''The Curse of Blondie'' is the eighth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

from the American rock band Blondie. It was released in October 2003, and peaked at #36 in the UK.

Background and recording

The band departed from bankrupt

Beyond Records Beyond Records was an English record label founded in Birmingham in 1992, best known for its ambient dub compilations, which were to define the genre. The label was set up by Mike Barnett, who had previous experience within the music industry i ...

and signed with

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

. ''The Curse of Blondie'' had the working title ''Phasm 8'', which was also the name of the tour they were doing before the release.

Craig Leon Craig Leon (born 7 January 1952) is an American-born record producer, composer and arranger currently living in England.International Who’s Who in Classical Music 2005'', Routledge, 2005. Leon was instrumental in launching the careers of many ...

, who had also produced their previous hit album ''

No Exit ''No Exit'' (french: Huis clos, links=no, ) is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The play was first performed at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in May 1944. The play begins with three characters who find themselves waiting ...

'', started work on the album, but it was four years in the making as the only demo tapes of the album had disappeared from luggage at a UK airport, and so had to be re-recorded. Leon ultimately did not produce the album, which was largely helmed by Steve Thompson with

Jeff Bova Jeff Bova (born Jeffrey Bova in 1953) is an American musician. He has been active in the music industry since the mid-1970s, contributing to recordings by significant mainstream artists like Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Blondie, Eric Clapton, ...

producing only one track, " Good Boys". The album incorporates a rock-inspired arrangement style more reminiscent of Blondie's earliest recordings. Rhythms played include mostly rock ("Golden Rod, "Rules for Living", "End to End", "Hello Joe", "Last One in the World", "Diamond Bridge") and then

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

("Good Boys", " Undone", "The Tingler"). Other incursions are

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese

traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

("Magic (Asadoya Yunta)"),

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

("Background Melody (The Only One)"),

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

("Desire Brings Me Back", "Songs of Love (For Richard)") and rap ("Shakedown"). The track "Hello Joe" is an homage to

Joey Ramone Jeffrey Ross Hyman (May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001), known professionally as Joey Ramone, was an American musician, best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the punk rock band Ramones. His image, voice, and his tenure with the R ...

, and includes a reference to "

Blitzkrieg Bop Blitzkrieg Bop is a song by American punk rock band, Ramones, released in February 1976 as their debut single in the United States. It appeared as the opening track on the band's debut album, ''Ramones'', released two months later. The song, w ...

" ("hey ho, ¡hola Joe!" instead of "hey ho, let's go!").

Release

The album was released with various bonus tracks in some territories, while the US edition included the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for the single "Good Boys". The album was also re-released in 2004 in US on DualDisc format. The CD side contained the normal album, while the DVD side included: # Entire album in

5.1 Surround Sound 5.1 surround sound ("five-point one") is the common name for surround sound audio systems. 5.1 is the most commonly used layout in home theatres. It uses five full bandwidth channels and one low-frequency effects channel (the "point one"). Dolb ...

and

Stereo Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

# "Good Boys" music video # Photo gallery # ROM content The album was also released in Indonesia as a Cassette Tape. The only single from the album was "Good Boys", which peaked at #12 in the UK and was a dance hit in the USA. Promo singles of "Undone" were sent to radio, but no official release was made.

Reception

''The Curse of Blondie'' gained mixed reviews, some critics called it a good or very good album, while others said it was a downfall for the band. Critics highlighted the band's songwriting and soundcrafting ("a pop masterclass", ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

''), as well as the maturity in which they experiment with different genres as "they never pretend they’re something they’re not, such as young" (''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...

''). Following its release in 2003, Blondie embarked into a two years long international world tour, playing more than 160 gigs in Europe, Asia, the three Americas and Oceania. TV performances included ''The Today Show'', ''The

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production ...

'', ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn ''The Late Late Show'' is an American late-night television talk and variety comedy show on CBS. It first aired in January 1995, with host Tom Snyder, who was followed by Craig Kilborn, Craig Ferguson, and current host James Corden. The show or ...

'', ''

Good Day Live ''Good Day L.A.'' is an American morning television news and entertainment program airing on KTTV (channel 11), a Fox owned-and-operated television station in Los Angeles, California, owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Corp ...

'', ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'', and specials "Women Rock!" and " VH1 Divas Live". Blondie also performed at '' Live by Request'' and subsequently released a CD/DVD of the performance. Despite the relative success of the "Good Boys" single, the album performed poorly, peaking at #36 in the UK and #160 in the United States. As of August 9, 2005 it has sold 34,000 copies in United States.

Track listing

Personnel

Blondie *

Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

Chris Stein Christopher Stein (born January 5, 1950) is an American musician known as the co-founder and guitarist of the new wave band Blondie. He is also a producer and performer for the classic soundtrack of the hip hop film ''Wild Style'', and writer ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

* Jimmy Destri – keyboards *

Clem Burke Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums f ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

Additional musicians *Jimi K. Bones *Paul Carbonara *Gretchen Langheld *Frank Pagaro *Leigh Foxx *James Mazlen *Kyle Whelan - soprano saxophone (Songs of Love) Production and design * Steve Thompson – producer (except "Good Boys"), mixing (except "Magic (Asadoya Yunta)") *

– producer ("Good Boys") *

Kevin Griffin Kevin Michael Griffin (born October 1, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Better Than Ezra. His songs have been performed and recorded by artists such as Taylor ...

– additional production ("Good Boys") *Allen Kovac –

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

– producer (basic tracks, except "Good Boys", "Undone" and "Background Melody (The Only One)") * James Michael – additional production (basic tracks, except "Good Boys", "Undone" and "Background Melody (The Only One)") *Randy Nicklaus – additional production (basic tracks, except "Good Boys", "Undone" and "Background Melody (The Only One)") *Jinsoo Kim – mixing ("Magic (Asadoya Yunta)") *Christina Ingram – mixing ("Magic (Asadoya Yunta)") *John Goodmanson – engineer, mixing *Paul Logus – engineer *Danni Bernini – engineer *Roy Hendrickson – engineer *Tom Weir – engineer *Ross Petersen – assistant engineer *Sean Spuehler – programming *Howie Beno – programming *James Mazlen – programming *George Marino – mastering *

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the " Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance music. His work with synthesizers had ...

– additional production and remix ("Good Boys" (Giorgio Moroder Single Mix)) *Tommy Schobel – programming ("Good Boys (Giorgio Moroder Single Mix)") *Patrick Shevelin – programming ("Good Boys (Giorgio Moroder Single Mix)") *Steve Shepherd – remix engineer ("Good Boys (Giorgio Moroder Single Mix)") *Robert Roth –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vis ...

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is emplo ...

*Kitty Boots – stylist *Marla Belt –

make-up Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Curse of Blondie, The Blondie (band) albums 2003 albums Sanctuary Records albums