| CUSTOMER REVIEWS: | 5/5 - A Great Follow-Up to Parallel Lines
BLONDIE had been kicking around for several years before the band exploded into public conciousness with PARALLEL LINES, an album that made the most of Debbie Harry's sensuous voice and the band's "new wave" tone that fused punk and pop to impressive effect. EAT TO THE BEAT was the follow up, and although it stayed very much in the slick mold of PARALLEL LINES it did not repeat so much as elaborate the previous album.
On the whole, the recordings here are at once edgier and softer than those found on PARALLEL LINES, with "Atomic" similar in feel to "Heart of Glass" but considerably jumpier and "Sound-a-Sleep" echoing Debbie Harry's vocals for "Fade Away and Radiate" but softening the instrumentation to create a gentler tone. And then there are the knock-outs: "Dreaming" has sometimes been called the band's best single with its typical BLONDIE punk-pop fusion, both "The Hardest Part" and "Die Young, Stay Pretty" have a truly funky feel unlike anything on PARALLEL LINES, and "Union City Blue" possesses an English-toned wall-of-sound quality. My own favorite of the set is "Slow Motion," which is just flat-out fun.
The re-master here is very nice, and the additional live cuts are interesting although not entirely in line with the album as a whole. If you're a BLONDIE fan, PARALLEL LINES should still be your first purchase--but EAT TO THE BEAT should be a close second. Recommended.
5/5 - arguably the best drumming ever...
I have to admit this was the first Blondie album I owned, why back in 1979, so if there are legitimate grievances of "sameness" with previous releases, this is the one I heard first so these songs win out. But I think the whining of sameness is rather stupid, Blondie was doing stuff that others weren't, and when you're setting new trends, what else is going to be the consequence? You're going to repeat yourself. Were they supposed to stop and start outputting what everyone else was? They'd be criticized for that. And they have also been accused of being too eclectic and "showy" with their multi-facetedness. Well boo-frickin'-hoo. I thought this is what albums were supposed to be, ETTB being one of my first, and was sorely disappointed by other offerings by other bands that seemed flat and worn by the end of the 40-odd minutes. If you got it, flaunt it. Being able to pull off 4 genres an album instead of one, go for it.
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<br />As for ETTB, it contains what I think is perhaps the best drumming ever recorded. Fierce yet precise, rolling fills that are tasteful and not cliche, pounding, pounding, pounding, but not annoyingly put out there. The drumming carried every song along with it. This album is criticized as being a Parallel lines clone. Well the strategy may have been the same (though see above) but the drumming is much better, both technically and what was mixed onto the tape/master. Clem Burke ought to be a hero of the skins, yet I rarely hear about him.
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5/5 - An excellent collection of songs.
Every song on this album is great. Many people absolutely hate "victor", but i love the guys' take on gregorian chants!
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<br />If you are a young punk music fan that is new to Blondie, you must get this album.
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<br />The greatest reason this album is loved by fans of blondie are the credits:
<br />Deborah Harry
<br />Chris Stein
<br />Clement Burke
<br />Jimmy Destri
<br />Nigel Harrison
<br />Frank "The Freak" Infante
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<br />Together, these musicians just clicked, and each has contributed to the band's collective success. Those were the days. |
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Sunday, January 3, 2010
Last visit: 2/1/2010
