Blondie - 'Panic Of Girls'

The long-awaited new album from Blondie, 'Panic Of Girls' is now available for download so, naturally, I've downloaded it and will get the fan pack when it's available on Wednesday (of course). Debbie and Chris have been over here doing the media to make sure we all know the album is coming out, and they have almost matching hair, which is an interesting look. Debbie is still one of the coolest and most beautiful women on the planet, just as she was all those years ago when I first saw her on Top of the Pops singing 'Denis'.

OK, that's the fanboy bit over with, so what about the album? My first taste of contemporary Blondie came two years ago when they gave away 'We Three Kings' for Christmas through their website. I loved it. Then I saw them last summer at the Indigo2 when they looked and sounded fabulous and played about half the tracks from the new album and the great thing was that they worked as individual songs and as part of a Blondie gig alongside the classics. There's punky powerpop and there's reggae, all overlaid with Debbie's voice and a great, full production.

There's the great new single, 'Mother' (see the video below), a classic Blondie song, along with 'What I Heard' and 'Love Doesn't Frighten Me' with guitars and drums blazing. I've never been a great fan of Blondie's reggae songs, but these songs work for me, particularly the happy, skanking 'Girlie Girlie' and I love 'Sunday Smile' with it's delicate trumpet line. The relentless latin-tinged song, 'Wipe Off My Sweat', is the dance-track from the album, with Debbie singing in Spanish and with a bit of flamenco guitar. To continue the language theme there's also 'Le Bleu' with Debbie singing in French backed with a Left-Bank accordion sound which slows things down a bit. They're all great songs and I need to listen to them lots. Of course, there's a couple of extra songs on the CD that comes with the fan pack, so there's still more joy to come.

Anyway, here's the video for 'Mother' with Debbie in full-on Blondie mode with glitter freaks and zombies - enjoy! Then download the album. You will enjoy it y'know. Trust me.