BLONDIE: 45 years ago – “Parallel Lines” (Part 1)

Automatic translation. Improvements are constantly being worked on.

Tears are worth it – Part 1

All good things come in threes. What sounds like a hackneyed phrase, however, best describes Blondie‘s third studio album “Parallel Lines”. After all, the third attempt of the formation around singer Debbie Harris was the work that was to bring Blondie their commercial breakthrough. To mark the 45th anniversary, we look back on the history of “Parallel Lines”.

Cheekiness wins
Richard Gottehrer was responsible for the production of the previous album “Plastic Letters”. Gottehrer was the one who shaped Blondie ‘s sound in terms of New Wave and Punk. When Blondie were on tour on the US West Coast for “Plastic Letters”, they met the Australian producer Mike Chapman. Together with Nicky Chinn, he had made a name for himself as a songwriter and producer in Europe during the seventies. The duo dominated the charts before Chapman decided to move to the USA and go solo. He was already a fan of Blondie – but he wasn’t convinced by the production of the previous albums. Debbie Harry herself was not a fan of Chapman. While drummer Clem Burke was enthusiastic about the idea of recruiting Chapman as a producer, the singer’s reaction was rather reserved. In the end, two points were decisive in signing the Australian. Chapman was thrilled with the first snippets of “Heart of Glass” and “Sunday Girl” – and he cheekily told Blondie that he was going to make a hit album. That was enough to convince Harris to work with him.

Katrin Hemmerling

In the next part, we talk about low-flying synthesizers and tear-jerking vocal recordings.

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