Blondie – No Exit (1999) (Music Review)

Blondie – No Exit (1999) I’m feeling a bit sad as I write this review. I love Blondie, but I have to admit that it’s not really my favourite album. And yet I’ve listened to it quite a lot over the last few days. But it just confirmed what I’ve been saying.

No Exit is the seventh studio album by American rock band Blondie, released on 15 February 1999. It was the band’s first album in 17 years and contains the UK number one single ‘Maria’. By March 2006, the album had sold two million copies worldwide. Which I find completely crazy! Maria is by no means their best song either. As was usual for a Blondie album, No Exit tried their hand at many genres, including pop, reggae, country and hip-hop. In fact, this was quite apparent on ‘Autoamerican’, their fifth studio album. Mike Chapman, who had produced all but the first two of Blondie’s previous albums (which, by the way, are also incredible!), produced some of the first demos for the album, although the final production of the album was entrusted to Craig Leon .

A cover of the 1965 Shangri-Las song ‘Out in the Streets’ was included on the album. It was originally recorded by the band in ’75 when they were trying to get a recording contract. The demo version was first released on EMI’s The Platinum Collection anthology in ’94 and was subsequently included on the remastered 2001 version of the band’s self-titled debut studio album. So maybe the original fans aren’t all there any more, except for the die-hards who’ll find that what they’re doing is as good as ever. Apart from the collaboration with Coolio, it’s probably a great comeback! The old New Wave poppers are back. There seems to be no trace of embarrassment.

It starts with a ska track, followed by a fairly electro track, which in turn is followed by Maria. The fourth track mixes familiar classical melodies in a rock version, while at the same time being Gothic Hip Hop that also uses an interpolation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s ‘Toccata and Fugue in D minor’ and Edvard Grieg’s ‘In the Hall of the King of the Mountain’. But after all that… it runs out of steam! Too many quiet, limp tracks for the sauce to pick up when there are more energetic or interesting tracks.

After all, most of the album isn’t really Blondie, the band that managed to mix the two enemies of Disco and Punk. No, this is just a run-of-the-mill pop rock band. And even Candy Dulfer, who turned up to play saxophone, couldn’t save the album. Although it’s always nice to hear her too. I found this review interesting: “Nobody really expected Blondie to come back. What’s more, Debbie Harry’s solo career hasn’t been hugely successful. So expectations were relatively low. But former Blondie fans (if there are any left) can breathe easy: the former New Wave Pop legend’s attempt at resurrection is in no way embarrassing, even if not everything is perfect on ‘No Exit’ (which is understandable).

They may have lost their old flame, but the New York quartet still have a feel for great pop songs (the single “Maria” is up there with the Blondie classics). Musically, Blondie 99 remains as eclectic as ever: pop, rock, ska, a hint of jazz, a little hip-hop with metal riffs (Coolio stars on “No Exit”), even country is not excluded (“Under The Gun”, a tribute to the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce).

Sixteen years after their split, Blondie still know how to do it. That’s it!A complementary review to mine, as I’m not quite as enthusiastic. If ever, the bonus tracks on the US and Canadian editions are the familiar Dreaming, Call Me, Rapture… Same goes for the Limited Edition Bonus EP.

My Rating