Parallel Lines

I came in heavily biased to this one, and really wanted to let loose with a 5. Blondie is a blind spot for me that's always seemed ripe for uncovering some real tasty gems that perhaps even the most elitist music snobs wouldn't fuck with because they were massively successful and led by a woman. I held my hand out with 5 fat stars. It was there for Blondie to take. Hit play. Blondie didn't want the 5. By the middle of the album Blondie reached in for the stars but I quickly pulled my hand back to my hair and said "too slow!" I gave a star away to my neighbor who stopped by for dinner. I put another star on the WalMart grill and cooked it for 45 minutes. Blondie pretended not to care about the leftover stars. I think we're all just ok with how things worked out. B-

Everyone knows all the Blondie staples, most of us don't realise they all lived on one album. This might be one of the best albums ever created. I forget how great this stuff is, it's not until you sit and pay attention that you realise how awesome it is. Not a bad track in the bunch.

What a terrific album. Front to back, every song on here is worth listening to - Debbie Harry's voice is fantastic and oscillates seamlessly between the punk-ier vibes of a song like 'One Way or Another' to the lighter, airy vibes of songs like 'Fade Away and Radiate' or 'Heart of Glass'. The album ends perfectly with the delightfully melodic and catchy 'Just Go Away'. Worth many, many listens.

The perfect pop rock album. Blondie is mostly seen as the epitome of early New Wave alongside The Talking Heads and Devo, but they were able to blend countless genres in a way that was still consistent and accessible to most audiences. Beyond the synth-heavy New Wave, these tracks are full of power pop, punk, and pure rock. "Sunday Girl" takes inspiration from 60s R&B, while "Heart of Glass" is the perfect disco song despite contemporary resentment, and classic Buddy Holly is covered in the rockabilly "I'm Gonna Love You Too." Blondie would further show later skills in their reggae "The Tide is High" and hip hop "Rapture." One of the best track placements I've ever seen. Starts off with a banger of an intro, which is apparently a cover. It has all punk energy with appropriate synths and catchy lyrics (both chorus and verses). Then it just transitions straight into an even more intense and catchier classic, "One Way or Another" which is more rock and less punk, but matches the first track's strengths in every way. Things tone down slightly in "Picture This." I'm really glad that Debbie Gray is the vocalist of all these songs, she's able to sing to such a range of moods that it keeps the audience looking forward to each track. There is no filler in this album. Sure, there are tracks I'm not a huge fan of, but I still like them all, and in fact, I would listen to the majority on their own casually. That's how great all of them stand out. In case you're curious, the one song I'm indifferent about is "I Know But I Don't Know." I like the wacky vocals and sound that almost reminds me of Devo, but the beginning is a tad bit annoying, and the rock solo is generic, but I really like the last minute. I love how the album ends with two more punk-like tracks, as if there's no need for the full pop facade (excluding the "Just Go Away" rock solo), going back to punk roots. I probably would have swapped these two tracks since the Buddy Holly cover is a slightly better closer. Favorite tracks: One Way or Another, Picture This, Fade Away and Radiate, 11:59, Sunday Girl, Heart of Glass (I had trouble excluding some as my "favorite" cause nearly the entire album would be on here)

Obvi so good! And finally a strong female presence!

A perfect Pop Rock album? Definitely a solid track list with timeless classics like "One Way or Another" and "Heart of Glass" but solid gold behind it like "Hanging on the Telephone" and "Sunday Girl", though for that song you should make sure you get the Frenglish version that inexplicable s'est mis au français à mi-chemin. Pourquoi? Je n'en ai aucune idée, c'est vraiment super mimi et bien plus tard Zooey Deschanel a repris cette chanson avec She & Him et elle correspond parfaitement à son esthétique. Mais je m'égare... 4 étoiles

Debbie Harry, the legend! Blondie is cited so often as an '80s staple that I didn't realize they began making music in the '70s. This sounds a lot more rock-oriented than I expected, it makes me wish we'd get some other, older Blondie records on the list. Anyway, I dig this one. It's got two classic hits and plenty of excellent album cuts. Long live Debbie Harry. Favorite tracks: Heart of Glass, 11:59, One Way or Another, Sunday Girl, Hanging on the Telephone. Album art: Iconic. It's black and white without being black and white. Debbie front and center AS SHE SHOULD BE. Perfect color contrast, and the red font is great. This could be an all-timer. 4.5/5

