Blondie’s third album, Parallel Lines, came out at one of the most interesting times of popular music: the waning days of disco, the heyday of punk, and the emerging New Wave style.
Parallel Line was released in September, 1978, seven months after the release of their second album, Plastic Letters. Mike Chapman was the new producer, and had had success working with Sweet and Suzi Quatro. He challenged Blondie to work in a more disciplined manner in creating Parallel Lines. The songs display a great pop sensibility, tinged with punk and New Wave. And Deborah Harry’s throaty growl is a killer.
Blondie faced a backlash from their hardcore fans for selling out in creating the disco song “Heart of Glass”. Now, I was not a disco fan at all, but I couldn’t throw Blondie under the bus because of just one song. The rest of this album contains some killer songs, with my favourites being “Hanging on the Telephone” and “One Way or Another”.
Parallel Lines fits in well with other 1978 pop/punky/New Wave releases by contemporaries Elvis Costello, Squeeze, Patti Smith, Television, The Police and The Talking Heads.
Link to the album’s wiki. Link to an in depth review of the album.
This is a remastered re-release. The original album ends with Track 12 “Just Go Away”.