Review:

on 2011-02-22 CharlesMartel Said:

Blondie's comeback album, after more than 15 years in the pop wilderness of break-up land, was led by the wonderful track "Maria" which was a big commercial hit for the band when released as a single. Yet this was really the only track on the album which was in the same vein as their earlier material from nearly two decades before. It was inevitable that it should be so, but for some that was a huge disappointment. Although I did not come to the same conclusion, I can see why many did.

Blondie had moved on with age, matured and developed during the long hiatus and the album has a more sophisticated feel to it. In that sense, although the band members are the same, this is not the same band at all. Gone is the pop pleasure of their late seventies and early eighties stuff. You cannot dance to this and for most of the time you cannot tap your feet to it either. It ought to be remembered that the band tore itself apart over the direction they had taken back then. It would have been foolhardy in the extreme to have gone back to the same style of music which had created those tensions in the first place, not that it would have been possible anyway.

As a consequence this is not what you expect. This is not a pop album. There are influences from the world of jazz and funk as well, and the lyric writing has matured. Musically, the album is not as solid as it might have been and clearly the conflicts between the band members which provided so much passion in the late seventies and early eighties, ultimately leading to the band's demise, had been resolved or at least put aside. Indeed, maturity is the word which is best associated with this album. Clearly Blondie wanted to make a comeback with a completely new sound. There is a case for arguing that this desire was not entirely successful. Had the songs been stronger then they might have achieved what they set out to do. But I would regard most of these songs as being on the weaker side.

The problem is that, when Blondie came back, people wanted the old Blondie of the 1970's. I did. Initially then this album was a disappointment. However, it does grow on you slightly. Had I reviewed this when it first came out it would have got a two or a one and a half. After listening to it a few times, it is somewhat better now, though I have to admit that were it not for "Maria" it would be a weak album indeed. It takes some time to get into. Having said that, it is still never going to be anywhere near the classics of their first life as a pop group and nor should it be evaluated in that context.

Yet there is no way that this album deserves the slating it gets from some music critics, who seem to think that Blondie should sound like 1979 and Debbie Harry should look like she did in the same year. Time moves on. The band has overcome the differences which pulled them apart back then and have come back a new band with new ideas and a new sound. They may not have got it quite right but it is an effort which deserves to be commended rather than slated. Just because it doesn't fit a pre-conceived notion of what they ought to sound like is not a reason for this album to languish in the sixth layer of hell that is the smug music critic's slagging off.
Rating: 5/10