Originally born out of the New York punk rock scene of the mid-1970s, the band made a surprising shift toward more pop-oriented material on this album, a deft mix of new wave, pop and disco produced by Mike Chapman.
In a sense, that time has long passed: Blondie, like contemporaries such as the Cars and the UK’s earliest New Pop artists specialized in whipsmart chart music created by and for adults, a trick that has all but vanished from the pop landscape. Parallel Lines, however, is practically a blueprint for the stuff: “Picture This” and “One Way or Another” are exuberant new wave, far looser than the stiff, herky-jerky tracks that would go on to characterize that sound in the 80s; “Will Anything Happen?” and the band’s cover of the Nerves’ “Hanging on the Telephone” are headstrong rock; “11:59” does run-for-the-horizon drama, while “Sunday Girl” conveys a sense of elegance. The record’s closest thing to a ballad, the noirish “Fade Away and Radiate”, owes a heavy debt to the art-pop of Roxy Music.
Read more: Album Of The Month – Blondie ‘Parallel Lines’
This event will be a special double header featuring Talking Heads: 77.
Miami
Date and Time: Sunday September 30th 2018 5:00pm – 8:00pm
Venue
Sweat Records, 5505 NE 2nd Ave, Miami, FL 33137
Tickets
$6 in advance soon
Presenter
Lauren Reskin – Sweat Records
Audio Menu
Audio Note T1 Turntable, Audio Note 1Q1 cartridge, Audio Note M2 Phono Preamplifier, Audio Note Conqueror SET Amplifier, Deja Vu Audio Custom Genoa Vintage Speakers, Audio Note Lexus Cables
