'No Exit'

Take a bunch of New Yorkers, give them instruments and you get some theatre. The opening 'Screaming Skin' channels Joel Grey of 'Cabaret' through the ghost of Marlene Dietrich singing ska. They are here to put on a show, now listen. The next track takes up where 'the Hunter' left off except at warp speed ahead of that album. There is percussion reminiscent of one of my favorite Hunter tracks, 'Orchid Club.' The next track 'Maria' introduces us to the star, BLONDIE (Debbie, the band, you choose). No one else could have made this.

The title track 'No Exit' exists seperate musically from the album up to this point yet is one of three songs which sums up "Life is Harsh." Seems the urban landscape of lost souls was material for grade B horror film references ala George Romero, including 'Dig Up the Conjo' and 'Screaming Skin' and 'No Exit'.

After a unmemorable 'Double Take' we return to a streak of vintage BLONDIE. 'Nothing is Real But the Girl' could have been lifted off 'Parallel Lines.' Here we arrive midway with my favorite track 'Boom Boom in the Zoom Zoom Room'. This is like music for 'Twin Peaks', the tv show, as sung by Ms. Harry channeling Joni Mitchell. The instrumental shows off Ms. Harry's influences including the band 'Morphine' and her time well spent with 'the Jazz Passengers.' This song should be the next single.

Like good epic theatre, we now come to the intermission. 'Night Wind Sent' and 'Under the Gun' is where I exit to relieve myself and refresh my drink. On second thought, I might be missing something!

Any successful show knows the showstopper is at the beginnig of Act 2, so here we have BLONDIE's fresh take on their own take of the Shangri-La's 'Out in the Streets'. Another favorite although I miss the sweet youth Debbie brought to this track the first time around. With a hip-hop beat and a Bond-like influence I look forward to remixes of this track. Mix Magicians take note and blend vocals from the early edition of this track by BLONDIE.

The rest of the album is a breeze for a regular BLONDIE guy like me. Perhaps there are no singles here but I love the kookiness of 'Happy Dog', and the lazy reggae of 'Divine'. The track 'The Dream's Lost on Me' include my favorite lyrics on 'No Exit' and is a swaying country rock tune. Believe me.

The bonus tracks included are live 'Dreaming' , 'Call Me' and 'Rapture.' The price of the entire CD is worth the live 'Dreaming'

Special thanks to Clem Burke and Jimmy Destri. A reunited BLONDIE is a trip home to your family during the holidays. 'It makes you wanna cry'. Review by 'poetwess'

This is a great CD. Woooa, what a comeback from Blondie. To make it short, she`s back in business again. It`s like a joyride into a time machine. Much of here personality and style is not lost over the years. Track 1 Screaming Skin has an up tempo "ska rythm" which swings your soul in the right direction to make it a happy listen altrough. The sound picture are very 70 ths, and it works quite good nowadays too. Track 2 Forgive and Forget is theme wise an another cup of tea. It`s more into the sound of the 80 ths, with it`s more widespread and very open sound picture. It`s an enjoyable listen, with Blondie`s voice cold and clear that makes chills deep into youre soul. Not easy to forget,this one.
Track 3 Maria is the really hit song on this CD. It`s very melodious . This is the one that every note and tone fits perfect in every department, so to speak. It`s a real kickstarter, and the big hit song that should have been back in 1998/1999. Track 4 No Exit, is the title track, and has a classical music theme in the opening, which later on is mixed into rock&roll. This is the weird one on the CD, where many different musical styles is brought together as a whole. Track 5 Double Take, has a talking vocal. It`s a minor letdown, and not really up there whit the rest of the tracks. Debbie`s voice is the best thing. cold,clear, and chilling as always. Track 6 Nothing is real but the girl, is an up tempo pop song, which is well done in every department all trough. Track 7 Boom Boom in the Zoom Zoom room, is the jazzy one with it`s sauntering rhythm. Some reggae and ska rhythm helps too. Track 8 Night wind sent, is the laidback one with an open sound picture, and Blondies voice as good as ever. A touch of intellectual lullaby atmosphere on this one. Track 9 Under the gun, is classical Blondie stuff. Track 10 Out in the streets, hit`s the right buttons, to make it very credible for, let`s called it an urban street song. Track 11 Happy Dog is the blues/rock song, whit the right touches of the right ingredients for a happy meal of rock and roll put together. Track 12 The Dream lost on me, is the one that has the touch of irish folk song included. This one knows it roots, in other words "the real thing". Track 13 Divine, is back in the reggae style of music. Classical Blondie. Track 14 Dig up the conjo , has a weird synth sound. The weakest track on the CD, with it`s African voodoo hoodoo sound picture. As an whole Blondie:No Exit is the comeback CD that shows that here greatness shines all trough, even up to "todays" standard of modern rock/pop music.

