GHOSTS OF MUSIC
Friday, 11 July 2014
Friday, 16 May 2014
3: Ghosts of Download - Blondie
GHOSTS OF DOWNLOAD
BASIC INFORMATION
Artist: Blondie
Release date: May
12, 2014 (finally!)
Genre: Dance-pop,
dance-rock and electropop with lots of Latin-pop
Featured artists: Systema Solar, Miss Guy, Beth Ditto, Los Rakas, Keilah Baez, Keisha Williams, Felicia Dennis
Producers: Jeff
Saltzman, Chris Stein, Hector Fonseca, Matt Katz-Bohen
Singles: ‘A
Rose By Any Name’, ‘Sugar On the Side’, ‘I Want To Drag You Around’
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The title is an
attention-grabbing albeit slightly clunky one, suggesting a whole realm of
electronic-y music, true to the composition of the record. It’s certainly a
better title than the clunky but clever “Blondie 4(0) Ever”, which has been
applied to the double album. The cover, as with the band’s previous release Panic of Girls, is a marvellously
impressive one – a skeletal Debbie Harry in a disco full of viruses and electronic
signals. Or whatever you want to interpret it as. JH Williams III’s art is
amazing, and that and the title could be enough to make this album attractive
to the general public.
TRACK-BY-TRACK
Sugar On the Side (ft. Systema Solar): Wow. This is
how you open an album. With a fantastically-produced and fantastically-written
song. This corrects a major problem with Panic
of Girls by including a great rap in Spanish, but not letting the Spanish
completely take over the song. With breathtaking vocals from everyone involved
and a great danceable tune, this is the one of the best starts to a Blondie
album ever. 10/10.
Rave (ft. Miss Guy): A highly-catchy rock tune. Fans have raised complaints
about drag queen Miss Guy’s vocals drowning out Debbie Harry’s, and while he
isn’t too prominent, why’s he here at all? In addition to this, the live
version of this song is a full-on rock song, while the studio track is realised
with techno effects and programmed parts. Those are just small criticisms about
a highly catchy song with great music and lyrics. 8/10.
A Rose By Any Name (ft. Beth Ditto): A natural choice for the first single, by this track
it’s obvious that Blondie really are back with a bang. “A Rose By Any Name” is
an incredibly catchy and easily danceable song. Both Beth Ditto and Debbie
Harry, who trade vocals, are vocally on-point, and the production is right up
to date. A highlight of Blondie’s entire career. 10/10.
Winter: The
album’s pace slows a little, but the quality remains at an all-time high, in
the fourth track on the album. The sheer force of the opening, slithering
keyboard motif is great, and the song is sultry yet danceable, with sly and
clever lyrics. Debbie Harry gets a chance to shine on a near-enough-flawless
track. 9/10.
I Want To Drag You Around: A mellow track, this seems like an odd choice for the
album’s first worldwide single. It’s more like a filler track on an album,
extremely lovely in what it does, but rather light on substance. Still, Debbie
Harry’s vocals are electrifying as ever, and this is a nice gentle song to
balance out the brilliant chaos surrounding it. Kudos to backing vocalist
Natalie Hawkins. 7/10.
Relax: Wow. I
was expecting something truly awful from this track, but, boy, was I wrong! The
opening three minutes of this Frankie Goes to Hollywood cover are in the form
of the most beautiful acoustic piano ballad I’ve ever heard. And then… the
whole Blondie madness explodes with a stadium-like display of synthesizers,
beats, and… wow. This defies all expectations in a delightful cover. 8/10.
Take Me In the Night: This is catchy as hell, a wonderfully modern Blondie
track which gives everyone a chance to shine. The lyrics are without a doubt
some of Blondie’s best ever, and the production shines, beginning simply and
crescendoing in the chorus, with every note a success. One of the real
standouts of the album; lesser artists would sell their parents for a song like
this. 10/10.
Mile High: Live,
this song was a rocker. In the studio, it’s an EDM song. That’s quite a big
jump, but one the song has made well. This song sounds thoroughly modern, and I
love the ending, where all the different parts of the song come together and
overlap. While the song never really reaches its full EDM potential and is a
little formulaic, it is nonetheless one of the album’s standout tracks. 9/10.
