release date: Dec. 1976
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,28]
producer: Richard Gottehrer, Craig Leon, Alan Betrock
label: Chrysalis Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "X Offender" (5 / 5) - 2. "Little Girl Lies" - 3. "In the Flesh" - 5. "In the Sun" - 7. "Man Overboard" - 8. "Rip Her to Shreds" - 10. "Kung Fu Girls"
Studio debut album by Blondie originally released on the small label Private Stock Records but already reissued by Chrysalis in Sep. '77. As is the case with most of Blondie albums the single tracks have various writers, which often has shaping their style in various directions, and made their single albums stand as non-uniform products with great tracks but also some superfluous or misplaced songs and a huge variety of styles involved. The debut album came out much unnoticed at a time when punk rock and new wave had attracted everyone's attention, and maybe therefore a specific style is hard to find here."X Offender" is simply THE track of the album right there among the first new wave songs and in terms of taking part of developing a new style. In my mind, it's also one of the band's best tracks ever. "In the Sun" is a quite fine track as well but the remaining material sounds if it belongs to a different band of another time. I don't think, I came across the album until around 1980 after hearing Parallel Lines (1978).
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone Album Guide 4 / 5 stars ]
