Panic of Girls

Panic of Girls is the ninth studio album by the American rock band Blondie. It was the band's first album of new material in nearly 8 years, since 2003's The Curse of Blondie. The album was first released digitally on May 30, 2011,[13] followed by physical releases in various formats later.

Panic of Girls
Studio album by
Blondie
ReleasedMay 30, 2011
RecordedOctober–December 2009 and May 2010 in Woodstock, New York and Hoboken, New Jersey
GenreAlternative rock, new wave, post-punk revival
Length42:33
LabelFive Seven, EMI
ProducerJeff Saltzman
(except "Mother" and "The End the End" produced by Kato Khandwala)
Blondie chronology
The Curse of Blondie
(2003)		 Panic of Girls
(2011)		 Blondie 4(0) Ever
(2014)
Alternative cover
Collector's Pack cover
Singles from Panic of Girls
  1. "Mother"
    Released: May 23, 2011
  2. "What I Heard"
    Released: August 5, 2011[1]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic57/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Blurt[4]
Drowned in Sound4/10[5]
The Independentpositive[6]
NME6/10[7]
Paste8.0/10[8]
PopMatters6/10[9]
Rolling Stone[10]
Daily Telegraph(favourable)[11]
Uncut[2]
Express(4/5)[12]

Background

Panic of Girls was recorded between October–December 2009 in Woodstock, New York, and May 2010 in Hoboken, New Jersey, being the second album in the band's history to be recorded outside of Manhattan, after 1980's Autoamerican (which was recorded in Los Angeles). This is the first Blondie album that does not feature original keyboardist Jimmy Destri. According to Clem Burke, the band's drummer, Destri had planned to contribute to the writing and recording of the album, but was ultimately not a part of it.[14] Paul Carbonara, who was with Blondie since 1998, departed the band partway through the recording sessions, and was replaced by Tommy Kessler. Both of them, along with Leigh Foxx and Matt Katz-Bohen, are credited as full band members on the released album.

The album name came from the lyrics of a track recorded for the album, "End of the World", which ultimately did not appear on its final track list (though was included as a bonus track on the German deluxe edition). Panic contains one song in French ("Le Bleu") and two in Spanish ("Wipe Off My Sweat" and "Mirame", though the latter appears only on Collectors Pack version of the album) and features many rhythms and musical styles.

Clem Burke also said that about 35 songs were recorded during the sessions for the album, with only 14-16 planned to make the album (finally cut to 11).[14] Many of these tracks were released before and after the album: "We Three Kings" (2010), "Don't Stop" (Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", released only as a video[15]), "Horizontal Twist", "Mirame" (Grupo Pesadilla cover), "Please Please Me" (The Beatles cover), "End of the World", "Sleeping Giant" (bonuses to different releases, 2011), "Restless" (published on a Deborah Harry forum with special permissions, 2012[16]), "Dead Air", "Rock On" (David Essex's cover), "Bride of Infinity",[17] "Practice Makes Perfect"[18] (free tracks, 2012). There are also alternate mixes of "Mother" and "What I Heard", the former published on the band's site in Christmas 2010 and the latter on the song's promo CD single.

Promotion and release

Two tracks from the album, "What I Heard" and "Girlie Girlie", were included on a special release of the band's 1978 album Parallel Lines that came free with the British newspaper The Mail on Sunday on December 5, 2010. Another song, "Mother", was made available as a free download from the band's website.[19] A second, final version of the song was later announced as the lead single, available for purchase on May 23, 2011. A third single, "China Shoes", was announced on early press releases, but never materialized.

The album was originally due for release in 2010, but difficulties with record companies delayed the release. In an interview with the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph on March 24, 2011, Debbie Harry revealed that the band would be releasing the album themselves (i.e., without a record company) in the United Kingdom as part of a special "Collector's Pack" in conjunction with Future Publishing. The pack includes the album, a special 132-page magazine charting the making of the album and the band's history, as well as many archive photographs, four postcards, six badges, and a poster. It was made available in the UK from 1 June 2011 in over 3000 nontraditional music retail outlets including Tesco, Asda, Waitrose, WHSmith, and Sainsbury's. The album, by itself, was released on July 4, 2011,[20] and was released in the United States on September 13, 2011, exclusively through Amazon.com.[21][22]

