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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Can I Find The Right Words To Say?, 10 Feb 2003
Although this is probably Blondie's worst album I'm glad I own a copy.
The best song is the opening "Orchid Club" which is an awesome track featuring superb vocals from Debbie Harry over tribal drumming. Featuring some of Blondie's most obscure vocals ("Oh the boys' herb, vanilla, vanilla!") it hints at what they were trying to achieve with this album. Unfortunately it is also apparent that they soon gave up.
The two singles "Island of Lost Souls" and "War Child" sound better in 2003 than they did in 1982 but the rest of the album is a disappointment.
The nadir is "Dragonfly" which seems to be a commentary (as in David Coleman) of a spacecraft race. I defy anyone to listen to it twice.
"For Your Eyes Only" was commissioned as the theme to a James Bond film as someone else mentions here. Much better than the song that got the job (Sheena Easton's), it, like most of the album, sounds like it was recorded from the room next door to the studio. (Anoraks might be interested to find out that when Debbie Harry was asked about Sheena Easton's song she said she thought it was by Kate Bush).
"The Beast" is an attempt to re-create "Rapture" but like many of the songs here is just a scale progression of notes and not a tune - the worst offender being "Can I Find The Right Words To Say". I'm sad to say that the person responsible for this is Chris Stein who obviously can write songs because he's responsible for one of the golden moments in pop music as he also wrote "Sunday Girl".
"Little Caesar" is really, really terrible, "English Boys" is sweet but (unnecessarily) exposes the limitations of Harry's range, "Danceway" sounds unfinished and the beautiful "The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game" is a hint at what lies ahead for Debbie Harry as a singer with The Jazz Passengers.
I think The Hunter should be treated as an unfinished album by a troubled band. There are hints at what it could have been but it sounds like they gave up after two or three songs. Having said this, it's worth owning if just for "War Child".
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
blondie fans buy now! newbies look elsewhere, 14 Aug 2003
By A Customer
As others have said here, 'the hunter' is most probably Blondie's worst album, but just think: they had 'parallel lines' to live up to! Many people really harshly criticised 'the hunter' when it first came out in '82. It is really quite obvious looking at the cover and listening to the songs here, of the state of decay the band were in musically- most of the time they weren't even talking to eachother. This album sees them experimenting with synthesisers and funk music rather than raw punk-rock like 'hanging on the telephone.' However they've managed to pull out quite a few decent songs for this sixth and final LP. There is a jungle/tropical theme running through the cover (Debbie in leopardskin and presumably supposed to resemble a lion or something, I don't know; the boys wearing soldier/camouflage facepaint) and song titles such as 'orchid club', 'island of lost souls', 'dragonfly', 'the beast' etc. highlights are UK no 11 'island of lost soul's lovely summery song; deliciously sweet, discarded 007 movie theme 'for your eyes only'; the amazing 'war child' with some heavy lyrics about khmer rouge; the gorgeous 'danceway', written by brilliant jimmy destri, this is good to dance to; 'can I find the right words to say' gives in to the Blondie of old; 'English boys' is really sweet with great lyrics, but it tends to highlight the limits of ms Harry's range quite a lot. Finally, 'the hunter gets captured by the game' is a cover of a classic, done here as a soft and sultry ballad. Overall 'the hunter' is really not that bad and a must have for all Blondie fans, but not a first pick for newbies-try 'eat to the beat' or 'parallel lines'.
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7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not their best but still a great album!, 19 Oct 2001
The Hunter wasn't Blondie's finest hour - even they have agreed to that. Then again their previous albums were hard acts to follow. Perhaps the album would have fared better with an alternative choice for the second single: their nod to the hard rock sound that was prevalant at the time with War Child. Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics voiced amazement that the atmospheric English Boys was not released as a single. Other stand out tracks are the Jimmy Destri penned Danceaway (a foot stomping pre-curser to his later composition and comeback No. 1, the soaring Maria) and the delicious sweetness of "For Your Eyes Only". Orchid Club is a athemic soaring jungle rhythm - a vivid New Age composition way ahead of it's time. The Beast is a campy, vampy rauchous ode to being in the spotlight with heavy guitars very reminiscent of the theme from the tv show Magnum.The Hunter is a must for all Blondie fans...but I wouldn't recommend it to the unconverted - that honour would go to Parallel Lines.
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