''Blondie 4(0) Ever'' is a double album by American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Blondie. It was released on May 12, 2014, by Noble ID in celebration of the band's 40th anniversary. The two-disc package consists of ''Greatest Hits Deluxe Redux'', a collection of re-recordings of Blondie's past singles, and the band's tenth studio album, ''Ghosts of Download''. The latter spawned three singles: "
A Rose by Any Name
"A Rose by Any Name" is a 2013 song by the American new wave band Blondie. It was the lead single from the band's tenth studio album '' Ghosts of Download'', released as a digital download in Europe on June 21, 2013 (eleven months ahead of its p ...
", "
Sugar on the Side", and "
I Want to Drag You Around".
Background and recording
Blondie began working on their tenth studio album shortly after the release of ''
Panic of Girls'' (2011).
In early March 2013, the band announced via
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
and
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that they were putting finishing touches to new music, and it would be released later that year.
The album was recorded at Mercy Sound Studios in New York City and at Skyline Studios in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
.
Guitarist and co-founder
Chris Stein announced that the album would feature collaborations with girl group Stush,
hip hop group
Los Rakas, and Colombian
electronica artist
Systema Solar.
On June 18, the group announced through Facebook that they were still recording but almost finished, while revealing that their next album would be titled ''Ghosts of Download''.
Stein stated in August that an
EDM
EDM or E-DM may refer to:
Music
* Electronic dance music
* Early Day Miners, American band
Science and technology
* Electric dipole moment
* Electrical discharge machining
* Electronic distance measurement
*Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...
collaboration with
Hector Fonseca would be included on the album.
"We have live performances on there that bring out the style of Blondie",
Debbie Harry told ''
Classic Rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...
''. "I don't think it sounds entirely like a dance record... We did this in a very economical way, actually. Chris
teinand
Matt did all of their work on computer, then we would send files to people and they would play to it, or sing to it, or write to it, or whatever. So it was kind of in the ghostly era of electronics."
"This project was ongoing since we finished ''Panic of Girls''", Stein commented. "It's been like two years that I have been working on this. This one is more computer-based than the last record, which was more band-based. A lot of the programmed parts remained on the record, more so than the previous records. I spent a lot of time doing this at home, and then sending things back and forth with our producer Jeff Saltzman. He helped develop melodies with me, and that was really gratifying. And he had this assistant, Natalie Hawkins, who helped with the melodies too. There was a lot of collaboration with this record, more so than previous records, except perhaps for ''
Autoamerican
''Autoamerican'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band Blondie. It was released in November 1980 and reached in the UK charts, in the US, and in Australia.
Background
The album was a radical departure for the band, with the openin ...
'' which had a lot of outside players on it, even an orchestra."
Harry also commented, "It's always the music; the music is the primary inspiration. Every piece has its own mood, its own arc and a lot of times the lyrics sort of suggest themselves."
"Oh, with Debbie, we just have a lot of unsaid communication, a lot of non-verbal stuff goes on. I don't have to ask her much because she will always have the same conclusions", Stein said. Harry agreed: "Most recently, there were a couple of lines in a song that he came up with, and then there were two more lines that had to be written, and I had already written them. So I mean, it just sort of happens. It's easy for us."
Release
The title of Blondie's tenth studio album was confirmed to be ''Ghosts of Download'' on June 18, 2013.
According to Stein, the title refers to "all spirits in the background of electricity and data".
An early version of the track listing was unveiled on June 28 through
Pandora, along with previews of the tracks.
The album's release was postponed several times. It was originally scheduled to be released in November 2013,
but the release was pushed back to January 2014 in order to avoid the rush of albums released for the Christmas period. On December 31, 2013, Harry stated in an interview on
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
's ''
New Year's Eve Live'' that the album would be released in March 2014. The January 2014 issue of British magazine ''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
'' confirmed the album's release date as March 17, 2014, to be supplemented with Blondie's 40th Anniversary World Wide Tour. However, the release was ultimately delayed to May 13, 2014.
