Power, Passion

Blondie : Union City Blue

[Purchase]

On October 13, 1979 Blondie released Eat to the Beat, a #1 album in the U.K. The band teamed up with Parallel Lines producer Mike Chapman for an album notable for its diversity. There's power pop, ("Dreaming")  funk ("The Hardest Part") , reggae ("Die Young Stay Pretty") even a lullaby ("Sound-A-Sleep").

"They wanted to try anything," said Chapman. "And I was right there with them. We also had a title for the album at a very early point, so we had a concept of sorts: Eat to the Beat."

Chapman also says there were a lot of drugs in the studio.

"The more drugs, the more fights. It was becoming a real mess. ... The music was good but the group was showing signs of wear and tear."

Anticipating the marketing power of music videos, Blondie made a video for every song on the album. "Union City Blue" was shot at Union Dry Dock, Weehawken, New Jersey, while the rest were shot in New York City. 

After "Dreaming" ( U.K.#2/ U.S. #27) , Blondie released "Union City Blue (U.K.#13), "The Hardest Part" (U.S. #84) and, following "Call Me" from the American Gigolo soundtrack, "Atomic" (U.K.#1/ U.S. #39).

In her review for Rolling Stone, Debra Rae Cohen praised the album:

Faced with the challenge of following up the million-selling Parallel Lines, Blondie has delivered a record that’s not only ambitious in its range of styles, but also unexpectedly and vibrantly compelling without sacrificing any of the group’s urbane, modish humor.

Robert Christgau gave Eat to the Beat an A-, writing:


This makes it in the end, but not by much--a tour de force like Parallel Lines it ain't.

David Hepworth of Smash Hits was also a fan:

Brasher, more rocking followup to the enormously successful Parallel Lines...Perfectly organised rock and roll that sounds as good in your living room as it does on the radio. As hard and as shiny as glass and I love it. Shake and fingerpop.

Critic George Arthur's 1979 Pazz and Jop  ballot

Blondie: Eat to the Beat (Chrysalis) 15; 
Dave Edmunds: Repeat When Necessary (Swan Song) 12; 
Rickie Lee Jones (Warner Bros.) 12; 
Lene Lovich: Stateless (Stiff/Epic) 12; 
Nick Lowe: Labour of Lust (Columbia) 10; 
Kinks: Low Budget (Arista) 9; 
Rachel Sweet: Fool Around (Stiff/Columbia) 8; 
Jerry Lee Lewis (Elektra) 8; 
Tom Petty + the Heartbreakers: Damn the Torpedoes (Backstreet/MCA) 8; 
Get the Knack (Capitol) 6.