Well, Blondie is back, reunited, and sounding better than ever. No Exit is proof of this fact. This album borrows elements from jazz, techno, punk, and the classic Blondie new wave sound. Each band memeber is in top form especially drummer Clem Burke who is one of the most underrated drummers ever, and hired hands Paul Carbona on guitar and Leigh Foxx on bass also sound amazing and make their presence known. There are really no filler songs on the album, they're all really good. It opens with Screaming Skin which I think the best way to describe it is cabaret ska...if that makes any sense. Forgive and Forget is without a doubt one of the best songs on the album, it has an almost techno vibe to it, but completely amazing. Maria brings us back to classic Parallel Lines era Blondie, it's a straight forward rock anthem which is a prefect display of Debbie Harrry's vocal range. The title track is actually quite bizarre, it also features guest vocals from Coolio, which I honestly think is kind of weak but the song is amazing. The album slows down with Double Take, but it is also another one of the best songs on the album, and the lyrics are fantastic. After the slow song it kicks right back into gear with the second single, Nothing is Real but the Girl, this song also has a very old school vibe to it, almost like Maria but an amazing song. Boom Boom in the Zoom Zoom Room is a straight jazz song, and this song like many others showcase Debbie's amazing vocal ability. Night Wind Sent is another slower song, but I don't have anything other to say about it besides the fact that it's amazing. Under the Gun is another classic sounding song, a little more new wavey than the other songs and a really great vocal melody. Out in the Streets is the most new wave song on the album, while not a bad song in my opinion it's the weakest. The Dream's Lost On Me is another song that could've been left off the album, it has a very country vibe to it. Divine is the lost great song on the album, everything about it is great, Jimmy Destri's synth lines, the solid drumming from Clem Burke, and Debbie Harry's passionate vocals. No Exit closes with the song Dig Up the Conjo which is proabably the worst song on the album, but again like the other sub par songs it's not horrible. Now on the first pressing of the album there were three bonus songs, live versions of Dreaming, Rapture, and Call Me. All of which are absolutely amazing, they manage to breathe life into these classic songs and perform them better than they ever have before. All in all this is an amazing album, definately worth buying

Blondie's self titled debut came out in 1976, followed in 1977 by Plastic Letters. But it wasn't until 1978's Parallel Lines that the band exploded in terms of commercial and critical acclaim. They would release one more equally great album in the form of 1979's Eat to the Beat. But by 1980's good but flawed Autoamerican, it seemed like the band was striking out in a bit too many directions and they weren't quite the seasoned group at that point to really pull it off. The less said about their final 1982 album The Hunter, the better.

After 17 long years, Blondie surprised everyone by coming out with No Exit in 1999. Some accused them of jumping on the whole reunion craze of the mid to late 90's, but it's really just a case that the band got back together and found out that they still had a lot to say musically and enjoyed playing with each other.

No Exit shares a lot of similarities to AutoAmerican, but it succeeds in all of the areas where Autoamerican faltered.

The album sees the group striking out in everything from their trademark pop-rock to rap (with a guest appearance by Coolio) to swing, to country and pretty much everything in between.

Most of the time the album works. Out of the 14 tracks, there are only about 4 that I would call fillerish, but the remaining 10 tracks are strong, strong stuff.

Anybody who is a long time fan and gave up on them with 1982's The Hunter, would do wise to check this album out as it was kind of ignored by the general public (at least here in the states) when it came out.

While not as front to back strong as their next album (2003's Curse of Blondie), this still represents a return to form for the inimitable Deborah Harry and the boys.

When I first got this album and listened to it, I thought, "What a waste of money, I should have just gotten the 'Maria' single and saved my money" Then I listened to it a few more times, saw Blondie in concert, and all the songs have grown on me, especially "Under the Gun" and "Forgive and Forget", which I absolutely love. I'm not too fond of "No Exit" and "Happy Dog", but I expect, given time, that might change. All in all, a good strong album.