the day changes over, and listening you believe it’s possible. The experience is a microcosm for the whole album.

This record has two of 1978’s most classic tracks, the aforementioned “One Way Or Another” and “Heart of Glass” but when you listen to the album in its entirety, they just blend in naturally; two more great songs on a record full of them.

My version of “Parallel Lines” is remastered with a few bonus tracks. The live versions of “I Know But I Don’t Know” and “Hanging on the Telephone” are good but I could live without them. Fortunately the worst part is having to hear both great songs a second time, which is hardly torture.

The other two bonus tracks are great additions. “Once I Had a Love (aka the Disco Song)” is like an early demo of “Heart of Glass,” slightly funkier and more upbeat, with just enough melodic differences to make it fun and new. Blondie’s cover of T-Rex’s “Bang a Gong” is brilliant, and does a good job of capturing the energy of their live show.

This record features the best of sixties pop, New Wave, punk, and hard rock and lets them all rub shoulders with one another in a way that feels easy and natural. Whatever your favourite kind of rock and roll “Parallel Lines” is not only going to have some of it, it is going to make you appreciate it in a different light before it’s done with you.

Best tracks: all tracks