The Best of Blondie [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED]

Blondie

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1981
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000003JAL
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #34,696 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
While Best Of may not be inclusive enough for the avid collector because it focuses more on Blondie's new wave dance hits than on their punk beginnings, songs like "Heart of Glass," "Dreaming," "The Tide Is High," and "Call Me" display the diverse musical styles this band embraced. It's a new wave album, a reggae album, a dance album, a punk album, and a rap album. Rock-solid songwriting and Debbie Harry's sultry vocals hold the CD together despite the stylistic reaches of the tracks. --Beth Bessmer

Product Description

Blondie Photos

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Get the updated collection instead, April 20, 2005

By	Greg Brady "columbusboy" (Capital City) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Blondie, depending who you ask, were a seminal punk/new wave act from New York that managed to place the new sound onto the charts and help usher out disco and bring in the MTV age. Held down by blonde bombshell Debbie Harry (where they got their name)and sometime boyfriend guitarist Chris Stein, the band managed a string of hits in the late 70s/early 80s (particularly in the U.K. where they had their biggest chart success). Along the way, the band helped bring more mainstream consciousness of reggae ("The Tide is High") and rap ("Rapture") as well as glances back at 60s girl groups ("In the Flesh") and doo-wop ("Denis" was a gender switched version of Randy and the Rainbows' 1963 Top 10 hit "Denise"). They also influenced many female musicians of the day and later including Madonna, Tina Weymouth of the Talking Heads, Annie Lennox, and Gwen Stefani.

PROS:
Very nearly everything on here is at least good, and "One Way or Another" and "Call Me" are some of the best pop singles ever in my opinion.

CONS:
So why the 3 star rating only? As many others have noted, there's a better sounding (remastered), more comprehensive package out there (19 songs instead of 12 including all the songs on this package). Those extra songs include the band's 1999 comeback smash "Maria" (a U.K. #1 and Top 40 in the U.S.), the band's final U.S. top 40 hit from their first time together (1982's "Island of Lost Souls"), U.K. #2 "Denis" plus "Picture This" (a #12 U.K. charter).

BOTTOM LINE:
Get "Greatest Hits" (ASIN:B00006IM9Q) instead. Better sound, better song selection..If you find yourself really loving that one, move on to their album "Parallel Lines" (remastered with some bonus material) as your next one from Harry's band.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I never get tired to listening to this album, June 2, 2001

By	Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

If the number of times I listen to it each year means anything, "The Best of Blondie" is the best greatest hits CD in my collection. Yes, the New Wave classics like "Dreaming," "Hanging on the Telephone," "One Way Or Another" and "Call Me" are here, but like with most artists the songs I really seem to enjoy are those great songs that never got a lot of air play, like "Atomic," "Sunday Girl" and my personal favorite, "(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear." Yes, it would be nice to have a bit more representation from the punk stage of vocalist Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein (e.g., "I'm Not Living in the Real World"), but you do get the proto-rap hit "Rapture." What else can I say, except that pretty much everybody I know has this CD and loves it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best "Best of" CD I've ever bought!, December 29, 2000

By	"naomiii" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Everyone should have this collection of late 70's, early 80's pop hits. I've listened to this CD so many times I've lost count, and it's one of my all-time favorites. Blondie does something different in every song, sometime showing Debbie Harry's hip hop influence in "Rapture", punk influence in "One Way or Another", or reggae in "The Tide is High". I usually don't like "Best of" CDs, but this one does Blondie justice until that point in their career.