Best of the 70's: Parallel Lines by Blondie

When the opening track "Hanging On the Telephone" comes on you know something good is going on.  For a song that is 33 years old it still sounds fresh and cutting edge, and is a brilliant song.  That song along with some others on this album are the primary reason it sits at number 75 on the Best of the 70's list, but there is another reason that has nothing to do with music.

The other reason this album sits on the list is because of what Blondie, and Debbie Harry, became in pop culture.  Most rock historians will draw a straight line from Harry to Madonna.  In fact the argument is that without Harry you get no Madonna and therefore none of the stuff that followed in the wake of Madonna. 

But let's go back to the music for a minute.  What Blondie did was blend punk and new wave with pop to produce a sound that no one had heard.  Think about it, this album came out two years ahead of The Pretenders first effort.  You can hear everything The Pretenders would do on this album.  Musically their influence was pretty widespread.  It brought punk and new wave to the mainstream and in some ways killed them off at the same time. 

All that praise but I will say parts of this album have not aged so well and there are moments where they hadn't quite figured out what they were doing.  This is ultimately why this album sits at number 75 and not somewhere much lower. 

If you want to make a mix tape of the 70's you have to pick at least one song off of this album.  It's still a fun listen while making dinner or playing board games.

Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 3 out of 5 stars for Pretty Good.