BLONDIE EAT TO THE BEAT RARE STILL SEALED ORIGINAL 1979 CHRYSALIS LP BEAUTIFUL

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BLONDIE - EAT TO THE BEAT - RARE STILL SEALED ORIGINAL 1979 CHRYSALIS LP - BEAUTIFUL MINT SEALED - ORIGINAL SHRINK - NO BENT CORNERS - VERY SLIGHT RING WEAR CAN ONLY BE SEEN WHEN HELD UP TO LIGHT / CHOOSE BETWEEN USPS MEDIA MAIL OR PRIORITY SHIPPING

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When you hear 1978's `Parallel Lines', it is hard to believe Blondie could top it. But a year later, they did. From the energetic drum rolls and simple opening new wave lead guitar strains of `Dreaming' to the closing bars of `Living in the Real World' twelve songs later, the drive and energy of Blondie's crowning achievement, `Eat to the Beat', never lets up.

Producer Mike Chapman seems to have taken a different approach on this follow up to his massively successful first album with the band. `Eat to the Beat' has a sense of abandon all the way through. It's completely irresistible pop new wave onslaught almost manages to make `Parallel Lines' sound calculated and lumbering by comparison (which, of course, it definitely isn't!). It is a culmination of everything they accomplished on that record - all the influences and ideas that had characterized their style on their first three albums ... amped!

Everyone is in top form on `Eat to the Beat', from musicianship to vocal performance to song-writing (of which everyone but drummer Clem Burke contributes) and, of course, the stellar thumping-60s-girl-group-crossed-with-new-wave production. Burke might not be a writer on this one, but his drumming is the centrepiece around which the entire record is built. On `Eat to the Beat', he comes into his own.

On this fourth outing, guitarist Chris Stein and keyboardist Jimmy Destri crystalize their roles as the two major stylists in the band. When you think of the overall sound of `Eat to the Beat' it is their writing that defines it (often with Deborah Harry, who co-wrote three quarters of the tracks). Stein is behind the 60s pop rock of `Dreaming', the rhythmic funk rock attack of `The Hardest Part', the reggae of `Die Young, Stay Pretty' and the wafting slow melodrama of `Shayla'. At the same time, Destri is responsible for the gorgeous strains of `Accidents Never Happen', the delirious 60s girl group pop of `Slow Motion', the new wave disco explosion of the timeless, career-defining `Atomic' and the closing New York punk of `Living in the Real World'. But it is the incredible departures, co-written by Harry with other band members that make the whole package of `Eat to the Beat' so memorable. With guitarist Nigel Harrison, she crafted the anthemic `Union City Blue' and with bassist, Frank Infante, the hysterically tortured hard rocker, `Victor'.

`Eat to the Beat' is so fantastic, it leaves you breathless. It is the band's crowning achievement, bringing everything together in one prefect 45 minute blast. It is a shame it has had to spend its life in the shadow of its predecessor - but that makes it such an incredible discovery for the uninitiated.

 (EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE REVIEW BY B.S. MARLAY, ALL MUSIC GUIDE  /ALLMUSIC.COM/)