Although I mentioend it on social media, just remembering that I never blogged about the recent "Blondie's New York" special on the Smithsonian Channel. I questioned whether there was anything new to say about the band's hometown, but what I didn't realize was the show's subtitle was -- or should have been -- "And the Making of 'Parallel Lines.'" What an exilerating piece of history, watching the six core band members along with producer Mike Chapman recall intimate details of the recording of the most perfect album in pop music history. Although I've always respected Debbie as a vocaliast, I've never really thought of her much as being a "singer" -- you get the difference, right? -- but listening to her isolated vocals on "One Way or Another" and "Heart of Glass" was incredibly impressive. (Who knew her voice was an instrument?!) And I found it amusing how the band to this day laments how Chapman -- the hitmaking Brit brought in to turn this band's fortunes around -- made them do hundreds of takes. ("Not again, Dad!!!") Yet while still poking fun at the band for never quite playing up to his standards, even Chapman concedes that despite all the work that went into making a "perfect" recording, it was his ability to capture the flaws that made it sound so authentic and spontaneous.
My only complain -- and it's bigger than I wish it were -- is that the show's producers repeated certain parts of interviews several times (for teasers and recaps), which seemed so unnecessary given that they didn't even discuss each song. (The stuff about Brooke Shields and "Pretty Baby" warmed my heart.) The ommission of "11:59" hurt a lot, but the blow was softened by the considerable time given to "Picture This," one of the album's rarely sung heroes.
P.S. There's a fun Blondie Version 2014 slideshow from SXSW on Rolling Stone's website HERE,
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