It breaks my heart that this may be the only Blondie I get to review because for all its occasional flashes of magic it is a pale, pale imitation of their studio albums.
For any of you unfamiliar with the group, suffice to say Blondie were the best of every indie band making to today. They had the spike and swagger of Razorlight, the humour and detached amusement of Franz Ferdinand, and the sheer, utter gorgeousness of Goldfrapp – times ten. They were our earnest yet nonchalant guitar heroes, our heartthrobs and our pop idols before the term became dragged through the mud by reality TV. And they continue to exhilarate us with their New Wave- pop – their latest studio album ‘The Curse of Blondie’ was rich in attitude and melody and they remain as cool as fuck.
It’s just that this latest offering feels like a bit of a cash-in somehow. The tracks on this live CD are a predictable mix of hits and old favourites played too fast and with guitar solos. There’s a soft-rock feel to the gentle guitar stabs and it’s just not how I like to remember these songs. The track list you can probably guess: ‘Hanging on the Telephone’; ‘Tide is High’ and ‘Heart of Glass’ etc.
I don’t want to go on too much – and there are positives: the songs are and will always be fantastic; to hear an audience is admittedly another dimension people may appreciate, and as a bonus track the album includes ‘The Dream’s Lost on Me’ a lesser known yet rousing bluegrass number.
However, all these songs appear as stronger versions elsewhere and if you are new to this group please start anywhere but here. An okay album which isn’t good enough considering it’s from an amazing band.