It was announced in the February 2014 issue of ''
Vanity Fair'' magazine, for which Harry was photographed by
Annie Leibovitz
Anna-Lou Leibovitz ( ; born October 2, 1949) is an American portrait photographer best known for her engaging portraits, particularly of celebrities, which often feature subjects in intimate settings and poses. Leibovitz's Polaroid photo of Jo ...
, that ''Ghosts of Download'' would be released as part of a two-disc package titled ''Blondie 4(0) Ever''—coinciding with the band's 40th anniversary—which would also include an album of the band's greatest hits.
The first song released from ''Blondie 4(0) Ever'' was the re-recorded version on "
Sunday Girl
"Sunday Girl" is a song recorded by the American new wave band Blondie, from the band's 1978 album ''Parallel Lines''. Written by guitarist Chris Stein, the song was inspired by Debbie Harry's cat, who was named Sunday Man—the cat had recentl ...
", which appeared on the
soundtrack album to the 2013 film ''
CBGB
CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kr ...
''.
The final track listing for ''Blondie 4(0) Ever'' was revealed in late March 2014 on Pandora. The first disc, ''Greatest Hits Deluxe Redux'', features brand-new studio recordings of 11 of Blondie's commercially successful singles,
except "
Maria
Maria may refer to:
People
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages
Place names Extraterrestrial
* 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877
* Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...
", which appears in its original 1999 version.
The deluxe edition includes the two-disc set, a DVD of Blondie's 1977 live performance at
CBGB
CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kr ...
, a concert poster from 1979, and five postcards of Stein photos.
Three additional ''Ghosts of Download'' bonus tracks were made available upon pre-ordering the digital album via iTunes and/or Amazon. The iTunes pre-order also included an instant free download of the song "I Want to Drag You Around".
Artwork
The artwork for ''Ghosts of Download'' was designed by
J. H. Williams III, who has previously worked for
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
and also created the cover art for the singles "
A Rose by Any Name
"A Rose by Any Name" is a 2013 song by the American new wave band Blondie. It was the lead single from the band's tenth studio album '' Ghosts of Download'', released as a digital download in Europe on June 21, 2013 (eleven months ahead of its p ...
" and "
Sugar on the Side". A high-quality version of the cover, with text reading "Blondie Ghosts of Download", was released to
iTunes and
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
at the end of April 2014. Further pages from the booklet (created by Williams) of the album, containing handwritten lyrics for select songs by members of the band, accompanied by skeletal images of them, were posted on Williams' website on April 22, 2014.
Promotion
On March 20, 2013, Harry and Stein stopped by the talk show ''
Soundcheck
A sound check is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance to adjust the sound on the venue's sound reinforcement or public address system. The performer and the audio engineers run through a small p ...
'' on
WNYC 93.9 FM to premiere the track "
Make a Way". The band embarked on the Blast Off Tour across Europe from June 11 to July 10, 2013. The band performed six songs from the album: "Rave", "
A Rose by Any Name
"A Rose by Any Name" is a 2013 song by the American new wave band Blondie. It was the lead single from the band's tenth studio album '' Ghosts of Download'', released as a digital download in Europe on June 21, 2013 (eleven months ahead of its p ...
", "Take Me in the Night", "Winter", "
I Want to Drag You Around", and "
Sugar on the Side". Prior to this, Harry and Stein appeared on
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
's ''
The One Show
''The One Show'' is a British television magazine and chat show programme. Broadcast live on BBC One weeknights at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Jermaine Jenas, and Ronan K ...
'' to promote the new album and the Blast Off Tour, with Stein saying that he felt the new tracks were the best yet.
