release date: Oct. 1979
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]
producer: Mike Chapman
label: Chrysalis Records - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "Dreaming" (4 / 5) - 3. "Union City Blue" ( 4 / 5) - 4. "Shayla" - (3 / 5) - 7. "Die Young Stay Pretty" (3,5 / 5) - 9. "Atomic" (4 / 5)
4th studio album by Blondie. Parallel Lines (1978) was the band's world-wide triumphant album with a style which put the band in a league of their own in a mix of both new wave and pop. Once again, Mike Chapman is in the producer seat but the album is not as great as its predecessor. Yes, "Dreaming", "Union City Blue", and "Atomic" are great tracks, and the reggae-inspired "Die Young Stay Pretty" and a few others are fine, but the rest are mediocre compositions that don't come near the same quality. The title track (by Debbie Harry and bassist Nigel Harrison) sounds like Blondie laying out a blueprint for The Pretenders. Basically, here the band does what they did before Parallel Lines, trying too hard to sound attractive to everyone, they get stuck in-between styles and genres being neither pure pop / rock nor edgy or alternative enough to be rock and new wave... entirely. Still, the band was extremely popular and the album ended up on top of the UK albums chart list, and the first single from the album, "Dreaming" went to number #2 on the UK singles charts, but "Atomic", the fourth single release from the album, was a real dance floor monster hit, which went all the way to the top of the UK singles lists as it did in many countries.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone Album Guide 3,5 / 5 stars ]
