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"Ghosts of Download," which features 13 new tracks, is part
of a two-disc package "Blondie 4(0) Ever" that also includes an
album entitled "Deluxe Redux: Greatest Hits."
"I can't believe it," said Debbie Harry, 68, the group's blonde
singer and punk rock sex symbol, about the longevity of the band
behind hits "Call Me" and the crossover disco chart-topper
"Heart of Glass."
Harry founded the band with guitarist Chris Stein and drummer
Clem Burke in 1975 and went on to score a string of hits such as
"The Tide Is High" and 1981's "Rapture," regarded as the first
No. 1 hit to feature rap.
"With most of our stuff there is never a master plan," Stein,
64, said during an interview. "It's always just moving forward
bit by bit. This is like that, you know. I think there is a
do-it-yourself aspect to Blondie that is what people like."
Stein has been working on the project since the group finished
their last album "Panic of Girls" in 2011. He said the new album
is more computer-based than their last record, with electronic
and Caribbean sounds.
"Ghosts of Download" features a mix of dance-floor music and pop
tunes. On the first single, "A Rose by Any Name," Harry performs
a duet with Beth Ditto of indie rock group Gossip.
"I think that the biggest thing for me about this collection is
that there are so many people that have contributed," Harry
said. "And, you know, that's a little bit unusual for a Blondie
album."
In addition to Ditto, hip hop/R&B group Systema Sola are
featured on "Sugar on the Side" and Oakland-based Panamanian
rappers Los Rakas can be heard on "I Screwed Up."
The stalker-love song "One Way or Another" and "Hanging on the
Telephone" are among the songs on the greatest hits album by the
group that has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.
Stein will also be releasing a book of photographs of Blondie in
September, and the group will perform concerts around the globe
in support of "Blondie 4(0) Ever."
(Writing by Patricia Reaney; Editing by Eric Walsh)
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