Blondie Blondie

Blondie: Deborah Harry (vocals); Chris Stein, Gary Valentine (guitar, bass); James Destri (piano, organ, synthesizer); Clement Burke (drums). Additional personnel: Ellie Greenwich, Micki Harris, Hilda Harris (background vocals). Producer: Richard Gottehrer. Reissue producer: Kevin Flaherty. Recorded at Plaza Sound Stuidos, New York, New York in August & September 1976. Originally released on Private Stock (2023) in January 1977, reissued on Chrysalis (1165) in September 1977. Includes liner notes by Mike Chapman. All tracks have been digitally remastered using 24-bit technology. Recorded in 1976, Blondie's self-titled debut was part of the New York City/CBGB's crowd's initial salvo of punk/new wave, radically different from anything in the American mainstream at the time. While other CBGB scenemakers strove for either artiness (Television) or primitivism (Ramones), Blondie was always about pure pop, served with a healthy dose of irony. Its early-'60s rock & roll/girl-group roots were never so apparent as on this album--"In the Sun" sounds like a classic slice of sunny '60s West Coast pop, while "In the Flesh" reaches even further back for a '50s ballad feel. The sly lyrics, Debbie Harry's knowing delivery, and especially Jimmy Destri's gloriously cheesy organ riffs make it apparent that revivalism was never Blondie's intention; the band simply used the past to hijack the punk present and lay claim to a new wave future. Over the next few years, countless groups would adopt the template laid down on the first couple of Blondie albums, with varying degrees of success, but, as this recording makes plain, Blondie did it first and best.

• Genre: Rock
• Format: Vinyl
• Released: 12/16/2016