The Lowlist: Blondie’s Parallel Lines – the album that defined New Wave

Blondie released their third album, Parallel Lines, in September 1978. The album has sold over 20 million units since its release, spawned six hit singles, and was one of the defining albums of 'new wave'. All in all, it was a huge achievement by anyone’s standards – even more so when you consider that the group’s previous album Plastic Letters was released in February of the same year.

The musicians – Debbie Harry (vocals), Chris Stein (guitar), Frank Infante (guitar), Nigel Harrison (bass), Jimmy Destri (keyboards) and Clem Burke (drums) – were told that they had six months to produce their third album, so producer Mike Chapman (famous for his work with The Sweet and Suzi Quatro) gave them a mere six weeks to get themselves together, write the album and record it.

Fresh out of the CBGBs punk scene, the band weren't the greatest musicians, according to Chapman. "The only great musician among them was Frankie Infante," he said. "The rest of them were all over the bloody place… Clem Burke had all the right ideas, but he had no sense of timing. I mean, he had a lot of ability, but I always felt he was trying too hard. If you're going to use the Keith Moon approach, you'd better be able to pull it off, because if you don't it's just going to be a shambles. Sure, there were some timing discrepancies on some of those Who records, but Keith Moon had the ability to do all that manic stuff and keep the groove solid at the same time. Clem hadn't learned how to do that yet – he would later on – and so although Nigel was a very competent bass player the rhythm section was totally out of whack.

"Nigel actually brought a lot to the table. He brought terrific songwriting, a sense of humour, and the fact that he was English added another dimension to the band."

As with all great bands, when a Blondie song came on the radio, you knew it was them. As with many great bands, internal tension fuelled their creativity. Chapman’s direct manner – "I basically went in there like Adolf Hitler and said, 'You are going to make a great record, and that means you're going to start playing better'" – is said to have irritated the band, leaving Harry in an emotional state for much of the recording process and inciting Harrison to hurl a keyboard at the producer. Whether his approach was right or wrong, Chapman managed to coax a string of hits out of the band, setting them on a commercial path that led to worldwide success. The album reached number one in the UK and number six in the US, its hook-laden singles keeping it in the charts for months.

Harrison’s bass gear was de rigueur for the time, with a Fender Precision equipped with Rotosound Swing Bass strings plugged into a Marshall amp – simple and straight to the point. The bass tone across the album is a lot smoother and rounded than those of many other post-punk bands; the clanky Precision tone clearly wasn’t for Mr Harrison, who wore his Motown influences on his sleeve.

Hanging On The Telephone is the album’s immortal opener, the eighth-note pulse between Harrison and Burke driving the song along, while the walking section in the bridges offers variation. Picture This features one of Harrison’s finest bass-lines – supportive and fluid with several melodic flourishes. Rather than sticking to root notes, he manages to create a bass-line that is almost a song in itself, all in less than three minutes.

The bass part at 2’40” through to 3’00” on Fade Away And Radiate stands out, the staccato notes giving a jagged feel that eventually gives way to a reggae skank at 3’26”. Despite the studio chaos, Harrison’s bass performances are measured, rounded and the bedrock of the band, never sounding anything less than confident and assured – even among two guitars, keys and drums.

One Way Or Another is definitely a song with legs, although it wasn’t a huge hit at the time – in fact, it wasn’t even released in the UK. Over the decades, however, it’s been used on various film and TV soundtracks and has been covered by many artists; quite a performance for a song supposedly written about a stalker.

Will Anything Happen and Sunday Girl are so different musically, the former featuring syncopated bass and guitar lines that flex their punk muscles, while the latter is close to the perfect pop song – simple, catchy and loaded with a bunch of effortless melodic hooks.

Heart Of Glass, a number one single on both sides of the Atlantic, was the band’s tip of the hat to the growing disco movement that was sweeping the US, and the world, in 1978. Surprisingly, many disco clubs in the US, and in New York in particular, weren’t taken with the track and rarely played it. What did they know? The song, and album, remain classics to this day.

Blondie's Parallel Lines is available to buy or stream.