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Parallel Lines - No.17 mate. Loads of vids etc on that one.
So it is.
Sorry mate, somehow, I completely missed that which is really annoying. In fact I missed the batch. I will enjoy watching those for obvious reasons then will move on to Asia.
Sorry mate, somehow, I completely missed that which is really annoying. In fact I missed the batch. I will enjoy watching those for obvious reasons then will move on to Asia.
No apology necessary Longdogs, I didn't want you missing out though. You never heard the Asia album before bud?
No.17: “Parallel Lines” by Blondie (1978)
And here it is, it was always gonna be high up in here. The second album I ever bought (or rather won in a Look-In magazine crossword competition!), Parallel Lines is just a brilliant slice of perfect pop music all the way through its 12 compact songs.
The iconic sleeve with its black and white striped design. Five boys in suits and the hands-on-hips pure white dress image of a defiant Debbie Harry. The edgy new-wave of ‘Picture This’, ‘Hanging On The Telephone’ and ‘One Way Or Another’. The 60’s bubblegum pop of Buddy Holly’s ‘I’m Gonna Love You Too’ and ‘Pretty Baby’, the smouldering guitar (courtesy of Robert Fripp) on a rare ballad ‘Fade Away And Radiate’. But then came the cutesy teenage love song ‘Sunday Girl’ and the song which really threw Blondie into the megastar division – the Chic-styled new-wave disco classic ‘Heart Of Glass’. And of course, there’s Debbie.
What more could you want from a full-on pop album this side of Abba?
Oh my! Just reminded myself of why I liked Blondie. I'm sure toilet roll sales must have shot up around that time.
Apart from the obvious, Blondie were a great band, something I only realised in later life. I always like 'Fade away and radiate'.
Oh my! Just reminded myself of why I liked Blondie. I'm sure toilet roll sales must have shot up around that time.
Apart from the obvious, Blondie were a great band, something I only realised in later life. I always like 'Fade away and radiate'.
They were and are still great. I've never seen them live but would love to.
Going back to Boston for a minute.
I put the first four albums on an extended MP3 CD for the car this week, playing them all the way through in order.
This morning coming back from work at 6am Third Stage was on and the track 'My Destination' was playing as I almost reached home. It's only two minutes long and is a sort of extension of 'Amanda', but the voice on Brad Delp is extraordinary. The way he virtually speaks the first verse then takes it so high after the 1min30 mark then suddenly dropping his pitch, it's beyond comprehension to be honest. Amazing. It didn't quite finish until I got to the residential area of my road, so I carried on to the next roundabout playing it full blast...I was screaming it out in the car lol!
Just the one today taking us to the Top 5 later in the week...
No.6: “Unknown Pleasures” by Joy Division (1979)
I’m sure most of you would be expecting this album in the Top 10. I see this as the absolute benchmark of all indie albums of the first post-punk wave. A band who could and would have been huge, they were on the cusp of breaking through before the untimely suicide of vocalist/songwriter Ian Curtis happened when he was just 23 years old.
Tony Wilson’s Factory Record signed Joy Division when they released their infamous (and now very rare) EP ‘An Ideal For Living’ in 1978, following their name change from the Stiff Kittens. With the dark, doomy and mysterious production sound of Martin Hannett and sleeves designed by Peter Savile (this cover is one of THE most iconic in history), the line-up of Curtis, guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Steve Morris remained intact for their very short career: Two albums (one posthumously), three singles and that was that, the remaining threesome of the group becoming New Order in early 1981.
Unknown Pleasures is a superlative album. Its 10 haunting and sometimes frightening tracks are the stuff of post-punk legend. ‘Disorder’, ‘She’s Lost Control’ the terrifying ‘Day Of The Lords’; Classics all. Joy Division will always live on in spirit as one of the most influential bands of all-time.