Search - Blondie :: No Exit

Greatness shines all trough

Kurt Olav Helle | Lonevåg, Osteroy Norway | 06/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
This is a great CD. Woooa, what a comeback from Blondie. To make it short, she`s back in business again. It`s like a joyride into a time machine. Much of here personality and style is not lost over the years. Track 1 Screaming Skin has an up tempo "ska rythm" which swings your soul in the right direction to make it a happy listen altrough. The sound picture are very 70 ths, and it works quite good nowadays too. Track 2 Forgive and Forget is theme wise an another cup of tea. It`s more into the sound of the 80 ths, with it`s more widespread and very open sound picture. It`s an enjoyable listen, with Blondie`s voice cold and clear that makes chills deep into youre soul. Not easy to forget,this one.

Track 3 Maria is the really hit song on this CD. It`s very melodious . This is the one that every note and tone fits perfect in every department, so to speak. It`s a real kickstarter, and the big hit song that should have been back in 1998/1999. Track 4 No Exit, is the title track, and has a classical music theme in the opening, which later on is mixed into rock&roll. This is the weird one on the CD, where many different musical styles is brought together as a whole. Track 5 Double Take, has a talking vocal. It`s a minor letdown, and not really up there whit the rest of the tracks. Debbie`s voice is the best thing. cold,clear, and chilling as always. Track 6 Nothing is real but the girl, is an up tempo pop song, which is well done in every department all trough. Track 7 Boom Boom in the Zoom Zoom room, is the jazzy one with it`s sauntering rhythm. Some reggae and ska rhythm helps too. Track 8 Night wind sent, is the laidback one with an open sound picture, and Blondies voice as good as ever. A touch of intellectual lullaby atmosphere on this one. Track 9 Under the gun, is classical Blondie stuff. Track 10 Out in the streets, hit`s the right buttons, to make it very credible for, let`s called it an urban street song. Track 11 Happy Dog is the blues/rock song, whit the right touches of the right ingredients for a happy meal of rock and roll put together. Track 12 The Dream lost on me, is the one that has the touch of irish folk song included. This one knows it roots, in other words "the real thing". Track 13 Divine, is back in the reggae style of music. Classical Blondie. Track 14 Dig up the conjo , has a weird synth sound. The weakest track on the CD, with it`s African voodoo hoodoo sound picture. As an whole Blondie:No Exit is the comeback CD that shows that here greatness shines all trough, even up to "todays" standard of modern rock/pop music.







"

A welcome return to form for an undderated band.

Kevin H. Dudley | Roanoke, VA (USA) | 09/27/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Blondie's self titled debut came out in 1976, followed in 1977 by Plastic Letters. But it wasn't until 1978's Parallel Lines that the band exploded in terms of commercial and critical acclaim. They would release one more equally great album in the form of 1979's Eat to the Beat. But by 1980's good but flawed Autoamerican, it seemed like the band was striking out in a bit too many directions and they weren't quite the seasoned group at that point to really pull it off. The less said about their final 1982 album The Hunter, the better.



After 17 long years, Blondie surprised everyone by coming out with No Exit in 1999. Some accused them of jumping on the whole reunion craze of the mid to late 90's, but it's really just a case that the band got back together and found out that they still had a lot to say musically and enjoyed playing with each other.



No Exit shares a lot of similarities to AutoAmerican, but it succeeds in all of the areas where Autoamerican faltered.



The album sees the group striking out in everything from their trademark pop-rock to rap (with a guest appearance by Coolio) to swing, to country and pretty much everything in between.



Most of the time the album works. Out of the 14 tracks, there are only about 4 that I would call fillerish, but the remaining 10 tracks are strong, strong stuff.



Anybody who is a long time fan and gave up on them with 1982's The Hunter, would do wise to check this album out as it was kind of ignored by the general public (at least here in the states) when it came out.



While not as front to back strong as their next album (2003's Curse of Blondie), this still represents a return to form for the inimitable Deborah Harry and the boys."

No Exit

Bjorn Viberg | European Union | 12/06/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"No Exit~ Blondie is a nice straightforward new vawe pop album and as usual they are not affraid to mix styles and have rap, new wave, rock and pop fused on this album. The lyrics are ok and serve their purpose. However, the book-let is travesty. The photo is on the cover just looks bad and as if they invited some friends to take the pictures instead of a photographer. I would have been happy if this was the low, but alas the rest of the book-let is even worst with no lyrics, font that is hard to read and the photos inside the book-let are way to avant-gard for my taste. I love Harry's vocals and the muisicianship of the band is quite good indeed.

"