Nr. 144/1001 Hanging On The Telephone 3/5 One Way Or Another 3/5 Picture This 3/5 Fade Away And Radiate 3/5 Pretty Baby 2/5 I Know But I Don't Know 2/5 11:59 3/5 Will Anything Happen 3/5 Sunday Girl 3/5 Heart Of Glass 4/5 I'm Gonna Love You Too 3/5 Just Go Away 3/5 Average: 2,92 New-Wave is just a genre I can't seem to really enjoy.

Loved this Album. Debbie Harry has such a powerful voice and she wasn’t afraid to be different in a very tumultuous time for rock and roll, and thus helped to influence a revolution. Add that to Chris Stein’s unique guitar compositions and you have a band that was made to break the mold of rock in the 70s and open up a new era of punk and pop rock music.

Probably the band's best album. It's got most of the band's hits, and they're great, but it also shines with its lesser known songs. The album is just a great listen from start to finish. Debbie Harry has a wonderful range, from a little rasp that shines through when she gets louder to the soft whispers in the quieter moments.

What I took away from my most recent listen was irrepresible urgency. If you don't answer, she'll ring your phone right off the wall. To get ya, she'll follow your bus downtown (and spy you in the supermarket buying rat food?!). She'll "wait until morning [to] take tomorrow by the hand" because "today can last another million years". She wants you to make it, but if you do "will anything happen?" For these fatefully spirirted youngsters Something. Must. Always. Be. Happening. We're all dying to live, rushing straight ahead in our own parrallel lines. This catalsym of sexual, intellectual and emotional energy is the sound of those lines converging.

This is just a really good album. High points include the hits ("One Way or Another" and "Heart of Glass"), and tracks like "Hanging on the Telephone" and "Fade Away and Radiate" (I hear Fripp, I like). I've been listening to it repeatedly for several days now and I keep noticing all kinds of great touches and I'm not remotely getting tired of it. Most albums I rate as a 5 really have some aspect that blows me away and I can't say this album has that, but it's just good start to finish. That's worth a 5 also.

fantastic. so re-listenable. he voice is everything

Parallel Lines The best of Blondie was one of the official minidisc albums I got when I got my minidisc player for Christmas in 1998. Nothing to do with Parallel Lines but whenever I hear Blondie I think about that Minidisc player. Sweet memories aside this album is just a terrific rush of pop perfection, right in the sweet spot of new wave, disco, reggae, pop, power pop, little bits of country and rock, with a slightly crazy number of classic bangers: Hanging on the Telephone, One Way or Another, Picture This, Fade Away & Radiate, Pretty Baby, Sunday Girl, Heart of Glass, I’m Gonna Love You To. Some of the less famous songs are great as well, I Know but I Don’t Know has a great seedy pop snark to it, 11.59’s slight doo wop wedded to power pop is super, Will Anything Happen is an excellent bit of new wave vaguely rockabilly synth pop and Just Go Away is a lovely bit of attitude. All bangers, all the time 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍 Playlist submission: Heart of Glass the obvious one, but I love Fade Away & Radiate.

