The Best of Blondie (2005)

A 10 track budget-priced compilation covering the years 1977-1982. I'm not a huge Blondie fan, so a greatest hits package is good enough for me. Absolutely no liner notes; not even writing credits. I think the group's ability to move effortlessly between genres (rock, hip-hop, disco, pop, reggae, calypso) may have actually hurt the band. If there was ever a band that was poised to be the most popular American New Wave group, it was this one.

I just finished reading the book Love Goes To Buildings On Fire by Will Hermes which covers the NYC music scene during the years 1973-1977. Of course, the legendary club CBGB plays a large role in the book. I don't listen to many of the bands that made a name at that club (New York Dolls, Television, Patti Smith, etc.), but I am a fan of Talking Heads and a casual fan of Blondie. So I pulled this CD off the shelf to revisit the group's music.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart. The original Best of Blondie compilation released in 1981 peaked at #30.

Tracks:

Song	Year	Hot 100
Call Me	1980	1
One Way Or Another	1979	24
Hanging On The Telephone	1978
Dreaming	1979	27
Heart Of Glass	1979	1
Rapture	1981	1
The Tide Is High	1980	1
Island Of Lost Souls	1982	37
Denis	1978
Atomic	1980	39

All the group's big hits are here: Call Me, One Way Or Another, Heart Of Glass, Rapture, and The Tide Is High. Rapture is often credited with being the first rap/hip-hop song to reach #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, but I think its more genre-bending than that with its horn section and distorted guitar solo.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  Before I had even heard of MTV, I remember seeing the promotional video for Heart Of Glass at my grandmother's house. I thought about buying the band's Parallel Lines album, but couldn't pull the trigger for some reason (no money, I'm guessing). As a 12 year old boy, seeing Debbie Harry in a sheer dress dancing around Studio 54 made me feel funny.