BLONDIE - "Against the Odds 1974 – 1982" [August 2022]*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by smallworld, Sep 4, 2018.

  1. drbryant

    drbryant Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    You have to put things in a historical context. This is a list of the Billboard top 20 singles of 1976, the year that Blondie's debut album was released. These songs represent was would have been viewed as "carefully arranged, beautifully crafted and well performed pop records." Album buyers were listening to Frampton Comes Alive, or Songs in the Key of Life.

    With these albums and singles representing a "pop standard", Blondie and Ramones released their very similar debut albums - although both records sounded suspiciously retro, they were so different (attitude yes, but also music, lyrics, production, pace, length) and so fresh that it was practically a shock. Perhaps you cannot hear much of a difference. If that is the case, I guess I would just have to say "you had to be there."

    1 "Silly Love Songs" Wings
    2 "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" Elton John & Kiki Dee
    3 "Disco Lady" Johnnie Taylor
    4 "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" The Four Seasons
    5 "Play That Funky Music" Wild Cherry
    6 "Kiss and Say Goodbye" The Manhattans
    7 "Love Machine" The Miracles
    8 "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" Paul Simon
    9 "Love Is Alive" Gary Wright
    10 "A Fifth of Beethoven" Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band
    11 "Sara Smile" Hall & Oates
    12 "Afternoon Delight" Starland Vocal Band
    13 "I Write the Songs" Barry Manilow
    14 "Fly, Robin, Fly" Silver Convention
    15 "Love Hangover" Diana Ross
    16 "Get Closer" Seals and Crofts
    17 "More, More, More" Andrea True Connection
    18 "Bohemian Rhapsody" Queen
    19 "Misty Blue" Dorothy Moore
    20 "Boogie Fever" The Sylvers
     
  2. DrJ

    DrJ Senior Member

    Location:
    Davis, CA, USA
    yes

    And there were also significant differences between American punk and English punk.
     
  3. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

    Even a lot of Engish punk is generally "carefully arranged, beautifully crafted, and well-performed pop records", it just seems less polished than it is.

    The definition of "punk" in 1977 and the definition of "punk" in 1980 was different: it got narrower and more rigid, it seems. Which, of course, eventually, made it boring. Still, I prefer to think of Blondie as one of the very first "New Wave" bands, which to me is a larger term that includes punk.

    In the end, music is not biology, though, and sometimes defies categorization by genus and species.
     
  4. beelzebomb

    beelzebomb Well-Known Member

    I was at school here in uk when punk broke in 76. It took off and started infiltrating the charts and Top of the Pops in 78, with likes of Buzzcocks and early Boomtown Rats (Lookin’ After No 1 and Like Clockwork). Back then, it was pretty clear to us what was punk & what was New Wave. To the uk back then, New Wave was the first wave of artists who came out of the punk scene and were crafting their own slightly more thoughtful songs (though Buzzcocks we’re always doing that). Whatever they were classed as in USA, Blondie were New Wave here in the uk. Still, who cares: Blondie, Clash (definitely punk!) and Magazine etc just crafted great songs freed up by the DIY punk ethics.
     
  5. guy1

    guy1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    The sound is so much better than the 2014 ones. They sound fantastic.
     
  6. SuahuaB

    SuahuaB terrorized by treble

    Location:
    France
    Same in France and rest of Europe I guess. Absolutely.
    I honestly can't think Blondie and punk can be mentioned in the same sentence (oops) - except for saying that Blondie and punk can't be mentioned in the same sentence, that is.
    :)
    And Clash?... well "definitely punk", the first album, yes... maybe their second. And Strummer was a punk at heart all his life. But musically, as Mick Jones said many times, they quickly started reasoning beyond punk, and incorporating different sounds, styles and influences.
     
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  7. beelzebomb

    beelzebomb Well-Known Member

    Agree with all of that! :)
     
  8. drbryant

    drbryant Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    I think that if you are not familiar with the development of pop music in the late 60's and the 70's, your idea of "punk" may consist of white kids with bad complexions and safety pins in their cheeks shouting anti-establishment rants over rapid-fire three chord riffs (the 1977 "Time Magazine" understanding of punk rock). From that perspective, it is difficult see acts like Blondie, Ramones, Dickies, Pretenders, Buzzcocks and Elvis Costello as being part of that movement (much less Green Day, the Offspring and their more recent progeny).

    But, if you were there, those early albums, including Blondie's first two, completely changed the landscape of popular music. And if the music was at heart more retro than new, it still managed to influence everyone from the Stones (who did it well with "Respectable") and Paul McCartney (uhh . . . Back to the Egg?) to Linda Ronstadt. It was actually a pretty cool time.

     
  9. DrJ

    DrJ Senior Member

    Location:
    Davis, CA, USA
    Totally agree. I was there (12 years old in 1977, and a voracious fan of all types of pop music more or less - never much "took sides") and you are correct...but again as I was saying I do think there was also a general difference between the American and UK punk movements, too.

