Customer Reviews

Blondie, from Punk to the Present: A Pictorial History (Musical Legacy Series, 1)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A labor of both love and lust, this hanging-on-the-telephone-book sized compilation feels like a fansite that somehow sneaked off the web and onto a printing press. An overemphasis on their 1999 comeback and fuzzy photos gets it docked a star, but it's hard to argue with such woozily wondrous excess, both the author's and the band's.

Allan Metz and a wonderful array of sources from all scenes and directions associated with New York's ultimate icon band of all time, "Blondie", create a detailed compilation of insight and imagery from the band's early emergence and impact to their re-emergence and continued success years later. Shockingly beautiful vocalist Debbie Harry is not the sole focus of this project and the fact that "Blondie is a Band" is reinforced continually. What is refreshing about this book as compared to other writings is that the viewpoint of the band's influence and effect on culture is widened. All-inclusive insight from fans to promoters to photographers. Adding color photographs and a hardcover would have made it perfect. "From Punk to the Present", though is absolutely THE official "Blondie Bible".

If nothing else, this new volume will have to go down in history as the biggest Blondie book ever. At over 500 pages, it's HUGE, which would please any fan. And fans are what "Blondie From Punk To Present" is all about. It's clearly put together by and for people who are gaga for Blondie/Debbie Harry, and has the feeling of a giant fanzine more than anything else. Definitely the focus is on the present reunion (probably because recent pix were easier to come by--especially free ones-- than vintage), and I did find myself wishing that there was more from the band's early days. As a "pictorial history", it's very text heavy--Metz let just about everyone have their say (including myself), and while the voices are diverse, I think I would have preferred more pix and less talk. But it's nice just to have something new on the band, and clearly this project was a labor of love.

Full disclosure: I have an article reprinted here ("Blondie: Once More Into The Bleach," DISCoveries, 9/99). That said, I'm pleased at how this project turned out. I read it in two subzero vacation days here, and couldn't put it down once.

From Punk To Present works well as a photo essay, scene history, and critical overview (including the band's triumphant '99 comeback). This is a Christmas present for the Blondie/Deborah Harry fan - and long overdue.

The best selections put Blondie in context of its often-turbulent times. Kudos here to Robert Betts's interviews with longtime scene photographer Roberta Bayley (whose nonchalance wins points for charm ); Victor Bockris (whose censored High Times interview elicits some candid admissions about Harry's struggles with drugs); Francois Wintein, for his freewheeling interview with drummer Clem Burke (a great subject, as I can attest); and original bassist Gary Valentine.

Being a collector type myself, I also appreciated the forays into less-obvious terrain, including Harry's work with the Jazz Passengers ("Private Lesson: Debbie Does Jazz"), and the reunited band's bid for radio acceptance ("No Exit In Sight: The Rebirth Of Blondie" -- which reminds us of the skewed promotional logic that prevails in the music business. For anyone writing off Harry's `80s and `90s solo work as chopped liver, Daniel Porter provides a thoughtful, balanced assessment.

I would have liked tighter editing of the academic pieces, and interweaving of photos into the lengthier selections, just to give the reader's eyes a break. (Of course, printing budgets play a role in these decisions, so that's hardly a knock.) That said, this book's sprawling nature is part of its charm; it's not aimed at the attention-span-starved armchair quarterback, but the bug-eyed fan who owns those "New Zealand"-only disco mixes. There's nothing like a fan's book for fans; now let's see an updated version to accompany the new Blondie album!

This book is a tour-de-force exegesis of the entire Blondie career and the effect lead singer Deborah Harry has on the role of the blonde female vocalist in pop and rock. Nearly the first third of the book is given over to the punk milieu from which Blondie sprang and Blondie's role in that scene. This makes the book a fascinating overview of the nascent New York City punk scene. Like the rest of the book, several authors contribute pieces of no more than a few pages. This makes for much redundancy as the same topics are covered, but treat this book as casual reading and reference and the many points of view coalesce into detailed complete if kaleidoscopic view of the territory. In here are some real nuggets, like the uncensored interview of Harry for High Times and cross interview with Nina Persson of The Cardigans. There are plenty of photos from all parts of the Blondie/Deborah Harry history and some interviews with the photographers. "Part IV: In Retrospect" contains discographies from the U.S. and U.K. perspectives along with many pages of appreciations from various authors. Metz gives a short synopsis of each article explaining how it fits in. The book is a must for the Blondie fan and adds much to those that are interested in the NYC punk landscape she grew out of.

It's in this book!! This book is the most thorough documentation on the band Blondie that you can buy. Where some other books are more personal (Gary Valentine's reflections on his years with the band in NEW YORK ROCKER or MAKING TRACKS, Chris Stein's and Deborah Harry's take on band's early days) or opinionated (the classic Lester Bang's book on Blondie which has long been out of print) this new one by Allan Metz is by far the most detailed and up to date.

The book includes essays about various stages of Blondie's and Deborah Harry's career by fans and critics which covers everything from their early punk days in the 1970's all the way up to their 1999 reunion and comeback tour. The book also has rare and previously unavailable magazine/newspaper articles concerning the band (I was very happy to see the Anita Pallenberg interview of Deborah from 2001 which I had heard about but not been able to find) and an extensive collection of photographs which cover all eras of Blondie. I'd say 90-95% of the photographs published in this book are ones that I have never seen before, they are all black and white and very good quality.

If you are a fan of 1970's punk, pop music in general and most especially if you are a fervant fan of Blondie or Deborah Harry then I highly recommend this book for your collection. It's the one book out there that covers Blondie's entire career! Why pass that up?

Mr. Metz has really done it! This is a massive book just loaded with detailed information on Blondie and Debbie Harry. There are many, many articles by expert fans and professional writers. The book is all about Blondie's history from the beginning of the punk movement to the year 2002. There are lots of fantastic pictures, many that I've never seen before. For the price, it is well worth it. The book paid for itself in my first few nights of reading enjoyment. It's very thick, more than 500 pages. Once I get finished reading it, it'll become a permanant resident on my music-reference bookshelf. This book is must-reading for any Blondie or Debbie Harry fan. Highly recommended

This 500+ page book is more or less a scrapbook of Blondie articles, stories , and photos reprinted in a 500 page text.
Though I am so glad there is another Blondie book out there ( first one in 20 years) . I do want to say there are inaccurate dates for the photos in this book. However this is a book all Blondie fans should have as it does have
many pics that are very rare . Many many fans and reporters contribute to this homage to a band that has influenced everyone from Madonna to No Doubt. There are no color photos in this collection. Which was a disappointment. But kudos to Allan Metz for putting this together. I do think he should have waited a few more months to put this out to coincide with the new Blondie Cd and to have pics of the recent Blondie" Camp Funtime "tour. But this will give the fans something until the new Blondie CD is released.

Just got a copy of the NEW Blondie book,, As a huge Blondie fan I'm glad I own it, but for anyone who knows little about Blondie, be prepared to be totally confuse. The book makes way too many references to so many people(in the punk & music scene) that the average person could careless. There needed to be more pictures, and less essays. I found many of the essays just plain boring. And there weren't any COLOR pictures!! The vintage Blondie photo were great,, but the newer pictures of Blondie and Deborah Harry were unfocused and not very good. Why make the "newest" Blondie book not palatable for hard core Blondie fans, and totally CONFUSING for the general public.

Simplier is better and this complex series of article and essays reminds me more of a college text book.
The idea of the Blondie book was great,, but what happined??

If you are a Blondie fan or just someone who wants to know all about the band that started it all this is the book for you.Excellent!...