So, since you asked for opinions...here is mine. For me it's a tossup. I really like the size of the bigger book. The pictures look better larger. Plus, a few of the pictures I really like are placed better in the bigger book. In the smaller LP book, some of the images are bisected by the gutter in the middle. But, there are 15 more photos in the smaller LP book that are not in the bigger CD book. There is only one partial image in the bigger book that is not in the smaller one, the picture of the lyrics. There are 4 songs in the smaller, 6 in the bigger one-not a great loss by any stretch. A lot of the pictures from the discography book are present in the larger CD book, but definitely not all. I do like that they are placed in the CD book after each respective chapter of each album. But again, there are more in the discography book. There is no rhyme or reason to the size of the pictures between the two either. Sometimes they are slightly bigger in one, sometimes slightly bigger in the other. But not a great difference either way. There is also a section in the back of the CD book that lists all of the song credits and running times for each one. That is not in the Vinyl LP set, not sure why, a pretty big miss for me. To sum up: Vinyl Book - More photos-15 more than in the CD book. More photos in the separate discography, more releases listed too - 8 Tracks, VHS, etc.. CD Book - Larger, larger pictures, less photos dropped into the gutter, discography follows each respective album after discussion. Section with all track credits and running times at the end. I was going to post photos of the differences a while back, but never got around to it. This post pretty much sums it up anyway. Basically a tossup for me. Still haven't made up my mind which I am going to keep!
Many thanks for all this info (incidentally, today is World Gratitude Day!). The Bowie boxes were ‘split’ & sold on eBay which proved great for me, as I didn’t want everything in each set. With a lot of patience, I got the mini LP CDs I wanted & a box to put them in (I then bought the LP sets, kept the large books and sold the rest on, effectively becoming a ‘box split seller’ myself). So far, it doesn’t look like the Blondie boxes are being split on eBay, but it’s sure to happen. I’m curious as to what specifically is missing from the LP Discography book compared to the CD book - what’s missing regarding Parallel Lines for example - so I know if it’s worth saving a search on eBay & just waiting, or not.
So, I own Autoamerica, eat to the beat, parallel lines and 2 greatest hits packages from Blondie. Should I grab this CD set for the stuff I am missing, or do I have the essential already?
That's a very subjective thing. A lot of people love the first two Blondie albums; some even consider them the best two. I'm not in that camp. The early girl-group sounding stuff is not really to my taste. I think they leveled up with Parallel Lines and Eat to the Beat, and for my ears, those are their only essential albums, and those two include the vast majority of their best songs. I'd say to pull the first two up on Spotify or YouTube, and skim them. See what you think.
That's a very subjective thing. A lot of people don't like the first two Blondie albums; some even consider the girl-group sounding stuff is not to their taste. I'm not in that camp. I think their self-titled debut and Plastic Letters are two of their best and to call them just "girl-group sounding" is a little simplistic, they were always a little diverse in their sound and that was the case in their first two albums. I think under Mike Chapman they became a lot slicker in their production and expanded their musical styles even further. Their first four albums are absolutely essential as there isn't a poor song on any of the albums, the quality falls away a little with AutoAmerican and a lot with The Hunter. A lot of the extra songs are pretty good, or at least interesting, so if you really like those three albums you own then I would consider it, but I'd listen to first two albums on Spotify or something before deciding.
Listened* to some on Amazon Music & was very impressed. The style of digital personally preferred [not brightly detailed]. Over half a decade ago went on a Blondie ceedee spree; attempting to find the best SQ. Ended up being generally disappointed [mostly by infamously thin digital sound] & settling for the early Chrysalis releases [satisfactory digital sound though still digital glare would unfortunately appear]. A lot of the "AtO '72-'82" listened to were non-album mixes [etc.], so it wasn't comparing apples to apples. Still would choose to listen to "AtO '72-'82" mixes than listen to ceedees of the albums. IMO a successful endeavor [if Amazon Music over headphones is a realistic representation]. Enjoy. * Ikko Zerda DAC/amp - HiFiMAN HE-4XX w/custom pads.
I'm in the camp that feels the first two are the best. As you say, Chapman made their sound slicker (in a good way!) but they lost a bit of the trashy charm of the first two. Again, as you say, the first four are essential, with Autoamerican being very good but a bit off. As far as The Hunter goes, I've been coming around to it as it has some excellent material if given the chance. I also enjoy the Out In The Streets disc as it has some of that trashy charm that went missing down the road.
