Blondie ‎– Parallel Lines

My copy has a significant error on label for B side:
Label has as credit: "The Eye of Wendor: Prophecies" by Mandalaband (CHC-1181)
Has anyone ever seen heard of this?

Wow, this pressing sounds amazing! Definitely happy this purchase! I would recommend this for sure.

My copy of this German pressing doesn’t sound good. If played too loud it makes me wince. Really disappointed. I have other albums of the same era that blow this away in terms of quality of the pressing and dynamics.

Once they had gained notice as a pioneering live act and signed a record deal, Blondie's CBGB punk principles were quickly abandoned, riding the crest of the new wave before acquiring a sonic amalgam of both styles formed by Richard Gottehrer, the producer of their first two albums. Soon after the release of their second album, the band was steered in a commercial direction at the behest of their manager. Upon being introduced to the benefits of the pop medium by producer par excellence Mike Chapman, the New York five-piece repackaged their attitude-laden pretensions and underground rock leanings, even incorporating elements of disco into their repertoire, resulting in the smash hit "Heart of Glass". Chapman’s dictatorial approach proved efficacious for the band; he viewed their lack of ability and virtuosity as a challenge before arduously targeting their individual strengths until they became much improved as a musical unit.

Calculatedly cool and streetwise, Debbie Harry's defiant persona, unsophisticated vocal style and sex symbol status served the band well in terms of publicity, affording them mainstream attention. Such unconventional transgression was also applied to the album, the outcome being a thoroughly consistent coalescence of musical diversity and proficient production. Despite his unorthodox investment in the recording process, Blondie flourished with Mike Chapman at the helm; his innovative methods contributed a decidedly universal appeal to the album that undoubtedly led to its crossover triumph. "Parallel Lines" dispensed with the brooding artiness of their previous work, favouring refined melodics and romantic fatalism. Chapman’s attentive perfectionism, Debbie Harry’s potent sexuality and hook-laden songwriting flair courtesy of mastermind Chris Stein, who drew from the bubblegum and power pop formula, were a fortuitous coaction, producing the basis of the album's greatness.

Spawning six singles and generating success on an international scale, eventually selling over 20 million copies worldwide, “Parallel Lines” functions as a commercially viable anthology of sorts, with each song a vividly realized, hugely accessible potential hit. From Clem Burke’s distinctive drums, Nigel Harris and Frank Infante’s expertly recorded and executed rhythm section to Jimmy Destri’s identifiable, sparkling keyboards, the instrumental division of the band operate at their most productive level, thus elevating all other areas of the album to prominence. “Parallel Lines” presents Blondie’s graduation from juvenile inexperienced diamonds-in-the-rough to purveyors of polished pop with new wave sensibilities, and although it alienated their original fanbase, its fluency and immediacy meant that many of its songs became ubiquitous and propelled the band to superstardom. It is a consummate, temporal masterpiece unspoiled by its immense popularity, a truly staggering accomplishment lacking nothing and despite being tonally incoherent and eclectic, still sounding as utterly modernistic, focused and connective as it did back in 1978.

According to the IFPI website, IFPI numbers first appeared in 1994 yet my paperwork indicates that I bought this cd in November 1993.

I have a copy that has Heart of Glass listed at 3:54 on the label, but actually has the disco version(5:50). The barcode is 4411-41192-1 and is on a label over the original printed barcode 7358-51192-1. Side 1 matrix is etched CHE (chr crossed out) 1192A-2E S1 SXT. Side 2 is stamped CHE 1192 BS-2A 1T. Before I create a new listing, does anyone see a listing I missed? I suspect this was as a transitional release, where they changed the version on the record, but used up the old labels.

Ok, those fanclub flyer images have (finally) been uploaded ...

Parallel Lines was a significant turning point for Blondie, though to be thoughtful, everyone should have seen this outing barreling at them like a suburban commuter train, a shift in the direction of more new wave pop oriented material, defined by a stylish blend of disco and radio friendly numbers that radiated with swirling synths, Chic induced guitar riffs, along with a relentless beat (drum machine) that stood in stark contrast to the nearly honey dripping sweetness of Deborah Harry’s vocals.

To be sure, Parallel Lines was resoundingly melodramatic and high octane, filled with musical and lyrical hooks, titled for two parallel lines of cocaine, with the record’s sugary goodness lasting just as about as long as it took the effect of those lines to melt away, leaving one attempting to regain that initial high, yet like the white powder, the effects of the music were fragile and just as short lived, leaving one feeling overstimulated for no good reason, sinister and entirely unsatisfied. Though that said, the album was a step out of the brooding artfulness of their previous outings.

Parallel Line was sardonic by its very nature, cynically mocking, yet lacking in a focal point for that finger pointing and disdainful skeptical humor, with the album feeling as if this is was the result of Alice stepping out of the rabbit hole with a collective consciousness of ubiquity, when it fact it wasn’t; other bands sincerely tried to capture or emulate Blondie, yet were unable to achieve the central character that Blondie, beyond simply Deborah Harry, exhilaratingly brought to life.

While good and all consuming for its moment, Blondie’s time in the sun feels long passed, as does that of their contemporaries such as the Cars, a vanished landscape lacking in sure-footedness that perhaps had no reason to exist, as even the slower numbers were far too angular, feeling now like a grainy 16 mm movie slightly out focus and out of sync, entirely too nervous, where it now lives on to be broadcast via black & white satellite television as part of a historical documentary. Yes, Parallel Lines made it into my music collection, where I walked the cat backwards acquainting myself with their other releases, though in the end, it all got rather boring in short order, all flash and no substance, part of the new wave roller coaster that simply went off the rails and into oblivion, where I for one was finally glad to catch my breath, leaving this five star classic that sold over twenty million records, the best selling album of 1979, to bleach itself out of existence in the afternoon sun.

Review by Jenell Kesler

The only Blondie Album to have, has pretty much all the classic songs that you can associate with Blondie. Hanging on the Telephone, Sunday Girl and Heart of Glass are timeless classics alone. The rest of the album is pretty decent with only a few filler tracks.