Blondie- Greatest Hits

Blondie's Greatest Hits mostly features songs from their heyday of 1977-1982. I've never been a fan of the band, but have enjoyed the odd single from time to time. So at some stage, I ended up buying this Greatest Hits album.

Kicking off with Dreaming, I just can't get past the terribly literal and twee lyrics, which are drowning in over-production (hmm... an attempt to mask fundamentally bland songwriting perhaps?!). The chorus is better than the rest of the song, but that's not saying much...

Call Me is Blondie at their best: irresistible pop perfection. The key ingredients are a fantastic groove and catchy, singalong chorus. A timeless choice for late-night drunken karaoke.

Many people would consider Heart of Glass in the same league as Call Me, but somehow it fails to appeal for me. The novelty of the chipmonk lyrics has long since worn off, exposing an otherwise pretty bland song.

One Way Or Another injects some variety to the vocals, with a snarly (*cough* non-autotuned, for a change...) vocal style. Unfortunately, it doesn't sit well with the song's bouncy groove, so the result ends up feeling contrived. While I'm moaning, the band should have left Caribbean music well alone! The Tide Is High is cringingly plastic and over-produced, and Island Of Lost Souls is also terrible.

Also, the vocals of X Offender don't suit the music, in fact each section of music doesn't even suit the next. What a trainwreck!

The oddball funk-hiphop hit Rapture has always been a favourite of mine. In particular, the very strange narrative (men from Mars eating bars and then cars??) during the rapping. Speaking of funk, The Hardest Part funk injects some great variety into proceedings. In fact, it's a fantastic pop-funk song in its own right. My favourite elements are the nice build-up with the pre-chorus, and the bouncing groove in general.

Rip Her To Shreds features nicely jangly instrumental. Unfortunately, the superficial and bitchy lyrics ruin it for me.

Maria was born of Blondie's late 90s reformation and, surprisingly, it works a treat. The highlight are the lyrics, which- usually for Blondie- are nicely poetic and imaginative. And they're well supported by a catchy pop tune.

For me, Atomic represents Blondie in a nutshell: a simple yet brilliantly catchy groove, vocals which are auto-tuned beyond all recognition and lyrics with no depth whatsoever.
Make it magnificent,
Toniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
Your hair is beautiful,
Toniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight
On second thoughts, perhaps it's working on a deeper level to make some kind of profound social commentary. Or perhaps it's just Blondie...

Favourite songs

Call me, Rapture, Atomic, The Hardest Part

Worthwhile?

Not is a long-term sense. It has its moments, but at the end of the day it's just throwaway pop.
(Why am I so harsh on this band? It's probably got little to do with the songs, and more to do with the over-intellectualising and post-justification associated with the band, for example the notion of Blondie being part of the punk movement. So it's not really about the songs. Sorry.)