Masterpiece of new wave music. Almost a greatest hits album

I first heard Blondie on the Muppet Show when I was a child in around 1981, but let's not dwell on that. When I was teenager, my mate Shawn's parents had a caravan at Kendall's Beach, near Kiama, and they kindly let Shawn and his friends (including me, Philippa, Tim, Jessica, Irina, and few others) head down there for the occasional weekend, unsupervised. We were generally a well-behaved bunch, and didn't get up to much trouble beyond splitting a bottle of lambrusco between of us (which is not a lot of cheap wine per person). We would often go hang out at the pizza place at Surf Beach, just over the headland, eat pizza and feed coins into the jukebox. A vinyl jukebox was almost an anachronism by then, so it was a bit special. They didn't update the singles very often, if at all, so it usually had the same reliable songs available whenever we visited, including a bunch of Blondie singles. We always played the Blondie singles. Always. When Shawn and Tim and I formed a band a few years later, we mostly played (terrible) originals, but Heart of Glass was a regularly featured cover. As a result, I mainly think of Blondie as a singles band. The Best of Blondie is a guaranteed good time, and a record I keep in my DJ crates for dance floor emergencies. They had a magnificent streak of amazing pop singles through the late 70s into the early 80s. I own a few of their albums (including Parallel Lines) but I rarely play them because I live under the misapprehension that they just were a singles band, and that the albums are full of filler. So, giving Parallel Lines a proper listen today was quite a surprise. Blondie _are_ a phenomenal singles band, and they were at the height of their powers here. There were six (SIX!) singles released from the album, and they are all pretty great (with chart-topper Heart of Glass the clear standout). But even the album tracks are pretty damn strong. This is a really consistent album of power pop all the way through. The songs are awash with hooks and strong melodies and a beat you can bug out to. The covers are well chosen and sit well with the originals. Their cover of Buddy Holly's 'I'm Gonna Love You Too' is my deep cut discovery from this listen (although, in fairness, it was released as a single. I didn't know that). Mike Chapman had a hard time wrangling the famously undisciplined band into playing, you know, _well_, which he managed to do without smoothing off all their energetic edges. The band is muscular and taut and melodic. Debbie Harry's vocals are tough and expressive and charismatic, even if not always technically perfect. Charles Shaar Murray famously wrote in a 1975 overview of the CBGB's scene that Debbie Harry was cute, but lacking star power. By 1978, I'm sure he was eating his words. Fade Away and Radiate is a bit of the odd track out, and I understand why some people don't like it, but I love the moody weirdness, embellished by Robert Fripp and his idiosyncratically Fripp-y guitar playing. Always love a bit of Robert Fripp. Based on this listen, I am prepared to re-evaluate my prejudices about Blondie. They were an outstanding singles band, one of the best of all time, _and_ capable of producing high quality pop albums as well. All killer, no filler (as they say). Five stars.

As a female who plays bass and loves tempo experiments, this album has been a favourite for years now. I've tried today to analyse why. It's Blondie's 3rd album, and it shows in its confident production and aural layering. Thematically they're still experimenting, not settling on one emotion or vibe for too long. Listening through headphones I can hear multiple understated stabby guitars & sparkly synths. The bass has a really fun bouncing energy in most tracks (which is guaranteed to hook me). Several of the songs have a schoolyard teasing vibe ("nyer nyer!"), especially noticeable in One Way Or Another after the lyrics change from "I'm gonna getcha" to "I'm gonna lose ya". This is a band that doesn't take themselves too seriously :) But then! Oh, they follow up with Picture This, a sweet nostalgic longing, with a hint of desperation. Heart of Glass is wonderfully polished, with a trip hazard in the first half of the bridge where the tempo loses a beat (7/8 time not standard 4/4): a reminder that life isn't smooth & predictable, so take care not to drop & shatter the heart. To follow this up with I'm Gonna Love You Too and its wild, unrestrained, loose energy is just lovely. My favourite of the Blondie albums, and when my vinyl wears out from overuse I'll be replacing it for sure :)

Fantastic album. It starts with a phone ring and then punches straight into Hanging on the telephone. One of the best "intros" of any album. The album continues with a mix of punk and new wave, fast and slow. All in all, a very well put together album.

This was one of the very first albums I bought - actually my brother bought it, I bought ELO's Discovery, the only time he has demonstrated better taste. Only two things to note on one of the easiest 5 star reviews: I never knew that Hanging on the Telephone was a cover until very rcently, and you need to make sure your copy has the 5:50 disco mix of heart of Glass and not the single edit some early pressings of both vinyl and CD use (including my brother's copy I quickly inherited and still have).