    It could have been the mystique around the latter for me since I was living in suburbia USA but to me the UK brand did seem less rooted in Phil Spector-type rock and roll, more edgy and dangerous (just my perception, even then). Even then as a teenager, I didn't so much see American punk as "dangerous," more a re-connection with rock and roll roots (and highly enjoyable for that, a breath of fresh air, an alternative not for me to replace but to counterbalance side-long prog rock tracks, wonderful though they could be). The Ramones seemed positively goofy (in a good way) to me, never dangerous, and Blondie just plain fun. The Pretenders by contrast were less "punk" in some ways than the Ramones, but coming out of that UK environment of the time, more than really any of the US acts, they were dangerous - that first album still hits like a freight train and is a darker and more frightening listen the older I get. There are of course traditional rock and roll references in abundance, but it comes out sounding to me like nothing Phil Spector ever would have imagined.

    It wasn't until the 2nd or 3rd wave of punk bands in America (e.g., by the time of the Repo Man soundtrack era) that I felt they incorporated that type of dangerous edge and to my ears sounded more like the earlier UK punk groups than their American predecessors. But also, paradoxically, I do agree with one of the comments above - much of American (and English) punk at that point started to sound so pre-calculated and manufactured as "genre music," and got boring quickly (for me). The best of the bands who started out with the "punk" label, on either side of the Atlantic, quickly grew way beyond the genre expectations/conventions, or were just so musically accomplished that they never grew boring playing within a punk framework (e.g., X - one of the few punk-identified bands who I think got much LESS interesting once they moved toward the mainstream sound of the time...and again an example of how the US punk groups that started to hit a few years after the early NYC wave of punk bands had a lot more darkness and edge, those early X albums still hit hard to me and are just plain dark).
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2022
  10. beelzebomb

    beelzebomb Well-Known Member

    In the UK, at my school, where I was about 15 when punk began, me & my friends didn’t see what was happening in USA as being connected to the punk scene at all. We didn’t dislike it of course, just tended to tag it more as ‘garage rock’ which we thought was influenced by 60s stuff/Stooges and Velvets. It was only later when music papers like NME & Melody Maker started making a similarity ‘scene’ connection and likes of Blondie indented the charts here that we saw it in a similar light. Of course, back then there was no internet and such music was certainly not on most radio or tv. Our only route into actually hearing the alternative scene happening around us was the legendary DJ, John Peel - who’s 10pm to midnight show every Monday to Thursday on Radio 1 was not to be missed. No one else was playing that stuff at all. I still smile at the sheer amount of my peers who made it in the music scene fondly talking of secretly listening to Peel on a transistor radio under the bedsheets as it was a ‘school night’ and we were all supposed to be asleep! I mean, wow. Who knew back then there were so many teenagers all doing the same thing, hey? :)
     
  11. Dark Horse 77

    Dark Horse 77 A Parliafunkadelicment Thang

    I may have missed it in the excellent thread but is there a list for the Rarities discs for what year each track was released?
     
  12. sambda

    sambda Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Most of the rarities tracks haven't been released before (otherwise they wouldn't really be "rarities"). The Betrock demos are the main ones that have been seen before, first released in the late 1970s (recorded 1975). The other stuff is demo versions, unfinished versions (mainly no vocals) and Chris Stein home-recorded stuff. All the tracks appear to date from the main period of the release (i.e. classic Blondie period, 1974-82) except the aforementioned Stein home stuff (which is possibly a tad later). None of it dates from the era of the band's later reformation - this is all old-school Blondie.
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2022
  13. ParanoidAndroid

    ParanoidAndroid Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bournemouth, UK
    Apologies if this has already been asked but can anyone who owns both the 8CD box set and the 3CD version comment on the book differences? Does the 3CD version just contain band comments/liner notes on the bonus tracks or is it a smaller version of the big book from the box set?
     
  14. JackDVD78

    JackDVD78 Forum Resident

    Location:
    MPLS MN
    Going thru some if the LPs again…

    I’d already put the records in mobile fidelity anti static sleeves, but removed them from the LP jackets, using gloves… they are so nice I don’t want to ruin them. Going to put the records in those thick high quality generic jacket covers so I can keep my hands off the box set.

    They did a great job and gave great high quality LP jackets.

    I almost wonder in 2023 if they will end up offering the albums as stand alone releases. - wouldn’t mind buying another Eat to the Beat & The Hunter since my LPs had playback issues - and they didn’t do replacements.
     
