Above: classic album cover art. Design by Ramey Communications, photograph by Edo Bertoglio.
Note: the CD I listened to was the 2001 remastered CD reissue with 4 bonus tracks.
The band was really hitting their stride here with the help of producer Mike Chapman. According to Chapman's liner notes, the band hated him. Still, you can't argue with the results. Throughout the album, the group plays with the intensity of anger and resentment and it perfectly suits the material. Admittedly, I'm not a huge Blondie fan, but I'm glad I finally picked this up as it gets better every time I hear it.
In their most recent list of "The Greatest 500 Albums of All Time" (2020), Rolling Stone magazine has this album ranked at 146, calling it "a perfect synthesis of raw punk edge, Sixties-pop smarts, and the cool New Wave glamour that Blondie invented." Parallel Lines was also listed in the 2005 book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: "much imitated, rarely equaled."
Press of the time:
- Rolling Stone: "the hooks cascade and Harry belts them out with a new expressiveness."
- Stereo Review: "one of those groups that is a lot more fun on paper than in the actual execution"
- Trouser Press: "Blondie delivers."
- Robert Christgau: A
- CashBox: "Blondie's best effort to date"
Album chart peaks:
- US Billboard 200: #6
- CashBox: #8
- Rolling Stone: #4
Tracks: Even though Heart Of Glass broke the band in the US (and deservedly so), for me the clear winner here is One Way Or Another, a great new wave rock tune. Should have charted higher on the Hot 100 than #24, but what ya gonna do? Also good are Hanging On The Telephone, Picture This, 11:59, and Sunday Girl. The cover of Buddy Holly's I'm Gonna Love You Too is a good romp and the band actually sounds like they're having fun recording. I don't particularly enjoy Fade Away And Radiate and I wonder if I'm even supposed to.
Bonus tracks: 3 live tunes and a demo of Heart of Glass. The best part of these includes Harry spitting out the lyrics to T. Rex's Bang A Gong (Get It On). The live version of Hanging On The Telephone is a bit more urgent than the more familiar studio version and it works, but in the end, there's no reason for me to rip any of the bonus tracks to files.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Lots of memories as the singles immediately transport me back to 7th grade. While I'm travelling back to 1978-79, let's check out how this album played on the then-popular 8-track format [ka-CHUNK]:
The first music video I ever saw might very well have been for Heart Of Glass when it appeared on some entertainment show (I'm thinking PM Magazine on KHOU but who the hell knows at this point?)
I recently read the 33⅓ book about this album and will say it is not one of the better editions in the series.
The book is 138 pages long and the album itself is discussed from pages 89 to 105. The rest is about influences and the culture of the time; The Velvet Underground probably gets as much attention as Parallel Lines. If you want a book regarding those subjects, instead of picking up this book, I recommend Love Goes To Buildings On Fire by Will Hermes.
Previously revisited for the blog:
The Best of Blondie (2005)