- 'Hanging on the telephone' is a good opener - Did NOT know 'One Way or Another' was their song, ICONIC!! - 'Picture This' really conveys what I want in life: "All I want is 20/20 vision" - 'Fade Away and Radiate', 'Pretty Baby','11:59' - very good run - HEART OF GLASS IS ALSO THEIRS AND FROM THE SAME ALBUM??? WHAT?? How in the world have I never heard their name? Another ICONIC song!!!! - 'Once I Had A Love' may I use the word iconic again?? Never heard of Blondie before, but today I can surely say what an amazing album this is, of course the word to summarize it all is definitely ICONIC, the only reason it didn't had 5 stars is that it could be done without one or two songs that were subpar but overall GREAT

I came into this album expecting the hits to be good and the deep tracks to be mediocre and uninteresting, but man was I wrong. I loved how different each song was and how different the lead singer sounded in each song. Blondie shows off her true talent in this album that I didn’t know she had. Also the guitar work and production on this album are solid. This album stays interesting throughout making it the perfect length.

Really solid album. It starts of strong right from the get go. A ton of catchy tracks on here as well, especially Heart of Glass. It does have a few songs, that didn't catch my attention, as some of the other tracks did, but none of them were terrible. Definitely listening to it again.

A great pop/new wave rock album. Good from start to finish, even beyond the hits.

NEW WAVE É BOM DEMAIS eu esperava bastante e tudo me foi entregado com requintes de guitarrinha e synth. dançante, direto e até levemente punk as vezes. bom demais. talvez eu esteja obcecado por esse aqui. disclaimer: se for fazer pop rock, por favor, faça com personalidade, que nem esse aqui.

Großartig!

Ahmazing!

I love it! it's a really easy thing to vibe to. It's great to listen to when you are in a energetic mood.

bass; Eat to the Beat also worth listening

Great poppy album

Super rad! Blondie forever!

God what I would do to be Debbie Harry... who doesn't want to be Debbie Harry????? Just the coolest of the cool, I'd say her and Stevie. This album is not new to me, and to be honest was lovely to listen to it again as I don't think I've listened to it since I was about 13. It deserves a 5 I think because of it is a deep meaningful album but it merges a lot of genres, it is fun and it just has that added spunk and coolness from Harry that just... IT'S JUST COOL OK. Love that punk is a constant residue throuhout, you can hear it in every track but it's not a punk record. 50s esque sounds in 'Picture This' but then the anger that grows in it and gumption shows how we have moved on from 50s rockabilly, especially for female vocalists. New Wave sounds in 'Fade Away and Radiate' at the beginning at least, but also like that it doesn't try to be anything more than it should if that makes sense. Overall, I am a big fan. I think 'Hangin' On The Telephone' is still the best but apart from that I love 'Picture This' and '11:59'. Got to always love Blondie.

Really phenomenal new wave/post punk. Boasts some super-creative songwriting, great sing-along melodies, and some early rock influences.

Loved

10/10

Classic - trying to get Aga to move from Abba to Blondie...

Several certified bangers in here. Many more which are above average to great. It melds New Wave, disco, 50s rock n roll, to create a definitive late 70s post-punk album.

I like blondie SOMETIMES

Pretty much perfect

It's Blondie's Parallel Lines, for God's sake. Instant five for the cover alone.

I liked it more each time I listened through.

ну это моёеее,даже добавить нечего,обожаю Дебби Харри икона,а ещё она обещала новый альбом в 2025 году, ждём...

Excellent stuff! So many bangers on one album. Simpsons: Yes

Excellent album, the really well-known songs are great, the rest of the album is also decent. I should listen to more Blondie.

3 months ago I worked on a Blondie tribute act and was quietly optimistic. I know some of their songs (Blondie is the name of the band, not the singer, something I learnt working that night!) and they’re pretty good. I finished the gig and was blown away by how much I enjoyed it. Now onto this album. All good shit, 5 stars!

Perfect power pop. Those rhythm changes on 'Heart of Glass'!

Know

So many bangers. Can remember jumping around to this album that my dad has on vinyl when I was small... and not much has changed. Love Blondie!

Best album yet. Absolute banger.

Exceptional.