"A Rose by Any Name" was released on June 21, 2013, as the lead single from ''Ghosts of Download'' in Europe. On June 18, Blondie announced their North American
No Principals Tour for fall 2013. Each ticket purchased for the tour included five tracks from the album: "Make a Way", "
I Want to Drag You Around", "Can't Stop Wanting", "
A Rose by Any Name
"A Rose by Any Name" is a 2013 song by the American new wave band Blondie. It was the lead single from the band's tenth studio album '' Ghosts of Download'', released as a digital download in Europe on June 21, 2013 (eleven months ahead of its p ...
", and "I Screwed Up". However, some fans received "Sugar on the Side" instead of "A Rose by Any Name". The song "Mile High" was debuted during the later shows of the tour.
On October 24, 2013, Harry appeared on the
''Project Runway All Stars (season 3)'' season 3 premiere as a guest judge, and the song "Sugar on the Side" debuted on the show's
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account during the episode. The track was later released on December 17, 2013, as the album's second single in North America.
The album's third single, "I Want to Drag You Around", made its world premiere on
BBC Radio 2's ''
The Ken Bruce Show
Kenneth Robertson Bruce (born 2 February 1951) is a British broadcaster who is best known for hosting his long-running weekday mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2 from 1986 to 1990, and then again since 1992.
Early life and career
Bruce was born a ...
'' on April 3, 2014. It was also named "Record of the Week" on BBC Radio 2 for the week beginning April 21, 2014.
A lyric video for the song, featuring J. H. Williams III's graphics for the album, was uploaded to the band's official
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
page on April 23.
The official audios for "Sugar on the Side" (from ''Ghosts of Download'') and the reworked version of "
One Way or Another
"One Way or Another" is a song by American new wave band Blondie from their 1978 album ''Parallel Lines''. Lyrically, the song was inspired by Blondie frontwoman Deborah Harry's experience with a stalker in the early 1970s, an incident which ...
" (from ''Greatest Hits Deluxe Redux'') were uploaded to YouTube on April 22, 2014, to promote the album. The official music video for "Sugar on the Side", directed by photographer
Rankin, debuted exclusively on Hunger TV on April 30, 2014. The album itself became "Record of the Week" on BBC Radio 2 for the week beginning May 5, 2014, meaning that one song from the album was played each day on BBC Radio 2. From May 5 to 9, ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' streamed tracks from ''Ghosts of Download'' daily on
its website via
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming s ...
.
The band recorded a session at the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'' on May 13, 2014, featuring new and older songs. On the same day, the band appeared on ''
'' to perform "Sugar on the Side". Blondie also performed "Sugar on the Side" and "One Way or Another" on ''
'' on May 19.
On May 24, 2014, the band embarked on a world tour in support of ''Blondie 4(0) Ever'', including dates across North America and Europe. The tour commenced at the
.
at number 109, selling 3,000 copies in its first week. The album debuted at number 16 on the
with first-week sales of 4,148 copies. On occasion of Blondie's co-headlining
in April 2017, the album reached number six on the New Zealand Heatseeker Albums chart.
* Despite not being credited as songwriters of "A Rose by Any Name" in the album's liner notes, Deborah Harry, Chris Stein, and Jamie Siegel are listed as songwriters by
.
* signifies an additional producer
* "Relax" was omitted from the vinyl edition of the album.
Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Blondie 4(0) Ever''.
– production
* Ryan Ewing – additional cover treatment
* Trevor Niemann – design, layout
*
* Jeff Saltzman – production
* Chris Stein – production
* Hernan Santiago – mixing
* Paul David Hager – mixing
* Mikael Johnston – mixing
* Marcussen Mastering – mastering
*
– art direction, design
* Systema Solar – featured artist
* Miss Guy – featured artist
*
– production
* Jeremy Scherer – additional production
* Jamie Siegel – additional production
* Joe Tomino – additional production
* Conrad Kaneshiro – additional production
* Natalie Hawkins – additional vocals
*
– featured artist
* Keliah Baez – featured artist
* Felicia Dennis – featured artist
* Keisha Williams – featured artist
* Archie Ekong – additional production, programming
*