Blondie

The Curse of Blondie (Sanctuary)

By Charlotte Robinson
Published: May 24th, 2004 | 1:45pm

With the exception of the terrific single "Maria," Blondie's 1999 reunion album No Exit was pretty much a wash. It's taken the group five years and a lot of mishaps (9/11, lost tapes, trying to land an American record deal) to release the aptly named follow-up, The Curse Of Blondie. Maybe it was all the trouble they went through to make the album or feeling that the pressure was off this time, but the members of Blondie sound invigorated on this outing.

Don't let the poor choice of an opener ("Shakedown," a pseudo-rap reminiscent of the awful Coolio duet on No Exit) deter you, because there are some great songs on Curse, like the club-friendly first single, "Good Boys," the hard-rocking "Goldenrod," and "Undone," a catchy pop song that can stand up to any of the group's classic hits from the '70s and '80s. While this version of Blondie is older and more sedate, it's not afraid to keep experimenting with rap, jazz, reggae, disco, and rock, but where the fusion felt forced on No Exit, here it feels natural.

That's not to say that Curse is on par with classic Blondie albums like Parallel Lines — it runs a bit long, is front-loaded, and contains some filler — but it hits a lot closer to the mark than you'd expect. Forget about No Exit: This is the real Blondie reunion album.