Poll--The Weakest Link: Blondie EAT TO THE BEAT, Round 6

"Eat to the Beat" got indigestion. We're at the final 4. One more must go. Vote your next weakest link.

Discussion question: The kid net door hears you blaring Eat to the Beat out your window, likes it, and asks you about similar artists and albums. What would you recommend to the kid?

Condition red!.............................................

Eat to the Beat (Round 5)
The Hardest Part (Round 4)
Die Young Stay Pretty (Round 3)
Accidents Never Happen (Round 3)
Slow Motion (Round 2)
Living in the Real World (Round 2)
Sound-A-Sleep (Round 1)
Victor (Round 1)

 

Atomic (finally). It's not better than Shayla.

DQ: Pretenders, Garbage, maybe Kim Wilde (the early stuff)

 

Pretenders - maybe
Kim Wilde - absolutely
Garbage* - never!


*a cheap, Curve rip-off band

 

"Atomic" was prime "rock-disco" [remember that hybrid?] but alas, I value the rest of the tracks far more.

What would I recommend to the kid who liked ETTB? Maybe these…




Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart obviously rated Blondie. When The Tourists broke up they formed Eurythmics and recruited Clem Burke to drum!

Wow! I was late to the game and saw that "Victor" was voted off first. I have to say that I can't agree with that at all. "Victor," has become, over the decades, a favorite. The track simply exploded out of the already kinetic framework of the album. That time Burke had some real competition for the spotlight with Infante’s curiously Fripp-like tightly coiled guitar riffs circling throughout the song. While the breakneck drums and guitars battled it out, the vocalists weren’t playing shrinking violet. Debbie Harry bled into the red for her entire performance! She must have been wrecked after committing that one to tape, but even the stentorian Soviet Men’s Chorus vocals that Infante, Destri and producer Mike Chapman [The Jah Trio] provided was a thing of wonder even in themselves.

 

Voting off Atomic....

Boom...Eat to the Beat finally left....

 

"Atomic"

DQ?: Blondie in general & this album in particular too, is/are so eclectic that I'd have to know which songs were dug or the main reasons for the person's excitement to do a good job.

My first instinct would be to go the most obvious route & recommend their other masterpiece "Parallel Lines". "Eat To The Beat" itself is my sentimental favorite of their twin towering achievements- but I don't think one is necessarily better than the other. Those two were their absolute peak & that's amidst a pretty terrific catalog... with the earlier works (pre-reunion) being of the most interest for sure, but their later works are good too, just lesser & more for the deeper, dedicated appreciates of their work.

As far as other artists, I'm making the assumption that the female vocals are a forefront factor in the love & I'd make the following recommendations... since I own them all I'd offer to loan them the CD's or burn them copies- unless they just want to stream them...if they did an artist I can do a playlist/custom CD-R for them too...

~"St. Vincent":
"St. Vincent"
"Strange Mercy"
"Masseduction"

~The Pretenders:
"The Pretenders"
"Pretenders II"
"Learning To Crawl"

~The Bangles:
"All Over The Place"
"Different Light"

~Sam Phillips:
"The Indescribable Wow"

 

I would recommend a couple of other Mike Chapman produced greats: Get the Knack and Best of The Sweet.

 

At least with still "Shayla" sticking around, it makes my vote easy.
"Eat to the Beat" is fun, dumb rocker.

Talking Heads
The Go-Go's

 

Atomic is great. But the other three are greater.

 

DQ. Of the time, Go Go’s and X. Heads and Ramones of course. David Johansens 1st 2 solo lps. Currently St Vincent is the best example of Blondis adventurousness

 

West coast bump

 

Shayla

DQ: lots of good suggestions here already but I would DEFINITELY get the kid a copy of the original self-titled Nerves EP, which includes the original version of “Hanging on the Telephone.” A lost classic that I have spent decades playing for literally everyone I can! Check it out!

 

Atomic


And I'd say check out Nick Gilder.

 

Union.

 

DQ - Debbie will always be the focus but the band is excellent and if the kid is listening enough to pick up the Fripp influences -

the Roches — Losing True

“fading from view”

 

Sadly Shayla goes to sleep today.

Hard for me to really think of something that comes across like Blondie ...

 

Really sad to see "Shayla" going. A dreamy country song that worked like a fiend for me. “Shayla” was a full bore Chris Stein song [lyrics included] and he pulled out all of the stops with this tender ballad that approached country music with the weepy guitar solo he proffered here. Of course, it would all fall apart without the heart-rendering vocals of Deborah Harry. Her wordless expression singing on the “chorus” of “Shayla” packed quite the wallop.

 

Poll--The Weakest Link: Blondie EAT TO THE BEAT, Round 7