The first authorized, in-depth boxed set anthology by Blondie will be released via UMC and the Numero Group on August 26.
Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982 has been remastered from the original analog tapes and cut at Abbey Road Studios. It will be available on in a Super Deluxe Collector’s Edition as well as Deluxe 4LP, Deluxe 8CD and 3CD configurations. The set is introduced today by the seminal New York band’s previously unreleased recording of “Moonlight Drive.” An unboxing video for the collection has also been shared.
The boxed set will be housed in a foil-wrapped carton, and will contain extensive liner notes by Erin Osmon; a track-by-track commentary by Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Jimmy Destri, Nigel Harrison, Frank Infante, and Gary Valentine; essays by producers Mike Chapman, Richard Gottehrer, and Ken Shipley; a 120-page illustrated discography; and hundreds of period photographs.
Against The Odds 1974-1982 is the first such collection to be authorized by the band in their 50-year history. It includes, in their entirety, Blondie’s first six studio albums for Chrysalis, Blondie, Plastic Letters, Parallel Lines, Eat To The Beat, Autoamerican, and The Hunter, and the huge hits that helped define a pop era, such as “Heart Of Glass,” “Atomic,” “The Tide Is High,” “Sunday Girl,” “Rapture,” and “Call Me.” The albums have been expanded to include more than four dozen demos, including those that formed the group’s first-ever recording session, as well as alternate versions and studio outtakes. The result is a near-complete document of Blondie’s entire history of studio sessions before their hiatus in 1982.
Blondie artwork – Courtesy: UMG/Numero Group
Most of this archive was stored for nearly two decades in guitarist Stein’s barn, just outside Woodstock, New York. It included a hundred reel-to-reel tapes, half a dozen cassettes, storage tubs full of records, promotional memorabilia, a print by Andy Warhol print, and mirrored dressing room signage from the band’s four sellout shows in January 1980 at London’s Hammersmith Odeon.
Says Debbie Harry: “It really is a treat to see how far we have come when I listen to these early attempts to capture our ideas on relatively primitive equipment. Fortunately the essence of being in a band in the early 70s held some of the anti-social, counter culture energies of the groups that were the influencers of the 60s. I am excited about this special collection. When I listen to these old tracks, it puts me there like I am a time traveler. As bad as it was sometimes, it was also equally as good. No regrets. More music.”
Adds Stein: “I am hopeful that this project will provide a glimpse into the ‘process’ and some of the journey that the songs took from idea to final form. Some of this stuff is like early sketches; the old tape machines are like primitive notebooks. The trickiest thing for me was always about getting the melodies out of my head into reality and the changes that would happen along the way.”
Drummer Clem Burke notes: “It is amazing that after all this time, and against the odds, our Blondie archival box set will finally be released. It’s been a long time coming and we are all very happy and excited with the final results.” Producer Ken Shipley says: “From the moment I walked into Chris Stein’s barn and saw a wall of tapes I knew we were on the precipice of something extraordinary. Against The Odds is a treasure chest disguised as a box set.”
His fellow producer Steve Rosenthal notes: “Blondie is a group of extraordinary artists. Years of searching, months of mixing, mastering and restoration, days of decisions went into this box set to highlight the unique path they travelled —from CBGB’s to MSG.”
Pre-order Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982, which is released on August 26.