This album was awesome I really fucked with this. Heart of Glass and One Way or Another are classics in my eyes. Both have good stories: One time I was driving my neighbor, Dougie, home from school. We were tired of listening to my Spotify playlists, and randomly agreed to listen to some good ole' FM radio instead. The song that came on right after we switched was Heart of Glass by Blondie, the first time we both ever heard it! We both instantly loved it and would listen to it together to and fro from school quite often :). One Way Or Another I used in my short film for a high school film class. All my classmates really liked that short film I made and I remember the year after I took that class, students in the current class would come up to me and say how much they loved that film I made, I was very proud of myself :). So overall, this album houses two songs that I have good memories with, and I loved the rest of it. Funny how I never checked it out after liking these two songs. 5/5!

Three tracks in and I was beginning to think it was their best of album. I knew it wasn't though as I have that and quite frankly it's not as good as this one. Great songs done really well, and not just the well known ones. It's definitely on the to buy list.

Blonde are great, the New York scene in the 70's was buzzing with talent. The guitar work is fantastic, the different edges and emotions Debbie Harry manages to put into her vocals show how good a singer she was. Not really a bad track. A low 5.

¡Genial! ¡No hay canción que no esté genial!

Classy

A timeless classic.

Deservedly iconic, an easy five stars

Great album, hits all the right notes!

It’s on the Mount Rushmore of American New Wave albums. From Harry’s sultry and sarcastic expressive vocals to the lyric snide to the surprisingly complex guitar lines to the perfect pop ditty composition…. It’s an amazing album with no parallel. Pardon me the wordplay.

One of my favorite genres is alt/indie rock from the aughts, especially The Strokes. So, not only was I totally surprised how much I loved this album, I was even more taken aback by how much it sounded like something from the 2000s. Obviously Blondie inspired those bands, not the other way around, but of course, I'm coming around to Blondie in reverse. Anyway, there was not a bad track on this album, with a couple of recognizable hits. It has great flow, catchy riffs, and ripping solos. Man, I can't wait to come back to this one. Easy 5 stars.

An absurdly strong album. A bunch of these tunes I've heard an order of magnitude more times than I'd voluntarily choose to, and they still sound great. Debbie Harry is ridiculously listenable. Fave tracks - "Hanging on the Telephone", "One Way or Another", "Sunday Girl" and "Heart of Glass" from the overplayed tracks. My overall fave from these listens, though, has to be "I Know But I Don't Know" - great stuff!

This was a 16 year old’s perfect album in 1978. It covered all the bases musically and stylishly for that year. Listening now, only the hits still resonate. Rest of the album feels like a bit like filler. I’d go 4 on this now but will give it a 5 because of the strength of the hits and of course Debbie.

Echt fantastisch, wie zijn one direction?

buen grupo blondie la verdad

10/10. Ah, yet another epic classic. Albums like these tend to be fairly hit-or-miss albums, and this one is a hit. I love the melodies that accompany the songs. The vocals are great. Also, I am quite fond of the structure of the album. It stays consistently good throughout the album, and doesn't fall flat. This is the kind of music that I simply crave every once in a while, and really need to listen to when I do. Oh, and who can forget that the song "Heart of Glass" is on this album? I bloody love that song. I listened to it 46 times in a single day a few months. Everything about that song just feels so perfect!!! It's SO exciting when that song comes up (not this time around; my Mama interrupted me a few seconds after the song began playing). :) Aside from "Heart of Glass", there are other straight-up bops on the album like "Sunday Girl", "Hanging on the Telephone", and "Picture This". Ah, this album is so nice! :)

being into this album comfortably the coolest thing i did as a teenager

Yes

Favorite songs: Hanging on the Telephone, 11:59, Heart of Glass

This album is peak Blondie, strong from start to finish. Love the voice and the pop rocky style of the music. So many bangers on one album. Favorite songs were: 1. Hanging on the Telephone 8. Sunday Girl 9. Heart of Glass 10/10

