Blondie‘s Parallel Lines does not need an introduction to me. This is one of my favourite albums that I owned in the 80s. It was released in 1978, but it really exploded in the USA in 1979 when “Heart of Glass” was released.
It starts with the phone ringing in “Hanging on the Telephone” and dares you to answer it. Once you do it explodes into your life and does not let you go.
I cannot understand how “Pretty Baby” was not a hit single. It is one of my favourite songs ever. I love the lyrics and the music. It is the perfect pop song.
It was “Heart of Glass” that really turned me on to the band Blondie. It is one of those songs that I remember where I lived and who I was hanging out with and what major life trauma I suffered through. I had a much older friend who was a female named Jack. I never knew how she got that name, but she was there when I was in need of a real friend. I do not know what happened to her. I moved around so much that I lost contact and I was never a person to become too attached to people for long because everyone came into to my life and left it quickly.
This is a solid album from start to finish. I like every song on it, but of course some songs I like better than others, just like a mother with her children. She likes some better than others. This is the only album from Blondie on this list, but I think that is an error on the part of the editors of the book. The eclectic Eat To The Beat was great. Autoamerican gave us the first number one rap song, “Rapture“, and a number one reggae song, “The Tide Is High“. But this is their masterpiece. 10/10.
an ocean roars 