Black plastic passion: Parallel Lines
I’m not sure when I first knew Parallel Lines existed, but I’m pretty sure the first time I heard the hit single Heart of Glass was on the TV Show Countdown. Straight away it was like nothing I’d ever heard before, with its fusion of unashamed disco, funk and new wave. I didn’t even know what new wave meant… but man… I liked it!
It was some years later that I came across the record at one of the many monster record fairs I frequented at the time. Vinyl was rapidly becoming uncool, and the Compact Disc was ushering in the future of popular music. I loved it… because I was able to pick up all the retro stuff for next to nothing!
Of course I swung the tonearm over to track 10 on side 2 for the record’s first playing, and immediately I noticed all these sounds I’d never heard before. For a start, the electronic bongo sound that gets swamped by the first cymbal crash - that pervades throughout the whole song ( a similar sound can be heard on Atomic, set to a faster tempo ). I also thought the keyboard on the choruses sounded like a carnival ride, especially the solo just before Debby Harry sings “yeaaah ridin’ high on love’s true blue shine”. I was surprised how complex, yet effortless, Heart of Glass sounded.
At just 2:17 Hanging on the Telephone was the most amazing piece of chick rock I had ever heard. It’s just so perfectly crafted, with it’s 60’s style do-wap fills ( “Oh I can’t control myself” ) and wailing guitar solos. I hear anger and frustration in the vocals, before the song just suddenly winds down and leaves you… hanging.
I always loved the ( less than subtle ) innuendo in Picture This, but the combo of keyboard and guitar rounds it out so well. I love the pauses in it - especially the one at the end of the first verse that has the neat little guitar fill in it. I will give you my finest hour. Ooooohhh yeah!
I think Sunday Girl is possibly the most pop sounding song on Parallel Lines, but that’s in no way an insult. In some ways it’s a hint of what’s to follow on albums like Auto American, where many of the songs are sung in a higher register. Like most people I love the French verse, especially the bit with the drum fills where she sings “depeches toi, depeches toi attends!”. The way the guitar builds toward the end is just brilliant, and it remains one of my favourite Blondie songs.
Just go away and I’m gonna Love ya too ( the shortest song on the record at just over 2 minutes ) I’ve always thought were filler tracks, and certainly don’t do a great deal for me - but I will still happily sit through them.
Fade away and Radiate though, is a terrific song, and its dark melancholic style is unlike anything else on the album. For some reason I always thought it was about Marilyn Monroe. Pretty Baby follows, and while it’s not up to the big hitters in terms of punch, it nicely lifts the mood. I always thought the line “some say I’d had my chance” said “some say I’d had my chips”!
One way or Another tends to divide people, but personally, I like it. The sneer in Debby Harry’s vocals is a hangover from Plastic Letters and other earlier work - and sadly, that song is the last we ever hear of it. It’s always sounds sorta fun, and a little bit sexy to me.
Will anything Happen is not a bad in-between track, but I think it’s a bit soft after the grinding guitars of 11:59. It was always great flipping the record over and hearing this as the first song after the in-track on side 2, especially since it features the line “sidewalk social scientist”. I always fancied that as a career.
I’d already heard all the later Blondie stuff by the time I managed to buy a copy of Parallel Lines, but I still rate it as the best of their work. It’s a great landmark of that transition from Disco / Punk to the more electronic synthesizer oriented sounds of the early 1980’s. When you consider what popular music sounded like in 1978, and the bands Blondie stood alongside, it’s all the more amazing. It still sounds brilliant to me.
Black plastic passion is a nostalgic flick through Generalboy’s crates of vinyl recordings. It includes some classic popular albums from 1976 - 1985, some rarities, and some absolute shockers. I hope this bit of self indulgence inspires readers to give some of this earlier stuff another listen, or even just laugh at how utterly dreadful some of it was.