Right away I'm enjoying this more than I expected! I definitely thought Blondie was her name and that she was a solo act. I didn't know she had a band. "Hanging On The Telephone" is a fun song. I'm realizing as I go that my dad used to play these songs. "One Way or Another" is awesome and is unlocking memories of childhood car rides and hanging out in the living room. The vocal performance in this song is iconic. "Pretty Baby" is a very ABBA sounding song. I love it. The synth coming in on "I Know but I Don't Know" was exciting. It's a shame it didn't last that long, the rest of the song was a little stale. "11:59" is my favorite song so far. "Sunday Girl" has another awesome vocal performance. This is a groovy track. "Heart of Glass" hit me like a truck. I've heard it so many times and I've never know what it was. "I'm Gonna Love You" has me wanting to clap along and do some shimmying in my office chair. This album has a lot going for it. Blondie's amazing vocal performance is the highlight, but there's a ton of great guitar parts and fun backup vocals. 9/10

Wow, it was great to hear this again! It has been decades! I remember loving the 50s vibe of this album and thinking it made sense because Debbie Harry was born in 1945 so she grew up with that sound and then made it her own with Blondie. Pure pop with attitude and almost every track is a winner--I've always loved Fade Away and Radiate in particular. Thank you Blondie!

Perfect album.

You could chuck heart of glass into the worst album on this list and it would make it a solid 4*. Fortunately the rest of this is full of bangers too.

Debbie Harry is an under-rated vocalist. Fabulous, joyful power pop, brimming with invention. Clem Burke is on top form, too - dynamic drums throughout. And an all-time classic cover.

4.5

This is the kind of album that 2 years ago I would have absolutely hated. I would have thought it was cheesy and annoying, and almost has a bit of a Stock, Aitken, and Waterman type quality to it. But I feel like since then I have really learned to appreciate new wave for what it is, and I can absolutely say that I now love this album.

The Heart of Glass/Sunday Girl single record was my absolute favourite from my mum's collection when I was a kid. It turns out this entire album is killer and I liked every single track. Debbie Harry has amazing range and the whole thing was just fun to listen to. Rating: 5

Excellent album - some really good songs on here, Debbie Harry’s voice, it’s really good.

debbie harry the woman that you are

Debbie girl why do you look so angry 😭

What a great album. Kinda pop, kinda rock, several bangers. Songs that just make you wanna sing along

Solid all the way through. Big hits as well as deep cuts that deserve more appreciation.

What an album. So many hits.

I liked Blondie before this, now I love her

Almost the perfect album imo

“Picture this” is an absolute BOP! My favorite song I haven’t heard before… so far on this adventure. “Heart of glass” is a true classic, a song I can listen to over and over. A lot of really great, timeless songs on this. Blondie is the shit

This is an important album as it brought pop punk to the forefront.

Loved it Definitely great all around. Catchy tunes. T a lot of future artists

This is just a classic, I can tell some references to surf rock, a bit of reference and feel to UK rock, I know blondie from a long time, but I never heard the entire album, till know 10-10

Wonderful, start to finish. Debbie Harry's powerful vocals beautifully complimented by the rest of the band. Will definitely listen to again

Great album. Brought back great memories. She is a icon and broke through so many barriers!

It's ironic that a fair amount of BRITpop was a pale imitation of the contents of this album.

Too many good songs to be anything other than a 5.

5/5 own on vinyl classic album full of great songs. Mum’s favourite Blondie album Hanging on the telephone Heart of Glass

Excellent stuff :)

Have you ever wanted an upbeat song? One Way Or Another is one of my all time favorite songs EVER. I love the lead singer's voice and her very upbeat and rock-ish voice. Also, I love the background music as well, I love all the instruments too. Heart of Glass is also a good one as well, I love the scating in the middle of the song too. I recommend this album for anyone who wants upbeat and rock-ish songs.

I mean…

Even better than I remember. Even the weakest song is a fun juiced up cover of Buddy Holly. Honestly hard to find a fault with this one. Rating: 4.9

Outstanding album. Perhaps a little lull (drop in tempo) in the mid-tracks, but overall an absolute belter

One of my all time favourites! So many amazing singles, a real no skip for me. Even after all this time it still feels current. Listening: freestyling at the skatepark Favourite song: Sunday girl

Love Blondie! And love this album. I would own it on vinyl if I didn't already have Best of Blondie. Favorites are the normies- One Way and Heart of Glass.