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  15. Al Gator

    Al Gator You can call me Al

    Thorpy, Uncle Miles, mpw362d and 7 others like this.
  16. m00nb34m5

    m00nb34m5 Down in the Streetlight

    Location:
    United Kingdom
    I love this set the music and the packaging as well as the sound quality is excellent. I still hope they do a part two for the albums from no exit onwards maybe that will happen when they call it a day as a band. I've read that they are planning on a follow up to pollinator but can't find much more information :)
     
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  17. Porkpie

    Porkpie Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    The follow up is apparently “in the can” and will be released this year. Saw in a tweets by Chris Stein.
     
  18. stem

    stem Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hertfordshire, UK
    The 3 cd set is currently just £19.99 on Amazon UK.
     
  19. Davido

    Davido ...assign someone to butter your muffin?

    Location:
    Austin
    Picked up the CD box today (finally) after hooking up my system for the first time in 1.5 years... listening now. I am cranking it and it sounds pretty good. Had previously sampled the set on Spotify so no real surprises, but such a pleasure to hear much of this material (which occasionally dives a little too deep in the vaults IMO) is such good quality. Many of the demos kick ass. Great American band in so many ways.
     
  20. pobbard

    pobbard Still buying CDs

    Location:
    Andover, MA
    YES - I just picked-up a complete set last year; I'd only bought two volumes back in the day (the two Power Pop volumes), but upon revisiting the collection I was surprised by how much of it remains rare or hard-to-find, even 30 years later! And, being Rhino in its prime, the liner notes are all excellent as well.

    Now back to Blondie...
     
  21. Tsubaki Sanjuro

    Tsubaki Sanjuro Forum Resident

    Location:
    DC (formerly UK)
    Finally got a chance to listen to the first couple of LPs tonight. Dead quiet vinyl, beautiful sounding albums. I’m saving the demos as a treat for later.

    Always hilarious to see these kinds of takes. Blondie, Ramones, and the other American groups were the real deal.

    I have no idea what you mean by ‘punk ethos and aesthetics’, unless you mean idiocy like Sid Vicious defecating in people’s mouths. The ‘punk’ ethos was stripping things down to their fundamentals. Of course they’re brilliantly crafted! Minimalism takes a lot of work. However it was a different kind of work from masturbatory 40-minute long stadium rock songs.

    The British groups were Ramones knockoffs that tried to show off how tough they were with drama kid tough guy antics. Even their visuals were completely stolen. The safety-pinned shirts that were supposedly a reflection of being too poor to have shirts? Malcolm McLaren saw Richard Hell in a safety-pinned shirt (after someone had literally cut his shirt) and decided that would make a good aesthetic for his fake groups. The leather jackets, especially lancer-front riding jackets? Knocked off the Ramones. Perfecto jackets weren’t to be found in England, but Lewis Leathers were (plus Joey Ramone had one), so the Lewis Lightning (and in the case of Sid Vicious, the Lewis Dominator) became the UK jacket, etc.

    Of course, this kind of thing isn’t new. People perceive the Stones as tough guys and The Beatles as soft, but the Stones were middle class art school kids whose manager marketed them as the rough alternative while The Beatles (besides John, but even he was a Ted and ran a gang) were scrappy working class lads from rough areas who just happened to wear suits on stage.
     
  22. StingRay5

    StingRay5 Important Impresario

    Location:
    California
    I think that's the problem right there. I suspect if you ask Richard Hell about "punk ethos and aesthetics", he'll be able to explain it to you.

    That's part of it, but there was a sort of anti-prog "F—k guitar solos, we only know three chords and we play every song fast and hard" aspect to punk as well. Of the main CBGB's bands from 1976-78 (Ramones, Television, Patti Smith, Blondie, Talking Heads, Mink DeVille), only the Ramones were really "punk". Blondie was a sophisticated pop band with enough mainstream ambition to cheerfully go along with having their lead singer promoted as a popular sex symbol (not a very punk thing to do), Television was an art-jazz-rock group not at all afraid of stretching songs out with long, improvised guitar solos, Mink DeVille was doing modernized '60s R&B, and Talking Heads were an art-rock band that had more in common with Eno and Bowie than with the Ramones. The CBGB's scene was really much too arty (and too diverse) to be whole-heartedly punk in the way that early London punks were (at least at first; the Clash outgrew punk too), or the SST Records crowd that developed in Los Angeles a little later.
     
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  23. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

    Everytime a “definition of punk” discussion starts, I swear an angel shoots himself in the head.
     
  24. Tsubaki Sanjuro

    Tsubaki Sanjuro Forum Resident

    Location:
    DC (formerly UK)
    I meant what that guy meant by it.

    The British were essentially Ramones parodies played straight, usually without the Ramones’ creativity. The idea that the scene actually meant only one type of music grows out of that trajectory, but it’s certainly not how it started.
     
  25. ParanoidAndroid

    ParanoidAndroid Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bournemouth, UK
    I really don’t care what genre Blondie are. This thread is supposed to be about the box set. Whether it’s punk, post-punk, pop, new-wave, what does it matter? It has no bearing on the contents of this release!
     

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