Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982 – The Official Box Set detailed

In what has become another major year for Blondie, the New York legends mark a career milestone with the release of the first ever authorized and in-depth archive in their history, a rarity for a band almost 50 years into their career with 40 million records sold. Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982 will be released on August 26th via UMe and The Numero Group.

Remastered from the original analog tapes and cut at Abbey Road Studios, this expansive box set is available as a Super Deluxe Collectors’ Edition with bonus discs, Deluxe 4 LP, Deluxe 8 CD and 3 CD editions. Housed in a foil-wrapped carton, Against The Odds includes extensive liner notes by Erin Osmon, track by track commentary from 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.

Blondie has transcended the realms of mere bands, evolving out of pop and punk to become a vital strand of American music’s core DNA. What the seven members of Blondie, made up of iconic frontwoman/songwriter Debbie Harry, guitarist/conceptual mastermind Chris Stein, powerhouse drummer Clem Burke, keyboardist Jimmy Destri, bassist Gary Valentine, guitarist Frank Infante and bassist Nigel Harrison, set to tape over those first eight years remains among the most timeless music of its era.

This archive box set — the first band-authorized collection in their 50-year history — is a collective moment to celebrate their legacy and be immersed into Blondie’s genre-bending sonic universe, including their first six studio albums recorded for Chrysalis; Blondie, Plastic Letters, Parallel Lines, Eat To The Beat, Autoamerican, The Hunter, and in turn their catalogue of era-defining hits “Heart Of Glass,” “Atomic,” “Tide Is High,” “Sunday Girl,” “Rapture,” and “Call Me.” These six groundbreaking albums have been expanded to include over four dozen demos (including the group’s first-ever recording session), alternate versions, and studio outtakes, creating a near-complete document of Blondie’s studio sessions prior to their 1982 hiatus.

“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,” Harry shares. “Fortunately the essence of being in a band in the early 70’s held some of the anti-social, counter culture energies of the groups that were the influencers of the 60’s. 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.”

Against The Odds has an unusual beginning; for nearly two decades, the bulk of Blondie’s audio and visual archive sat inside in Chris Stein’s unassuming barn just outside Woodstock, New York. One hundred reel-to-reel tapes, half a dozen cassettes, a few storage tubs crammed with records, bits of promotional flotsam, flyers, a stray Warhol print, and mirrored dressing room signage from four sold out January 1980 nights at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. All of it lay in wait through 20 humid summers, 20 frigid winters.

Super Deluxe Collectors’ Edition | Deluxe 4 LP | Deluxe 8 CD | 3 CD

CD 1: Blondie

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

CD 2: Plastic Letters

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

CD 3: Parallel Lines

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

CD 4: Eat To The Beat

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

CD 5: Autoamerican

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

CD 6: The Hunter

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

CD 7: Out in the Streets

1. Out In The Streets (1974)
2. The Disco Song
3. Sexy Ida
4. Platinum Blonde
5. The Thin Line
6. Puerto Rico
7. Once I Had A Love (1975)
8. Out In The Streets (1975)

CD 8: Home Tapes

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)