News

The wait is over: Blondie’s career-spanning box set will finally be released this summer. Actually, make that box sets.

Against the Odds 1974-1982 has been in development for years; The Numero Group says in their product description that the catalogue number was assigned in 2016. Several Record Store Day releases tied to the project have been released, but few concrete details about the set – until now. The New York new wavers, who crossed into the pop charts on a wave of disco and post-punk with hits like “Heart of Glass,” “Call Me,” “Atomic,” “Rapture,” “The Tide is High” and others, will go deep with Against the Odds, billed as “the first ever authorized and in-depth archive in their history” – 126 tracks, 36 of them never before released, all remastered from the original tapes, with 180-gram vinyl lacquered at Abbey Road in London.

The biggest edition – a black or “Platinum Blonde” vinyl box, limited to 500 copies encompassing 10 LPs, a 10″ EP, a 7″ single and two books – will feature the six albums the band issued for Private Stock and Chrysalis between 1976 and 1982, plus a host of bonus material. The vinyl set boasts four LPs with as-yet unannounced track lists of B-sides, demos and rarities; their names are Plaza Sound, Parallel Beats, Coca Cola and Home Tapes. The 10″, Out in the Streets, features additional outtakes from the group’s pre-history, including a rehearsal tape from 1974 and demos cut with producer Alan Betrock a year later; on the 7″ single, there’s an unissued cover of The Doors’ “Moonlight Drive” backed with an “at-home sketch” called “Mr. Sightseer.” The first of two books feature a new set of liner notes by Erin Osmon, commentary and essays from members current (singer Debbie Harry, guitarist Chris Stein, drummer Clem Burke) and former (keyboardists Jimmy Destri, guitarists/bassists Frank Infante, Nigel Harrison, and Gary Valentine) as well as producers Mike Chapman and Richard Gottehrer, all across 144 pages; the second cover’s the band’s discography in visual form: picture sleeves, labels, and formats aplenty on 120 pages.

Now, from there, you’ve got a few choices of formats. An 8CD set includes the six original albums and two bonus discs (Home Tapes and Out in the Streets); note that despite the absence of two of the bonus discs from the deluxe set – and a product description from Amazon touting “the very best of the out-takes & rarities from the Super Deluxe Collectors’ Edition,” Numero notes that all 124 tracks appear here (along with a 128-page hardcover book). Now, if you just want the bonus tracks (52 in total), you’ve got that opportunity as well, thanks to a 4LP set with 128-page hardcover book (featuring the same four bonus LPs as the deluxe set) or a 3CD set with 164-page booklet.

You’ll find the track listing below.  We’d suggest buyers get in quick due to the limited nature of the sets. They’re all on Amazon and they’re all due August 26. It’s all a gas, and it seems like the real thing!

Against the Odds 1974-1982 (Numero 070, 2022)

10LP/10″/7″ Super Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
8CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Blondie (released as Private Stock PS 2023, 1976)

1. X Offender
2. Little Girl Lies
3. In the Flesh
4. Look Good in Blue
5. In the Sun
6. A Shark in Jets Clothing
7. Man Overboard
8. Rip Her to Shreds
9. Rifle Range
10. Kung Fu Girl
11. The Attack of the Giant Ants

Plastic Letters (released as Chrysalis CHR 1166, 1978)

1. Fan Mail
2. Denis
3. Bermuda Triangle Blues (Flight 45)
4. Youth Nabbed As Sniper
5. Contact in Red Square
6. (I’m Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear
7. I’m on E
8. I Didn’t Have the Nerve to Say No
9. Love At the Pier
10. No Imagination
11. Kidnapper
12. Detroit 442
13. Cautious Lip

Parallel Lines (released as Chrysalis CHR 1192, 1978)

1. Hanging on the Telephone
2. One Way or Another
3. Picture This
4. Fade Away and Radiate
5. Pretty Baby
6. I Know But I Don’t Know
7. 11:59
8. Will Anything Happen
9. Sunday Girl
10. Heart of Glass
11. I’m Gonna Love You Too
12. Just Go Away

Eat to the Beat (released as Chrysalis CHE 1225, 1979)

1. Dreaming
2. The Hardest Part
3. Union City Blue
4. Shayla
5. Eat to the Beat
6. Accidents Never Happen
7. Die Young Stay Pretty
8. Slow Motion
9. Atomic
10. Sound-a-Sleep
11. Victor
12. Living in the Real World

Autoamerican (released as Chrysalis CHE 1290, 1980)

1. Europa
2. Live It Up
3. Here’s Looking At You
4. The Tide is High
5. Angels on the Balcony
6. Go Through It
7. Do the Dark
8. Rapture
9. Faces
10. T-Birds
11. Walk Like Me
12. Follow Me

The Hunter (released as Chrysalis CHR 1384, 1982)

1. Orchid Club
2. Island of Lost Souls
3. Dragonfly
4. For Your Eyes Only
5. The Beast
6. War Child
7. Little Caesar
8. Danceway
9. (Can I) Find the Right Words (to Say)
10. English Boys
11. The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game

Plaza Sound (Outtakes & Rarities)

1. X Offender (Intro)
2. X Offender (Private Stock Single)
3. In the Sun (Private Stock Single)
4. Little Girl Lies (Private Stock Mix)
5. In the Flesh (Extended Intro)
6. A Shark in Jets Clothing (Take 2)
7. Kung Fu Girls (Take 8)
8. Scenery
9. Denis (Terry Ellis Mix)
10. Bermuda Triangle Blues – Flight 45 (Take 1)
11. I Didn’t Have the Nerve to Say No (Take 1)
12. I’m on E (Take 2)
13. Kidnapper (Take 2)
14. Detroit 442 (Take 2)
15. Poets Problem

Parallel Beats (Outtakes & Rarities)

1. Once I Had a Love (Mike Chapman Demo)
2. Sunday Girl (French Version)
3. I’ll Never Break Away from This Heart of Mine (Pretty Baby)
4. Hanging on the Telephone (Mike Chapman Demo)
5. Will Anything Happen (Instrumental)
6. Underground Girl
7. Call Me
8. Spaghetti Song (Atomic Part 2)
9. Die Young Stay Pretty (Take 1)
10. Union City Blue (Instrumental)
11. Llámame

Coca Cola (Outtakes & Rarities)

1. I Love You Honey, Give Me a Beer (Go Through It)
2. Live It Up (Giorgio Moroder Demo)
3. Angels on the Balcony (Giorgio Moroder Demo)
4. Tide is High (Demo)
5. Susie & Jeffrey
6. Rapture (Disco Version)
7. Autoamerican Ad
8. Yuletide Throwdown

Home Tapes (Outtakes & Rarities)

1. Nameless (Home Tape)
2. Sunday Girl (Home Tape)
3. Theme from Topkapi (Home Tape)
4. The Hardest Part (Home Tape)
5. Ring of Fire (Home Tape)
6. War Child (Chris Stein Mix)
7. Call Me (Chris Stein Mix)
8. Heart of Glass (Chris Stein Mix)

Out in the Streets (Outtakes & Rarities)

1974 Session

1. Out in the Streets (1974)
2. The Disco Song
3. Sexy Ida

Betrock Demo

1. Platinum Blonde
2. The Thin Line
3. Puerto Rico
4. Once I Had a Love (1975)
5. Out in the Streets (1975)

Moonlight Drive b/w Mr. Sightseer