Blondie Flac

Though Debbie Harry has generally worked in a pop/rock vein, she's had her share of exposure in dance clubs thanks to hits like "Heart of Glass," "Rapture," and the Chic-produced "Backfired." In 1988 – a few years after she had left Chrysalis – the label set out to exploit her club/dance appeal with Once More Into the Bleach, a generally decent, though not exceptional, collection of remixes. Those singles were obvious choices for this CD, which ranges from Blondie classics (including "Call Me," "Sunday Girl," and "The Tide Is High") to such solo material as "Feel the Spin" and the humorous "French Kissin' in the USA." The most interesting remixes here include a house-influenced version of "Backfired," and a Europop recasting of "Denis."

If new wave was about reconfiguring and recontextualizing simple pop/rock forms of the '50s and '60s in new, ironic, and aggressive ways, then Blondie, which took the girl group style of the early and mid-'60s and added a '70s archness, fit right in…

Greatest Hits: Sight & Sound offers a best of compilation by Debbie and the boys, plus a bonus DVD of their videos and performances. Includes "Heart Of Glass", "Atomic", "Call Me", "Hanging On The Telephone" and "Rapture" to name but a few.

Though Debbie Harry has generally worked in a pop/rock vein, she's had her share of exposure in dance clubs thanks to hits like "Heart of Glass," "Rapture," and the Chic-produced "Backfired." In 1988 – a few years after she had left Chrysalis – the label set out to exploit her club/dance appeal with Once More Into the Bleach, a generally decent, though not exceptional, collection of remixes. Those singles were obvious choices for this CD, which ranges from Blondie classics (including "Call Me," "Sunday Girl," and "The Tide Is High") to such solo material as "Feel the Spin" and the humorous "French Kissin' in the USA." The most interesting remixes here include a house-influenced version of "Backfired," and a Europop recasting of "Denis."

In artistic terms, Plastic Letters, Blondie's second album, was a classic example of the sophomore slump. If their debut, Blondie, was a precise update of the early-'60s girl group sound, delivered with an ironic, '70s sensibility, its follow-up seemed to consist of leftovers, the songwriting never emerging from obscurity and pedestrian musical tracks…

As the third new Blondie album of the 2010s, Pollinator falls into something of a familiar pattern. Ever since 2011's Panic of Girls, the revived Blondie have been determined to fit within the confines of contemporary music, riding the remnants of the new wave revival and emphasizing electronics. Unlike Ghosts of Download, which was buried as a second disc with a collection of re-recordings of greatest hits in 2014, Pollinator pushes splashy guest stars. Blood Orange co-writes "Long Time" with Debbie Harry, Joan Jett guests on the opener "Doom or Destiny," Strokes guitarist Nick Valensi appears on "Best Day Ever," which he co-wrote with Sia Furler, and the group cover both Johnny Marr ("My Monster") and Charli XCX ("Gravity").