Minimalism Project - Blondie Parallel LInes

A couple of years ago I started attempting to review all the albums that I owned. I got about four or five in and lost momentum. Now I am proposing a different approach. This year I intend to listen to every CD I own - and if I don't love it I will get rid of it. (read more about my minimalism project here) I am going to do mini reviews of the albums as I go.

CD 2

Parallel Lines by Blondie (1978)

This is another album that I once owned on vinyl and it has always been my favourite Blondie album (although I do retain a certain fondness for their second album Plastic Letters, which I may have once had on tape but never actually owned). The Internet tells me that Parallel Lines that was much more commercial than their previous two. It certainly contains a few hits - Hanging on the Telephone, Picture This, Sunday Girl and the disco driven Heart of Glass all feature on this album, which pretty much guaranteed it would be a big commercial success. These are not my favourite tracks on the CD though - I tend to prefer their less poppy tracks. My particular favourites are 11:59 (the only track on the album written by keyboard player Jimmy Destri), Will Anything Happen and Fade Away and Radiate. There's a definite pop-punk feel to this album and it seems obvious to me that it influenced some of the later pop-punk bands like The All American Rejects and Green Day. I can see why the album was number 1 - I don't listen to it often now - but I definitely still enjoy it when I do. 

Keep.