Take It Back: Chris
Stein has commented this is an album track rather than a single. But that doesn’t
mean it doesn’t rock. This is a return to form after “Euphoria”, a nice mix of
the more modern, more programmed Blondie and the old-school New Wave of the
band’s heyday, with nice lyrics and a glorious “na na na” section. 8/10.
Backroom: Flippin’
hell! When the album was streamed a week before its release, this, ‘Relax’ and ‘Euphoria’
were the songs I purposefully missed out on listening to so I could have some
surprises when I listened to the album. And this was the biggest surprise of
all… Blondie does reggae… and it goes great! The lyrics are fabulously
vampiric, weird and wonderful, and the flawless production compliments Debbie’s
sublime vocals. The perfect album closer. 10/10.
BONUS TRACKS
Put Some Color On You: Well this was a surprise. The most modern track on the
album, why this is only a bonus track is possibly the most important question
in the entire history of the universe. With its disco-tinged pop, this is a
marvellous example of Blondie being modern but still Blondie. Its repeating “oooh”
melody is fantastic, as its sublime lyrics. This is, in one word, mind-blowing.
10/10.
Prism: Haunting.
Melancholy. Sadness. Farewell. These words all seem appropriate to describe the
final track on the album, with its slowly-building subtle electronic melodies,
its ghostly backing vocals, its perfect production, its sorrowful singing, its sparse
but effective lyrics. While Chris Stein has already said he’s working on ideas
for the band’s next studio album, this song does feel like a farewell, and says
goodbye perfectly. 9/10.
IF I COULD ONLY HAVE THREE SONGS: “Sugar On the Side”, “Backroom”, “Take Me In the Night”
IF I COULD CHOOSE THE SINGLES: “A Rose By Any Name”, “Sugar On the Side”, “Rave”, “Mile
High”, “Take Me In the Night”, “Put Some Color On You”
SURPRISE SUCCESS: “Relax”
THE DUFF NOTE: “Euphoria”
OVERVIEW

IMPROVEMENT STATION
The only improvement I can
think of for this unbelievable album is to swap “Euphoria” with “Put Some Color
On You”, rendering “Euphoria” a bonus track only. And also to add “Prism” to
the main album. That’s all I can think of.
Monday, 5 May 2014
2: Panic of Girls - Blondie
BASIC INFORMATION
Artist: Blondie
Release date: May 30, 2011
Genre: As with Blondie, everything.
New Wave, rock, pop, dance-rock, reggae
Producers: Jeff Saltzman, Kato
Khandwala
Singles: ‘Mother’, ‘What I Heard’
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The
title is certainly an attention-grabbing and impressive one, suggesting a sense
of mania that the album never quite manages to reach. The cover, by Dutch
artist Chris Berens, is a thing of beauty: fantastically weird and mismatched,
it kinds of fits with the album, presenting distorted whirlwind-y figures of
the band, maybe to reflect the distorted, all-over-the-place nature of the
material. The title and the cover are definitely good for getting people to
pick up the album.
TRACK-BY-TRACK
D-Day: A very strong start to the album with a fast-paced rock track. Debbie
Harry’s vocals are cybernetic and futuristic in places. The lyrics are strong
and the song doesn’t overstay its welcome, remaining punchy, thoroughly modern,
and engaging. 10/10.
What I Heard: Continuing the opening shock
of Panic of Girls, the album’s second
single is more radio-friendly and more pop than ‘D-Day’, boasting a fizzing
rock-tinged pop instrumental, good lyrics and good singing. Nothing is truly
better than ‘average’ here, although new bandmember Matt Katz-Bohen is to be
commended for bottling the Blondie sound. 7/10.
Mother: Similar-sounding in
production to ‘What I Heard’ and ‘Love Doesn’t Frighten Me’, this is probably
the most radio-friendly track on the album, continuing the opening pop-rock
punch of the album. The lyrics are good, the production average and the singing
enthusiastic in a track worthy of being the lead single to the album. 8/10.
