Search and Destroy: Blondie

Destroy: Island of Lost Souls; and The Atomic Best Of CD I have, which features neither the Dun-Dun-Duns at the very start of Atomic (which are even on the bonus remixes), nor the scraper board at the start of Heart of Glass.

Search: "Maria". And basically everything else, especially "Dreaming".

Destroy: Everything after The Hunter

Search: Clem Burke doing his best Keith Moon impression at all times -- any of the live stuff you can find, X-Offender, and Debbie Harry!

And oh, of course you need to search Debbie Harry. And while you're doing that, search "I Can See Clearly", easily-by-miles her best solo work.

Well, that's a whole bunch of genii then. Can't wait for the reissues of all the albums that feature rare and live tracks from the time - including Blondie's legendary 'Out In The Streets' cover. That will be five albums I'll be rushing to buy (for the, uh, seventh time, I think)... but I can do without the extended remix of Warchild on Hunter.

Secondly, may I turn this into a Search and Destroy: Deborah Harry?

Destroy: 90% of the Hunter; 95% of No Exit; 100% of Curse of Blondie; Attack of the Giant Ants; I'm on E; The Tide is High; Atomic

Hits of interest for historical reasons, that I have heard waaaay to much: Heart of Glass, One way or Another, Rapture - might be of interest to someone just discovering the band.

Search: Utah Saints' remix of "Dreaming" and the Vinny Vero mix of "The Tide Is High" from the 1995 remix album, Xenomania's remix of "Atomic" from the 1998 remix album, and Scissor Sisters' remix of "Good Boys." While these are good, the original extended mixes of "Rapture" and "Call Me" that are available on the re-issue of _Autoamerican_ are transcendent.

Destroy: Pretty much every other remix, but especially the Guru remix of "Rapture."

Those people have not heard with open ears.

ATOMIC? Destroy Atomic? What kind of madness is this?

Disc: 1
1. Heart Of Glass
2. Sunday Girl
3. Atomic
4. Call Me
5. The Tide Is High
6. Rapture
7. Maria
8. In The Flesh (Remix)
9. X Offender
10. Rip Her To Shreds
11. Denis
12. (I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear
13. Picture This
14. Fade Away And Radiate
15. Hanging On The Telephone
16. One Way Or Another
17. Dreaming
18. Union City Blue
19. Island Of Lost Souls
20. Good Boys (Blow-Up mix)
21. End To End
22. Rapture Riders (Single Edit Bonus Track)

Disc: 2
1. In The Flesh
2. X Offender
3. Denis
4. Detroit 442
5. (I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear
6. Picture This
7. Hanging On The Telephone
8. Heart Of Glass
9. Dreaming
10. The Hardest Part
11. Union City Blue
12. Atomic
13. The Tide Is High
14. Rapture
15. Island Of Lost Souls
16. Maria
17. Good Boys

look at the *amazing* cover!

http://www.blondie.net/index.shtml

That is a nice cover, though!

Whoa, the Blondie/Doors mashup? That's a pretty cool little gesture.

Also of note: "Dreaming" is still very much my favorite song in the world.

New song...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXX8rUV4p9A

reminds me of morningwood

Is it just Deborah, Chris and Clem now? Bassist looked like an old dude too, but I don't think I'd recognize him just by seeing him.

Anyway, that's a good old-style Blondie track. Consider me impressed.

Was just coming to post this. Not sure what I think. At times it seems like a retread of "Maria," the previous comeback song, but it goes to some decent post-"Parallel Lines" places too.

OTOH I have a lot of questions about Chris Stein's wardrobe choices here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPKScyC9ozo

?

ok I see it now, previous browser failed

This song is okay-to-good. It's nagl on "Blondie" though, imo. Deborah Harry & Beth Ditto collaboration joint maybe, or even a Gossip single featuring Harry, but I kind of can't get past a song sounding like this being a Blondie single.

Of course, the new album's title is Ghosts of Download though, so wtf anyway.

