Parallel Lines (Expanded Edition)

iTunes Review

Though Blondie sprang from the legendary CBGB’s scene and began their career as a kitschy, Girl Group-inflected punk act, they found their true calling with 1978’s Parallel Lines. The chart-topping album elevated them from mildly successful cult act to international superstars. Produced by the ubiquitous pop svengali Mike Chapman, who had previously groomed the likes of The Sweet and Suzi Quatro for pop stardom, the album featured a punchy, impeccably manicured sound at odds with Blondie’s earlier, more lo-fi efforts. Happily, the sonic makeover fit the group’s pop smart sensibility perfectly. The disco inflected “Heart of Glass” which blended angular new wave power chords with a driving disco beat was the breakthrough hit, but every song here is a shimmering popwise masterpiece, from the brooding “Radiate and Fade Away,” featuring King Crimson’s Robert Fripp on guitar, to the frantic power-pop of “Hanging on The Telephone.”