The End the End: The cyber-punk punch of the
beginning of the album now ends as the record slides into reggae. This is a
pleasant foray into reggae, and while it’s a little light of substance, it’s a
harmless little album track, so you can’t be too mean to it. Debbie Harry’s
vocals are perfect. 8/10.
Girlie Girlie: Blondie do covers so
perfectly. Think Hanging on the Telephone or Denis. And Debbie Harry’s
uber-confident rendition of this Sophia George cover made me believe upon first
listen that she had written it. It’s so Blondie and so brilliant for that
reason. You can tell Debbie and the whole band are having a ball here. 9/10.
Love Doesn’t Frighten Me: Recalling ‘Mother’ and ‘What
I Heard’, this song has a nice opening riff, lyrics which aren’t just up to
par, singing which is a little too uniform and regulated, but impressive performances
from the whole band. This just sounds a little too neat, but all in all is
still impressive. 8/10.
Words in My Mouth: The album drops again after
the blast of fresh air that was “Love Doesn’t Frighten Me”. A pleasant enough
song, and a nice calming-down point for the album. Written by the geniuses
behind ‘D-Day’ and ‘Horizontal Twist’, there’s nothing wrong with this, to be
honest. But surrounded by “Wipe Off My Sweat”, “Girlie Girlie” and “Love
Doesn’t Frighten Me”, it looks a little bit like the Ugly Duckling of the
middle of Panic. 7/10.
Sunday Smile: The third of this album’s
customary “Tide is High” pastiches, this cover has no real place on the album.
Its alleged reggae-calypso charms fall flat on their face, as Debbie Harry
doesn’t sing with conviction, the band doesn’t play with conviction, and the
song drags on for what seems like hours longer than anybody wants. This is the
point where the album, which has been flying reasonably high in the sky until
now, suddenly malfunctions and starts to crash into the ocean. 2/10.
Wipe Off My Sweat: The production on this song
is so bad I could cry. It sounds like one of those terrible remixes of ‘Atomic’
that was on that compilation from 1998. Nevertheless, the song comes from three
of the band’s songwriting masterminds, and although there is unnecessary
Spanish lyricism, the song is fast-paced and doesn’t sink too far down into the
water. 6/10.
Le Bleu: Four and a half minutes of
totally unnecessary pseudo-French accordion-y music-hall tat that has no place
even on a traditionally experimental Blondie album, to be brutally honest.
There are few nice moments in what is an unnecessarily lengthy and dull song.
This, along with ‘Sunday Smile’ and ‘Mirame’, is what’s really, really letting
the album down. 1/10.
China Shoes: This is so lovely it made
Lady Gaga cry. Haunting and melancholic, this is a quiet standout of the album;
certainly the best ballad-y slow track on the album, it’s likely to get
neglected because of its slow tempo. The lyrics are some of the best ever by
Blondie, and the music beautiful, proving there’s nothing wrong with a bit of
Harry and Stein, and ending the album in the same fantastically good manner as
it began. 10/10.
BONUS TRACKS
Horizontal Twist: This is the most fun track
on the album, and entirely deserving of being featured on the album. It’s SO
FUN! Debbie gives her best vocals on the album, sounding so effortlessly cool,
and the lyrics are weird and fun and rhyme-y and fantastic. The music is simple
but awesome, dance-able, and fun. Other artists would kill to have songs like this. 10/10.
Mirame: The third culprit of why the
album is so bad, it’s understandable why this was reduced to only be a bonus
track, for it is awful. Blondie has always been, no matter how experimental in
their albums, a New Wave, pop-rock, punk-y band. Why all the unnecessary
excursions into reggae and world-music? The opening riff is lovely, and it
repeats through the song, but from the first word of Spanish it’s clear this is
a miss rather than a hit. 1/10.
End of the World: This is six minutes long. Six minutes long. SIX F***ING MINUTES
LONG! And worse still, it’s not even a good song. It’s six minutes of the sort
of dreariness that makes you so desperate you will even listen to “Sunday
Smile”. There’s nothing good in a forgettable six minutes of misery and sorrow.