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/blondie-40th-anniversary-photographs-chelsea-chris-stein/?WT.mc_id=D-NYT-MKTG-MOD-61510-09-25-HD&WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_c=${CAMPAIGN_ID}

Looks like only a few days left to see the Chris Stein photo exhibit in NYC

New Blondie album is pretty good but fucking hell some of it sounds terrible. My Monster in particular is a distorted mess. I thought companies were getting away from this kind of production?

There are many bands.

This is the best.

Afraid to listen to the new one though.

So Numero's going to be reissuing them now.

http://www.numerogroup.com/products/blondie-heart-of-glass

Full catalog following in fall 2019 per the PR mailout.

Available in a limited edition of 10,000

wow!

More about the reissues, box set, new 12” etc

http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/blondie-box-set-coming-in-2019/

Mega Blondie Box From Numero

https://numerogroup.com/products/against-the-odds

Which I see now upthread has been in the pipeline for awhile!

Rather! Took 'em long enough but nice to finally have it here.

the super deluxe looks so nice but expensive, especially since their first six are relatively easy to find at record stores.

Wish they’d done an option for just the 6LPs but whatever.

There's an option for just the extras, which is nice. But it's $200 for 4 lps, which is not nice.

I'll take 8 CDs for $100, Alex.

i never, ever buy these kinds of box sets but after 2 years of fairly severe austerity i crumbled on this. it looks sooooo good.

Yeah this is a no-brainer.

I can't stop thinking about "Picture This" and the frenzy it works up into during the chorus when everything seems to fly apart. The verses are so simple and beautiful and direct and universal, and then the chorus starts to twist in on itself, with allusions to incredibly specific moments, the details accumulating like the detritus spun up by a tornado, and the grammar doesn't even really make sense anymore, until eventually, angrily, we climax with "if it weren't for your job at the GARAGE!!!" which doesn't rhyme with anything, and then we come back to earth. It's just extraordinary

Picture This is one of my favorite Blondie songs. Particularly when she analogizes her telephone number to a sky full of thunder. All the potential for passion and beauty if he would just pick up the phone and call her.

The garage line is hilarious. Yes, it's earth-shaking romantic thunder and lightning, but it plays across the small-stakes world of a woman and her mechanic.

I haven't listened to it yet, but this week's episode of Bandsplain is about Blondie.

xxp I would dearly love to see it. My love for Debbie, and for this band, is beyond reason.

watched it on YouTube the other day (in full quality). great watch and fortunate to have all the principal players around and interviewed.

Tracer extremely otm and beautifully described

Thank you NV :)

Ah whaddya know - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJIH_19rupg

I am beyond excited, I got tickets for their show in Denver this May. One of only two U.S. dates this year.

This band has been on my bucket list for ages.

i tried to enter the presale code listed just now but it says invalid, must have sold thru or expired.

They're still great, especially Clem - MLB should give the guy an honorary Gold Glove Award.

xp the code is CALLME--all caps, written as one word. It didn't work until I typed it exactly like that.

Do not Destroy Blondie.

ahh one word!

good, cuz i'm going! *grunt cheer*

Amazing!

Is the venue GA? I couldn't choose seats.

me too re GA.

been like two decades maybe since i been to mb, but i remember it being a v large open flat or nearly flat space? i think. indeed much like a ballroom? i could be totally misidentifying unfortunately.

I listened to No Exit for the first time in years last week. Clem Burke is a beast. Most of it held up: "Maria," "Under the Gun," "Screaming Skin," "Nothing is Real But the Girl." The genre experiments were the clumsiest.

Clem being awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUNW29veHS8

Remember when they did that studio that showed his heart rate during a show is like that of a peak athlete?

https://i0.wp.com/clemburkedrummingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Clem-Burke-documentary-Nov-2017.jpg?resize=740%2C555&ssl=1

I keep meaning to give all the reunion albums a relisten. I never really warmed to No Exit or Curse of, and mostly got off the bus for all that followed.

(Study, not studio.)

Thanks thread, for reminding me to play some Blondie tonight. Yes, Clem Burke.

You want drumming?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO7rT1RQujM

He says himself that he overplayed on "Dreaming." I disagree, I think it's beautiful. The first album I ever bought with my own money, Eat to the Beat.

