With the all-conquering Parallel Strains taking Blondie to the Prime 10 within the US and comfortably topping the charts within the UK, Debbie Harry and Co. have been now not the gritty punk upstarts that recorded “X Offender” – they have been pop behemoths with a knack for turning out hooks on the drop of a hat. With producer Mike Chapman available to assist style their new songs into radio-friendly anthems, it’s no shock that Parallel Strains’ follow-up, Eat To The Beat, turned the group’s second UK chart-topper, hitting No. 1 on October 13, 1979, after its launch earlier that month.
With their pop credentials firmly established, Blondie entered the studio able to show they might flip their hand to something. But for all its stylistic carousing, Eat To The Beat gives a uniform hear due to the way in which it soundtracks a fantasy New York Metropolis of yellow taxis, wasted decadence, and bright-lights starvation with an unique stylish that, naturally, appealed to the group’s eagerly awaiting UK fanbase. Taking a cue from the ferocity of the group’s earliest outings, the title observe is a pointy slice of Blondie’s patented pop-punk, whereas the likes of “Union City Blue” conjures the kind of romantic craving you solely ever get from discovering your self adrift in a metropolis the place something can occur.
Switching types with ease, opener “Dreaming” discovered the group at their most unashamedly bombastic, earlier than providing a masterclass in street-smart punk-funk strutting, courtesy of “The Hardest Part.” Elsewhere, Eat To The Beat noticed Blondie make their first notable foray into reggae, with “Die Young Stay Pretty” nodding in the direction of “The Tide Is High” (which might high the charts on each side of the Atlantic in 1980), whereas the hedonistic rush of “Atomic” was a wonderfully calibrated export of New York Metropolis’s disco scene.
Usually missed in favor of its big-hitting predecessor, Eat To The Beat had extra chew than folks keep in mind, and went platinum in each the US and the UK. With the group at their most formidable, in addition they created a promo video for every of the album’s 12 songs, additional cementing the album as an unofficial Large Apple soundtrack whereas creating the world’s first video album within the course of.
Store for Blondie’s music on vinyl or CD now.
