BLONDIE: Pollinator (BMG)
Still in raptures about Blondie: New album Pollinator proves she's still the bee's knees, writes ADRIAN THRILLS
dailymail.co.uk – 5th May 2017
By Adrian Thrills for the Daily Mail
Verdict: Still the bee’s knees
Rating: 3/5
Blondie’s attitude to their 11th album is straightforward: if you can’t beat pop’s younger pretenders, welcome them on board.
Pollinator features many elements that singer Debbie Harry, guitarist Chris Stein and drummer Clem Burke used to make the New York band a force in their heyday, with Harry’s voice a focal point for melodic songs with their roots in punk, electronic pop, disco and alternative rock.
This time, though, they have refreshed their sound with the help of some hired hands, including songwriters Sia and Charli XCX, and there’s a duet with Joan Jett plus cameos by guitarists Nick Valensi (of The Strokes) and Johnny Marr.
Thankfully, most of them make meaningful contributions that sit well with the traditions of a band that’s never been scared to experiment.
At the heart of it all is Harry. At 71, she is only two years younger than Mick Jagger, but her poised presence holds Pollinator together with an assured grandeur.
The band begin by harking back to 1978 when they produced two great albums, Plastic Letters and Parallel Lines, in seven months.
Album opener Doom Or Destiny, with Jett on backing vocals, is a tough, new-wave rocker that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Plastic Letters.
Long Time, a collaboration with Londoner Dev Hynes, reprises the bubbling dance grooves of Heart Of Glass from Parallel Lines.
Elsewhere, the funky, horn-driven Love Level, one of only two songs here written by Harry and Stein, echoes the 1981 single Rapture, while Blondie keyboardist Matt Katz-Bohen revisits the band’s penchant for yearning, atmospheric pop on Too Much and Already Naked.
However, the guests are sometimes allowed too much sway. Marr’s urgent imprint leaves Harry floundering on My Monster and Best Day Ever, with Valensi on guitar, sounds like a Strokes pastiche.
But, with producer John Congleton recording the six-piece band live in the same New York studio David Bowie used for his final two albums, Pollinator puts a timely, modern spin on vintage Blondie.