1/10.
Sleeping Giant: Why this is merely a bonus
track is a question that will never have a good enough answer. This is
beautiful, and fascinating, and cyber-rock, and with the most superb lyrics
ever witnessed (apart from those on ‘China Shoes’). Another perfect slice of
Harry and Stein. I have the notion that back in 1979 or so, the essence of a
perfect Blondie song was bottled for future use. This is one of the times when
the bottle was opened. 10/10.
OVERVIEW
Given
that it was eight years since the previous Blondie release, this is impressive
stuff, showing that the well hasn’t run dry yet… just. The good tracks are
FANTASTIC, and the bad tracks are suicide-inducingly AWFUL. There’s a clear
rift. Jeff Saltzman’s production has its flaws in places, but he is a good
addition to the band’s production. This album would have benefited massively
from “Horizontal Twist” and “Sleeping Giant” being on it. Above all, this is a
case of the band trying to please too many people at once – reggae fans, rock
fans, Spanish fans, French fans – and as such the album lacks focus and
alienates long-standing Blondie fans; at least this reinforces the notion that
you never know what you’re getting with Blondie. Despite this, Debbie Harry’s
vocals are as good as ever in the strongest release since Blondie’s comeback…
until the upcoming “Ghosts of Download”, that is… 5/10 just for being so out there, and not being afraid of taking a
new direction. However, a 7/10 for
the Special Editions.
IMPROVEMENT STATION
The
album’s main problem is its reggae and world-music tracks – there was no real
reason for two of the album’s tracks (three on the Collector’s Pack edition) to
be sung in different languages, just as there was no real reason for so much
reggae. If the whole album continued the cyber-punk feel of tracks like “D-Day”
and “Horizontal Twist”, this would surely have been a hit.
I think the real way to
improve this would have been just to let the band loose – Debbie Harry is a
fantastic lyricist, and Matt Katz-Bohen and Chris Stein fantastic songwriters.
If the album was written entirely by Harry, Katz-Bohen and Stein along with
Barb Morrison and Charles Neiland (‘D Day’, ‘Words in My Mouth’, ‘Horizontal
Twist’), this would have been a lot better.
‘End of the World’, ‘Sunday
Smile’ and ‘Le Bleu’ overstay their welcome – surely a chorus could have been
cut from these at least? (‘End of the World’ runs to almost six minutes, for example).
You can never have the
perfect version of Panic of Girls.
This is because there were two special editions – the Deluxe Edition and the
Collector’s Pack (which includes badges, the album, a magazine, photos,
postcards and a poster). Each of the special editions included two bonus
tracks. Unfortunately, the Deluxe Edition has “Sleeping Giant”, which is great,
but it has “End of the World” too. Likewise, the Collector’s Pack has
“Horizontal Twist”, which is fabulous, but “Mirame” too. An improvement would
be if “Sleeping Giant” and “Horizontal Twist” were on the same Deluxe Edition
of the album.
The tracklist is sloppy and
messy. It begins well but there is far too much reggae, with the hits
distributed far and few between. In addition to this, some of the best tracks
are reserved for the Special Editions. IMO an improved tracklist would be:
1) D- Day
2) What I Heard
3) Bride of Infinity [an
outtake from the recording sessions]
4) Girlie Girlie
5) The End the End
6) Mother
7) Love Doesn’t Frighten Me
8) Horizontal Twist
9) Sleeping Giant
10) China Shoes
DELUXE EDITION
11) Words in My Mouth
12) Practice Makes Perfect
[another outtake]
SOUTH AMERICA / SPAIN ONLY
11) Wipe Off My Sweat
COMING SOON: Hopefully, some Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga reviews will be coming soon, all leading up to a review of Blondie's brand-new album "Ghosts of Download" around May 16, and a review of its accompanying album "Deluxe Redux" a day or two later.
