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Product Description
Review
Blondie have already survived one lengthy hiatus, emerging not only with their legacy intact but with their zeitgeist restored. Seventeen years after dwindling fan interest and a potentially fatal skin disease for guitarist Chris Stein made it seem likely that 1982’s The Hunter would be their swansong, their comeback single Maria gave them their first UK number one in nearly two decades. But after another extended period of non-activity – this time, an eight-year gap since 2003’s The Curse of Blondie – bottling lightning once again would seem a miracle too far.
Yet the most striking aspect of Panic of Girls – or, at least, its opening smattering of songs – is how thoroughly modern it sounds: those taut, tight guitar lines are still present, but now come coated with a futuristic sheen. Opening track D-Day kicks in with pounding drums and splintered electronics, with Debbie Harry’s layered vocal lending a cyber-punk feel – and despite Harry’s weary insistence on What I Heard that "It’s a total bore / I heard it all before", its fizzing score belies a different tale.
Sadly, maintaining such stamina over the whole record proves too much of a herculean task. Blondie have long had had a knack for cherry picking from other genres – see their ska version of The Tide Is High, or the hip hop elements they incorporated into Rapture – but on Panic of Girls, such appropriation is both commonplace and ill-conceived.
Girlie Girlie is the worst offender, a dreary reggae pastiche complete with unconvincing Jamaican patois from Harry, but it’s far from an isolated example. Wipe Off My Sweat lacks the requisite sexy swagger to nail the slinky Latina vibe it tries to ape, while it’s only Harry’s brilliantly daft chorus of "Je suis un animal" that stops Le Bleu and its hackneyed French accordion from veering into total parody. That Panic of Girls gives way from innovation to imitation is regrettable – but in an era in which bands are content to simply wheel out their back catalogue in return for a fat pay check, it’s admirable that Blondie are still here and still looking forward, even if only fleetingly.
--Ben Hewitt
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This album has been on my ipod for a good three weeks now and I have really been enjoying it. It includes several radio-friendly, rock-out pop songs of the type for which Blondie are famous - I recommend "Love Doesn't Frighten Me" and "What I Heard". The latin flavour of "Wipe Off My Sweat" is rather fun, whereas the final track, the mid-paced "China Shoes", is a gem of a song and very much a 'grower'. True, this album is a little eclectic, as other reviewers have said, but then that's very much a tradition with Blondie albums and I think it's a positive. "Panic Of Girls" works well as a collection of songs and it more than demonstrates that now in their fifth decade, Blondie are still turning out exciting, quality original material.
36 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:MP3 Download
This is excellent 5 stars for inspiration alone! 65 years of age and Debbie Harry is still the best and head and shoulders over the rest! There is something so inspiring about the way she still sounds so fresh and still touring - the show in Belfast last summer was electrifying and Debbie and the band were awesome, theres still so much energy in the bands live performances too it was the best live show I've ever seen and I've been to a few including Bowie & U2! As for the new album there are so many strong songs and highlights on this record and it deserves to be huge! Am already tapping away to new classics like D-Day, What I heard, Mother, Love doesn't frighten me and The End The End. Its amazing to have so many new excellent Blondie anthems in the year 2011. Little did I know when I was an innocent little 9 yr old singing along to Heart of Glass in 1979 that the best band in the world would still be going strong and putting out excellent records over 3 decades later and long may it continue! Thanks Debbie & Blondie for the great music and the inspiration that growing older doesn't mean by any shot that its The end The end.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:MP3 Download|Amazon Verified Purchase
And so the girls should be panicking, they are being shown up by a group who are old enough to be the grandparents of many people who may well enjoy this album. The music is up to date and the sound is as great as ever. If you didn't know the vintage of this band you would be none the wiser. A good rocking's album and well worth playing in the car on that long journey or at your party. Really enjoyable stuff.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Blondie Panic of Girls
Always been a Blondie Fan and reliving my yoof decided to replace ageing tapes/LP'S with CD'S from Amazon. I then saw that they had a new CD out so I purchased it......Brilliant!!! Read more
Published 5 months ago by noelseb
Best Blondie since Eat To The Beat! MUST-HAVE!
After 8 years without a new album, Blondie come back with one of their finest and best albums. At the level of 'Eat to the beat' and recovering their original and magic sound from... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Raul - Spain
No Panic !
I think this is great except the reggae type of songs - really don't like reggae
Reading some of the negative reviews really surprises me. Read more
Reading some of the negative reviews really surprises me. Read more
Published 8 months ago by mark73
Back On Track
Blondie have achieved something quite difficult - they've made an album that's just as good as any they came up with in the past. Read more
Published 8 months ago by gsqj
What I Wish I Hadn't Heard
After hearing Mother I was looking forward to this album and pre-ordered it.
Sadly Mother turned out to be the best track. Read more
Sadly Mother turned out to be the best track. Read more
Published 8 months ago by D.A.C
Granny rock!
I do like this album, but I was a big fan of Blondie in their heyday and probably had a piccie of Debbie on my wall in the halls of residence. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Emteq
No panic here
Bit concerned to know if Blondie could move with the times with this latest release. Panic of girls did not dissapoint. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Kenny C
Too clean
With founding member, songwriter and keyboard player Jimmy Destri no longer in the band, this sounds more like a solid Debbie Harry solo album than a great Blondie album. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Echo
Blondie are doing it for themselves
Here is the third album of the second coming of Blondie. And like the other two and Deborah Harry's sublime 2009 solo album, `Necessary Evil', it is an exercise in eclecticism... Read more
Published 11 months ago by B. S. Marlay
makes me smile
'Sunday Smile', 'China Shoes' and the bonus track [via Future release] 'Horizontal Twist' are reason enough to buy this album!! Blondie are still 'it'!!
Published 12 months ago by James P. Spaldin
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