The Curse of Blondie
| The Curse of Blondie | ||||
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| Studio album by Blondie | ||||
| Released | October 13, 2003 | |||
| Recorded | 2003 | |||
| Genre | New wave, post-punk revival | |||
| Length | 65:19 | |||
| Label |
Sanctuary Records (United States) Epic Records (United Kingdom) |
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| Producer |
Steve Thompson (except "Good Boys", produced by Jeff Bova) |
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| Blondie chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Curse of Blondie | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
UK slipcase cover
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | (63/100) |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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| Blender |
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| Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
| The Guardian |
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| PopMatters |
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| Robert Christgau |  |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Slant Magazine | |
| Stylus Magazine | B+ |
| Uncut | |
The Curse of Blondie is the eighth studio album from the American rock band Blondie. It was released in October 2003, and peaked at #36 in the UK.
The band departed from bankrupt Beyond Records and signed with Sony Music. The Curse of Blondie had the working title Phasm 8, which was also the name of the tour they were doing before the release. Craig Leon, who had also produced their previous hit album No Exit, started work on the album, but it was four years in the making as the only demo tapes of the album had disappeared from luggage at a UK airport, and so had to be re-recorded. Leon ultimately did not produce the album, which was largely helmed by Steve Thompson with Jeff Bova producing only one track, "Good Boys".
The album incorporates a rock-inspired arrangement style more reminiscent of Blondie's earliest recordings. Rhythms played include mostly rock ("Golden Rod, "Rules for Living", "End to End", "Hello Joe", "Last One in the World", "Diamond Bridge") and then dance-pop ("Good Boys", "Undone", "The Tingler"). Other incursions are Japanese traditional music ("Magic (Asadoya Yunta)"), reggae ("Background Melody (The Only One)"), jazz ("Desire Brings Me Back", "Songs of Love (For Richard)") and rap ("Shakedown"). The track "Hello Joe" is an homage to Joey Ramone, and includes a reference to "Blitzkrieg Bop" ("hey ho, hola Joe instead of hey ho, let's go).
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Wikipedia