Sunday, 15 September 2013
1: Parallel Lines - Blondie
PARALLEL
LINES
Hanging on the Telephone: This is a cover which is much better than the original track. Debbie's vocals are fabulous and throaty and the guitars are just perfect. The drumming is exciting and the song is incredibly memorable. It's hard to find any faults with this. 10/10
Blondie,
released September 1978
Hanging on the Telephone: This is a cover which is much better than the original track. Debbie's vocals are fabulous and throaty and the guitars are just perfect. The drumming is exciting and the song is incredibly memorable. It's hard to find any faults with this. 10/10
One
Way or Another: This track has
got iconic riffs and the most throaty, growling vocals imaginable.
The tune is fantastic and the lyrics are memorable. This song will
live on forever, and despite the 35 years since its release, it still
sounds modern. The roaring guitars in the middle are especially
noteworthy. 9/10
Picture
This: This track slows the pace
by a little bit, with interesting lyrics (which aren't just as good
as the ones for the two preceding songs) and a fairly catchy chorus.
The production is good, but this song just doesn't feel as special as
'Hanging on the Telephone' or 'One Way or Another'. 6/10
Fade
Away and Radiate: This track is
more experimental than the others, but for me at least the mix of
eerie drums, tingling keyboards and soothing vocals is pleasing and
it works, though perhaps it isn't the most radio-friendly song here.
8/10
Pretty
Baby: This song is tragically
underrated. It has some gorgeous lyrics and Debbie's giving her all
with some fantastic crooning in this song partially based on Brooke
Shields. The melody is really enjoyable and the band all play
brilliantly in this wonderful gem. 9/10
I
Know But I Don't Know: There's
an addictive repeated melody in this, and you can't help drumming
your fingers to it or humming along. It's a really, really good tune,
with a nice extended instrumental break bridging the two sections of
the song in different keys. Despite this, the song sounds a little
bit dated nowadays, Frankie Infante can't sing and the lyrics are repetitive and awful. 7/10
11:59:
This song is a painfully
unrecognised one, with an intriguing melody backed up by interesting
keyboards and drums. The vocals and lyrics are both impressive, and
the song itself is a highlight of the album, though it's not really
been recognised as such due to its not being released a single. 8/10
Will
Anything Happen?: This song is
the flip side of “One Way or Another” lyrically, with the lyrics
saying the opposite of the lyrics of the other song. It's a
wonderfully energetic song with growling vocals and guitars that's
really enjoyable to listen to, complimenting “11:59” and “Sunday
Girl” well. 9/10
Sunday
Girl: The sugary vocals and
sweetness deployed by Debbie Harry in this song are nice, and they
don't really get boring with multiple listens. Sure, this track is
not a punk-rock energetic New Wave classic like “One Way or
Another”, but it stills packs a punch and makes for a nice listen.
7/10
Heart
of Glass: Oh god, it's The
Disco Song. I don't really like disco in itself but no matter what,
this is still an incredibly catchy song with interesting if
repetitive lyrics and accomplished performances by all the band
members. And it is destined to live on until the end of time. 8/10
I'm Gonna Love You Too: I'm sorry, though Debbie Harry delivers some excellent vocals here and all the band members are playing really well, this track is just a bit too generic and a bit too similar to songs like “11:59” for me. That's not to say it's bad, just that the album would have been just as strong without it. 6/10
I'm Gonna Love You Too: I'm sorry, though Debbie Harry delivers some excellent vocals here and all the band members are playing really well, this track is just a bit too generic and a bit too similar to songs like “11:59” for me. That's not to say it's bad, just that the album would have been just as strong without it. 6/10
Just
Go Away: Lyrically this closing
track is similar to “One Way or Another” or “Will Anything
Happen”, but melodically it's an interesting sound comprising of
encouraging vocals and enthusiastic keyboards and guitars. It works.
It's a very enjoyable closing track to a very enjoyable album. 9/10
OVERALL:
And just a quick word for the
artwork. The cover art is iconic and memorable. Okay, there you go.
Altogether, this album is the one that brought Blondie into the
spotlight and made New Wave and pop-rock break through into the
public eye. It has some immensely good tracks here, and some hidden
gems, and only a couple of the songs let it down. 9/10
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)