Blondie - The Singles Box

After I got introduced to Blondie last spring with "The Curse of Blondie" I was in an all out search for everything Blondie I could consume. Several group albums & three Debbie Harry solo albums later, I'm close to accomplishing my goal. Though, on a many shopping trips to my local F.Y.E. store with my boyfriend, I saw this deluxe box set of Blondie's singles from their first self-titled album all the way through to 1982's "The Hunter", I had to have it. Though "One Way or Another" is a glaring omission, what you get still keeps this set with a five star rating.

I finally purchased it this summer & have to say that it was worth the price tag. You get all of the singles as they were presented in seven inch vinyl format, in a CD single format. This includes all the original artwork on the front & back of the original 45! You get many b-sides that were most likely unavailable from their first few singles off of "Blondie" & "Plastic Letters". You also get alternate versions of album tracks such as "Live It Up" from 1980's "Autoamerican", instrumental versions, twelve inch versions, French versions, Spanish versions, the whole lot basically!

Also, the singles come placed in beautiful box done up in 1977's "Parallel Lines" art design in chronological order. A booklet with color photo's of Blondie & Debbie is included as well. Of course the hit single "Maria" & subsequent singles from the 1999 reunion album "No Exit" are not here & neither are the singles from 2004's "The Curse of Blondie". But this set I believe was meant to highlight their peak period of singles.

I recommend this to the Blondie fan who may have these all on vinyl & wants them on CD, or for that new Blondie fanatic, who like me, had to have it all. I highly recommend. Count one two three four, boom!

The Maccabees - Colour It In

Lead singer Orlando Weeks has a wonderfully animated voice -- moving from pained and annoyed in "Tissue Shoulder" to smitten in the rolling "About Your Dress" to dramatic and emotional in the poppy "O.A.V.I.P." -- rich and just a little rough, which keeps the fact that the chords, the arrangements, and the rhythms of the album are all rather similar a show of strength, of realizing where your assets lie instead of signaling a lack of versatility. Weeks brings life and individuality to each of the songs, though, to be fair, his bandmates' bright arpeggios, sharp like broken glass, sixteenth-note, tom-filled drum lines and heavy bass don't make his job very hard. Colour It In bursts with vitality and youthfulness, with thick London accents and falling in love and breaking rules and simply enjoying one's self. So while the album may sound like it's been done before, it's just expressing the fact that all the things they're singing about, that all bands are singing about, really, have been done before, too. The Maccabees are in touch with the times they're living in, with the music and the energy around them, picking up on the trends they hear (i.e. the Futureheads, Dogs Die in Hot Cars) but only in a way that compliments their influences, making Colour It In an enjoyable, even if ephemeral, record.

Belle & Sebastian - Dog on Wheels

There's nobody named Belle or Sebastian in this Scottish septet, but that's just part of the self-effacing mythology with which the band has surrounded itself. Their low profile in the media and even on their own albums (no personnel or songwriting credits) is in keeping with the shy-boy aesthetic promulgated on this, their debut album. While the influence of lovable British wimps like Nick Drake, The Smiths and Al Stewart (!) and fellow Scot Donovan can be heard throughout, the band has an identity and highly developed sense of songcraft all its own. Led by Stuart Murdoch, Belle and Sebastian offer up a largely acoustic folk-pop sound with deep roots in the '60s. Their guitar-and-piano arrangements are often filled out by luxurious trumpets and strings, but the clever, sardonic lyrics keep things from ever getting too mushy. The bright, irresistible pop melodies stand in sharp contrast to decidedly downbeat lyrics that recall Morrissey at his sharpest. Timeless, gorgeous and just cool enough to avoid a mainstream breakthrough.

Blondie - Plastic Letters

Considered by many to be Blondie's best, their second album catches the group poised on the brink of global superstardom. Plastic Letters' first single, a gender-switched cover of the '60s pop hit "Denise" by Randy and the Rainbows, was a massive British hit which went far towards dispelling the band's second-tier status on the New York punk scene. The rest of the disc improves immensely on their self-titled debut, with sharper songwriting and better production. Jimmy Destri's Farfisa organ is still the band's main musical focal point, but his playing has evolved, along with the melodies, beyond the simple '60s pastiches of the debut. "Youth Nabbed as Sniper" and "Contact in Red Square" continue the band's fascination with trash culture, but the glorious "I'm Always Touched by Your Presence Dear," written by departed bassist Gary Valentine, is a genuinely heartfelt, if ironic, love song.

Marcy Playground - Shapeshifter

On their second album, this faceless alternapop trio tosses together more harmless songs that don't have much to say yet manages to lumber along anyway. The mannered climb toward the tunes' peaks isn't nearly as labored here as it was on their snooze-worthy debut, but leader John Wozniak, given more creative freedom, fashions Shapeshifter as a trip through sonic fields of wonder; there's yodeling, underwater echo, and even epic storytelling, but it all blends into a mush of fuzzy guitars and detached vocals by the end. And Wozniak's post-grunge guitar chops and melodramatic musings --"I've got some kind of disease/And there are no remedies" he sings all Cobain-like on the opening "It's Saturday" -- seem a bit old-fashioned by late-'90s standards.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl

A significant departure for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Howl finds the Los Angeles-based trio abandoning the cold, amped-up sound of Take Them On, On Your Own in favor of a more heartfelt, acoustic-oriented aesthetic. (It's noteworthy that frontman Robert Turner has gone back to his birth name, Robert Levon Been, and his father, Michael Been, of the 1980s band the Call, contributes piano to one track.) The album's artwork nods to classic '60s record sleeves, and it's no coincidence; the music here is stripped-down and folk-inflected, revealing a major change from the group's earlier reverb-heavy, Jesus & Mary Chain-influenced vibe. Elements of rural blues, soul, and even gospel work their way into these tunes, but the BRMC stills rocks--just in a more inspired and inventive way. Those who had written the band off after Take Them On will likely embrace Howl, which shows a promising act making bold steps to revitalize its career.

The Killers - Sam's Town

On the 2006 follow-up to their wildly successful debut, Hot Fuss, the Killers' continue their torrid affair with1980s New Wave, but manage to incorporate the sounds of that era, particularly heavy use of synthesizers, more seamlessly into the mix. This is due, at least in part, to the presence of veteran producers Flood and Alan Moulder (Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, U2), who help to make the tracks on Sam's Town both brighter and edgier than earlier Killers tunes. While the Las Vegas-based act's Britpop-influenced songs are still marked by Brandon Flower's emotive vocals and bold synth lines, Dave Keuning's guitar riffs are amped up on much of the record, as exemplified by the urgent single "When We Were Young," which easily stands as one of the quartet's finest tunes. Other highlights of this brooding album are the dramatic "Bones" and the yearning title track, songs that prove that the Killers may have unforeseen substance lurking under their carefully rendered style.