He does, but that makes it!

Things you were shockingly old when you learned, Clem Burke's real name is Clem Bozewski.

eh jimbeaux i’ll be wearing a white trucker cap that says ZING! in black stencil.

jk i’ll just be there in a reg maroon cap.

I didn't see you LOL

The place was packed, and the show was fantastic. I was a bit dismayed that Chris wasn't there; I didn't realize he was having serious health issues. At any rate, this was a bucket list show for me, and Debbie really delivered. One of the best shows I've seen, ever. The place was full of love.

Blondie, Mission Ballroom, 05.08.24

One Way or Another
Hanging on the Telephone
Call Me
Nothing is Real but the Girl
Will Anything Happen?
Atomic
X Offender
In the Flesh
Rapture
The Tide is High
Long Time
Maria
Heart of Glass

Dog Star Girl
Dreaming

"Nothing is Real But the Girl" (and the unplayed "Under the Gun") can stand proudly among the classics.

"Long Time," the sole representative from Pollinator, is also a standout and was one of the highlights.

Debravation is the weakest of her solo albums, but their playing "Dog Star Girl" as the first encore was a pleasant surprise. It came off well.

for some reason my college radio station was much taken with "I Can See Clearly"

I don't hate it, but it's not a track I find myself much taken with. I respect her willingness to break the "Blondie" mold, especially on Kookoo, which was a noble if only partially successful experiment, but she's never hit the highs alone as she has with whatever configuration of Blondie she's played with.

I also respect the hell out of her for continuing to perform very well at nearly 79 years old. She was doing anything but phoning it in.

Yeah i really liked dog star girl i didn’t know it, and so did my kid. i was baffled by kessler on guitar for a minute i was like whoa stein has changed everything and also can play eruption style solos.

dude, i was apparently the other guy noting down the setlist , real lol.

i’m on the wagon, i think that is where my drinking energy has gone. taking fucking songlist notes.

I only recently found out about this album, debbie harry's first band, from 1968, doing some 'psych folk'. Caution: it sucks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA6IY6qc6zQ

like my main takeaway after shock from being reminded of her age was being aftershocked, thinking “wait she was like 30 when blondie formed?!”

tons of great stuff in Please Kill Me about the early Blondie years

One funny realization about that for me was thinking about how Blondie in their early days were doing Shangri-Las covers in their live shows, as if paying tribute to a bygone era of rock ‘n roll, when in fact Debbie was older than any of the Shangri-Las.

Saw Blondie last night as part of the Cruel World Festival in Pasadena. The band sounded great and she is iconic, amazing presence. Glen Matlock was playing as the touring bassist. Felt very privileged to have seen them play.

Yeah as docent when she announced matlock i grabbed my kid in shock and was blabbering “hfs if it’s the same guy that’s the guy WHO OMG!” *thoughtful appraisal* “he looks rather well, that’s nice.”

Matlock could’ve been Blondie’s bassist in 1978, wonder why that didn’t happen. I would maintain that his style was more like original bassman Gary Valentine’s style than Nigel Harrison’s was

He does look good! Only 67, too.

Numero offering 50% Off list on remaining copies of the Super Deluxe VINYL Box: https://numerogroup.com/products/against-the-odds

Hnnnnghghghghnnnnnnh

Do they charge you more to leave out The Hunter?

I wish you could get the remastered albums separately. (Maybe when the box sets sell out?)

Hayley Williams cosplayed as Debbie and it was Coool

https://consequence.net/2024/09/paramore-blondie-iheart-radio-festival/

Hayley Williams of Paramore:

"Project 2025 is Donald Trump's playbook for controlling and punishing women, poor people, people of color & the LGBTQ+ community... Do you want to live in a dictatorship? Well show up and vote!"pic.twitter.com/kBIN01kfov

— CONSEQUENCE (@consequence) September 21, 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N3Qwskjkdc

So Long, Clem.

Wow, what a shock. He was such a distinctive drummer. RIP.

Damn. Rest in Peace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5VZkXjg8xY