Against The Odds: 1974-1982 - Blondie (2022)


 

Against The Odds: 1974-1982 is a collection released just this year, in 2022 after a gestation period of at least two years.

This was an interesting release: the band released basically a box set of their entire career (first stage, i.e. ,up to 1982 -- they reformed in 1999, but there's nothing from this box from their second era.) The box was released on both vinyl and CD, and included also several discs  of bonus tracks, outttakes, demos and B-sides.

Unusually, and to my delight, they also released all of the bonus tracks separately, so that people who have all of their albums (like me) would not have to splurge on buying the albums all over again to get the outtakes. This novel approach offers me value for money and I don't think I've ever encountered it before. 

Some of these tracks I did have before, but as I tend to favor earlier masters on CD, many bonus tracks released on later masters were not in my possession: and anyway, most of the stuff is new anyway. 

As the title suggest it covers the the entire bands career from their inception in the early seventies, through their early punk days and up into one of the biggest rock bands on earth. The sound is excellent (so good, I was tempted to go ahead and splurge on the big box set  anyway, but I'm mostly satisfied with the old eighties and early 90s albums I have). There's a lot to digest here and I've only heard the whole thing twice. But I really enjoyed it, though there are a few alternate mixes that seem less than essential, a lot of the outtakes and B-sides are great fun to hear. This also includes the absolutely essential single "One Way Or Another", which was originally ont he soundtrack to American Gigalo, and not any album by Blondie. 

It's an archival release and comes with an excellent little book: loaded with information and reminiscenses from the band. This is seriously one of the best archival releases on all fronts that I've ever encountered.  For big fans of Blondie only, but for us,  it's a definitely a

5/5

Coming Up:

A.M. Wilco

A.T.O.M. - Carbon Silicon

ABBA - ABBA 

ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits

Abbey Road - The Beatles

Achtung, Baby! U2

Actually - Pet Shop Boys

Adult/Child- The Beach Boys

Aerosmith's Greatest Hits

After The Gold Rush - Neil Young

Afterglow - Crowded House

Aftermath (UK Version) - The Rolling Stones

Against The Odds: 1974-1982 Blondie (three disc version)

Aimee Mann Live at St. Ann's Warehouse

Aiming For Your Head - Betchadupa

The Album -- ABBA

The Album That Never Was - The Kinks

All Four One - The Motels

All Over the Place - The Bangles

All Summer Long -- The Beach Boys

All the Great Hits -- Diana Ross

All Things Must Pass -- George Harrison

All This Useless Beauty -- Elvis Costello & the Attractions

All-Time Greatest Hits - Neil Diamond

Alluvium -- Eddie Rayner

Almost Blue -- Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Almost Summer - Celebration

Alpha Mike Foxtrot -- Wilco

The Alphabetchadupa - Betchadupa

Altitude - ALT

American Idiot Green Day

American Prayer -- The Doors

Amnesiac Radiohead

And I Feel Fine...The Best of the IRS years (1982-1987) - R.E.M.

Animals - Pink Floyd

Anodyne - Uncle Tupelo

Another Life - Another Life

Another Music in Another Kitchen: The Buzzcocks

Another Side of Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

Anthology: Diana Ross & The Supremes

Anthology: Smokey Robinson & The Beatles

Anthology 1: The Beatles

Anthology 2: The Beatles

Anthology 3 The Beatles

Anthology: North South, East West - Tim Finn

Apple Venus: Volume One -- XTC

Apollo 18 - They Might Be Giants

The ArchAndroid: Janelle Monae

Are Well-Respected Men - The Kinks

Armed Forces -Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Around the World in a Day - Prince

Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) - The Kinks

At My Piano - Brian Wilson

Autoamerican - Blondie

Automatic for the People - R.E.M.



 

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