The Out in the Streets disc is my favourite from the set even though it's only 23 minutes long from my memory. It's downhill all the way from then on! (a joke of course because without the later success there would be no box set).
I don't mind The Hunter, two of my favourite Blondie songs (Orchid Club and War Child) are on the album, but the quality of the early albums was so high it's hard not to be a little disappointed. Agree about Out In The Streets, what a little gem that turned out to be, I love those early versions of Heart Of Glass (The Disco Song/Once I Had A Love). Out In The Streets, The Thin Line and Platinum Blonde are all great songs as well that could have been on the debut, the album still would have been under 40 minutes. Maybe just over.
Haven't bought physical media in a while. Bought the 3-CD version of this. Great package, great book, great object. And the music is not just culled random tracks and leftovers. This set has its own story to tell. It's a really great listen.
Finally received the little periodical from numero for the blondie box set. Haven’t really looked at it, but it’s small, nicely done, some cool photographs.
I’m still playing the CD boxset. I’m onto The Hunter now. Believe it or not, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard the album. I’ve only listened to half of it at the moment, but it’s not good. Dragonfly and The Beast are beyond dreadful. They go on forever too. Have to say For Your Eyes Only is pretty decent, and Island Of Lost Souls sounds like a work of art compared to the other few songs I’ve heard. Sound wise, the CD doesn’t sound good. Very muffled. It’s quite hard to pick Debbie’s vocals out on some songs. Not sure if this was how the album was recorded or if it’s caused by the remastering on this edition.
As I said, this was my first time listening to the album and it sounded very soft. It actually distracted me a bit from concentrating on the songs!
I understand. Thats a shame, since The Hunter is a very great record. Not quite as good as Autoamerican or Eat to the Beat, but still very good.
Does anybody know why Clem is now getting writing credits across loads of Blondie songs where he didn't used to and, AFAIK, is extremely unlikely to have co-written? For example: put BLONDIE into BMI | Songview Search and list out some of the songs. It seems Clem (i.e. "BOZEWSKI CLEMENT A") comes up against the royalties for, among dozens of others: Atomic, Detroit 442, Europa, The Hardest Part.... In fact, most of the band's songs during the era of this box set. The ASCAP database (in fact it is the same database - both societies got together) is the same. Any ideas? The most recent "snapshot" of the writing credits we have is the box set, which certainly doesn't tally with this.
Got my Blondie-cover copy of Numerical Periodical a couple days ago. Busy work week, so I haven't opened it yet.
That is really really really odd considering every copy of all their albums in the past never once mention his name in any of the credits. His only credit I believe is on No Exit on one or two songs. I forget which at the moment. I don't recall seeing him on Curse or Panic of Girls either. There are a few differences in which songs Debbie co-wrote with Chris vs wrote by herself. Sometimes they list Platinum Blonde as just her but sometimes with Chris. Same for a few of the other early songs. It toggles between just her credit and the both of them depending on certain releases/issues. Maybe they had a deal to add Clem after negotiating their payout from publishing? Recently Debbie and Chris sold their publishing for $20 million one lump sum. But I have no idea if that includes just their co-written stuff or their solo credits combined. And I have no idea what Jimmy, Nigel and Frank did with their publishing credits. Its worth looking into for sure. Could also be a mistake.
just got mine yesterday too finally. It looks like the Blondie part is lifted directly from the Box Set in the AutoAmerican section. Oh well. They added some nice pics though.
Maybe (not that I'm saying I know) this database is not a database of the writing credits per se, but of the people who receive royalties against a particular song? Possibly, what with Clem being a continuing member of the modern band, Chris and Debbie have decided to cut him into the (publishing) royalties?* (*Added later: Not sure my theory can be true. "Accidents Never Happen" is hitherto credited just to Jimmy Destri, and yet one of these new Clem credits is on that too. So it can't be a Debbie/Chris thing as they wouldn't have any say about the publishing royalties from that track.) It's got to be a mistake, surely? Or did Clem say, "Other people wrote the main melodies and lyrics for these song but I always made up my own drumming patterns myself. Therefore I am a co-writer on these. I'll see you in court if you disagree and we can run over how the drumming was composed..."
Is this periodical intended to go along with the Blondie box set? I got it too and wasn’t sure what it was. My wife threw it in the recycling bin. It’s still there? Do I need to grab it?
It's basically Numero's in-house zine, with articles about what they're currently interested in. This one has an 80s theme. It's usually worth a read.
