Blondie Greatest Hits [Import]

Blondie | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 7, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: EMI Europe Generic
• ASIN: B000BIOGV0
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #462,301 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Heart Of Glass

2. Sunday Girl

3. Atomic

4. Call Me

5. The Tide Is High

6. Rapture

7. Maria

8. In The Flesh (Remix)

9. X Offender

10. Rip Her To Shreds

11. Denis

12. (I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear

13. Picture This

14. Fade Away (And Radiate)

15. Hanging On The Telephone

16. One Way Or Another

17. Dreaming

18. Union City Blue

19. Island Of Lost Souls

20. Good Boys (Blow Up Mix)

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remasterd Music & Pristine Videos!, December 10, 2005

By 

Scott Coblio "kookoo guy" (West Hollywood, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blondie Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

What's not to love about a new Blondie compilation with previously unavailable mixes (including a whole NEW version of "In the Flesh'), a second disc with 17 pristine and complete videos (no more of that awful wraparound that's been in every video compliation since 1982's "The Best of Blondie"), and cover artwork that features the LONG LOST original photography for "Plastic Letters"--at L.A.'s Tropicana Hotel in 1977--that we've all heard about for decades but never seen? For those assets alone, this is a must-have for collectors.

The booklet says all the music was digitally remastered in 1998. Comparing it on my iTunes to the remastered back catalogue that came out in 2001, primarily it is LOUDER which is always good, and clearer, although on some tracks I find I prefer the older versions, perhaps just because I have gotten used to them.

In general, all the songs on this compliation are album mixes and not extended mixes. Heart of Glass, thankfully, is missing the weird sound effects that Mike Chapman added on the 1981 "Greatest Hits" compilation that has been used on so many compilations since. Sunday Girl, too, is the album version and not the bi-linqual version. Atomic sheds the "Three Blind Mice" sounding album intro as well as the looping that plagued the remixes through the years, Blondie really was so good at making the 3 minute pop record, I always thought their hits work best short and sweet.

The only songs which feature new mixes are "In the Flesh", "Good Boys" and "Rapture". "In the Flesh" as noted, features a NEW Debbie vocal---it's nice to have this new take on an old favorite, and let's face it, all us Blondie fans have the old one on SOME CD, so I don't think it was a mistake not to include the original "In the Flesh" here. "Good Boys" (Blow Up Mix) to me is inferior to the album/single version, taking a song short on melody to begin with and making it even LESS melodic, and the Rapture remix features the novel idea of combining Blondie's song with Jim Morrison's "Riders on the Storm" so that Jim and Debbie seem to be duetting! I'm not sure the result is successful, but it's atleast fun.

The second disc is all video and features everything from "Best of Blondie" (minus the NYC cabbie wraparound as mentioned)-- plus "The Hardest Part" (always one of my favorite Blondie videos), "Island of Lost Souls", "Maria" and "Good Boys". The early stuff looks incredibly sharp and clear, at last! But the "Eat to the Beat" videos don't look quite as good. I'm surprised at some of the omissions, like "In the Sun" "Shayla", "Eat to the Beat", and "Nothing Is Real But the Girl". But oh well. Maybe one some future box set!

And finally, the cover! For years, I have sniped at the awful graphics on Blondie compilations. Perhaps because the band pushed strongly for it--we finally get something great for a cover--two 1977 shots from the long lost "Plastic Letters" cover shoot which was scrapped by Chrysalis Records, evidently because they did not like the punk look Debbie was sporting in her homemade pillow-case dress with red electric tape binding! I wish there were more than two of these photos in the booklet but hey, who's complaining! Two is better than nothing! Perhaps only because you could not take a bad picture of the band at this time--they are adorable. They also look way ahead of their time. These shots could be on any contemporary album cover. Although from a marketing perspective, the cover that Chrysalis went with--featuring Debbie in a "real" dress leaning with the boys on a police car--are less raw and punkish than these, and therefore were probably more strategic in breaking the band to a bigger audience. I'd like to see the rest of these pictures, hope there will be a book or something some day!

I should note that the videodisc is not encoded for the U.S., so you will not be able to view it properly on your DVD player unless it is an all-region player. (The only all region DVD player I know of is the Cyberhome CH-DVD 300. It's a very inexpensive unit you can get at Best Buy for about $39). Otherwise, wait---if you can stand to---for the U.S. release of this compilation in Spring!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Improved sight, same sound!, December 29, 2005

By 

rob pitts - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blondie Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

This album has most of Blondie's best hits, all of Blondie's songs are great but i dont think that many could be on one "Greatest Hits" contemplation....The songs on this album are shortend which is a downside, Blondie's hits need to be in the normal state that they were sang (instead of shortend "Atomic" needs to be like it is on "Eat To The Beat")Blondie is at thier best when the songs are in long versions or original verions. The Remixes are Great! exept that the originals of the remixes need to be on this album!!

The music videos are awsome!!i haven't saw the "Eat To The Beat" videos so i can't compare the two. But overall this is a must for Blondie fans!

5.0 out of 5 stars extra songs and dvds extra videos, November 30, 2011

By 

Alberto - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Blondie Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

dvd region code must have a dvd region code PAL * DVD player * 17 videos * x offender and * touched by your presence dear * which was deleted and was not in US set bonus * Rapture Riders video is not include it but the cd includes x offenders I'm always touch by your a presenct dear which makes up for CD & DVD set hello 22 songs on the cd plays any cd player extra songs for your buck