The tour in support kicked off in summer and featured European and North American legs.[23]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."D-Day"Deborah Harry / Barbara Jean Morrison / Charles W. Nieland3:37
2."What I Heard"Matt Katz-Bohen / Laurel Katz-Bohen3:15
3."Mother"Harry / Kato Khandwala / Ben Phillips3:09
4."The End the End"Harry / Khandwala / Phillips3:41
5."Girlie Girlie" (Sophia George cover)Anthony Davis / Lloyd Douglas / Steve Golding3:25
6."Love Doesn't Frighten Me"M. Katz-Bohen / L. Katz-Bohen3:18
7."Words in My Mouth"Harry / Morrison / Nieland4:19
8."Sunday Smile" (Beirut cover)Zach Condon4:48
9."Wipe Off My Sweat"Harry / Chris Stein / M. Katz-Bohen4:13
10."Le Bleu"Stein / Gilles Riberolles4:28
11."China Shoes"Harry / Stein4:21
Collector's Pack bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Horizontal Twist"Harry / Stein / Morrison / Nieland2:28
13."Mirame" (Grupo Pesadilla cover)Grupo Pesadilla3:48
Deluxe edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."End of the World"Harry / Stein5:48
13."Sleeping Giant"Harry / Stein3:37
Deluxe edition bonus disc
No.TitleLength
1."Mother" (Music video) 
2."Photo Gallery" 
Japanese bonus track
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
12."Please Please Me" (The Beatles cover)John Lennon / Paul McCartney2:00

Personnel
Blondie
Additional personnel
  • Elliot Easton - guitar on "Love Doesn't Frighten Me"
  • Zach Condon - trumpet on "Sunday Smile", "Wipe Off My Sweat" and "Le Bleu"
  • Lauren Katz-Bohen - backing vocals on "Love Doesn't Frighten Me"
  • Professor Louie - accordion on "Le Bleu"
  • Jeff Saltzman - production (Tracks 1-2, 5-13)
  • Kato Khandwala - production, engineering, programming, guitar and keyboards (Tracks 3-4)
  • Super Buddha - additional production on "D-Day"
  • Matt Katz-Bohen - additional production on "What I Heard"
  • Chris Berens - cover art, art direction
  • Marco Martin - engineer (Tracks 1-2, 5-13)
  • Gabriel Espinosa - engineer (Tracks 1-2, 5-13)
  • Mark Needham - mixing
  • Will Brierre - assistant mix engineer
  • Stephen Marcussen - mastering

Charts
Chart (2011) Peak
position
Belgian Heatseekers Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[24] 4
Belgian Heatseekers Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[25] 4
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[26] 62
UK Albums (OCC)[27] 73
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[28] 12

Release history
Region Date Label Format Edition Catalogue
United Kingdom May 30, 2011[29] Five Seven[30] Digital download Standard
June 1, 2011 Future Publishing CD Collector's Pack CRP05/06/11
July 4, 2011 Five Seven, EMI CD, LP Standard NBL891, NBL892
Europe July 15, 2011[31] Five Seven CD, digital download NBL891
2CD Deluxe NBL894
United States September 13, 2011 CD, digital download Standard NBL890
Japan October 5, 2011 Five Seven, Universal Music Japan CD Japanese UICE-1195

References
  1. "What I Heard - Single by Blondie - Single on iTunes". iTunes. Apple Inc. Retrieved 2011-08-15.
  2. Critic reviews from Metacritic
  3. Allmusic review
  4. Judge, Stephen (September 19, 2011). "Blondie - Panic of Girls". Blurt Magazine. Archived from the original on October 10, 2011. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  5. Drowned in Sound review
  6. The Independent review
  7. NME review
  8. Paste review
  9. PopMatters review
  10. Rolling Stone review
  11. Brown, Helen (June 30, 2011). "Blondie: Panic of Girls, CD of the week". telegraph.co.uk. Daily Telegraph.
  12. Gage, Simon (July 1, 2011). "Album review - Blondie: Panic of girls (EMI)". express.co.uk. Daily Express.
  13. "Panic of Girls officially released in the U.K.!". Blondie.net. 2011-05-30. Retrieved 2013-11-21.
  14. "Blondie To Release New Album In 2011". Ultimate-guitar.com. 2010-08-19. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
  15. 10thst. "Blondie - Don't Stop". YouTube. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  16. Bustamante, Louis A. "Blondie - Restless". YouTube. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  17. Blondie. "New Blondie Tracks for Free". www.blondie.net.
  18. Blondie. "New Blondie Track for FREE!". www.blondie.net. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  19. "Mail On Sunday to release three tracks from 'Panic Of Girls'". deborah-harry.com. November 28, 2010. Archived from the original on 2013-11-21. Retrieved 2013-11-21.
  20. Alexander, Hilary (March 24, 2011). "The Telegraph - Interview with Debbie Harry (24 Mar 2011)". London: Fashion.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
  21. ""Panic of Girls" officially released in the U.S." blondie.net. September 13, 2011. Retrieved 2013-11-21.
  22. "Blondie, "Panic of Girls" Released Exclusively on Amazon". rockmymonkey.com. September 15, 2011. Archived from the original on 2013-11-21. Retrieved 2013-11-21.
  23. "Blondie Announce Release Date for New 'Panic of Girls' Album". ultimateclassicrock.com. September 1, 2011. Retrieved 2013-11-21.
  24. "Blondie – Panic of Girls" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  25. "Blondie – Panic of Girls" (in French). Ultratop. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  26. "Dutchcharts.nl – Blondie – Panic of Girls" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  27. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  28. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  29. "Panic of Girls". Play.com. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
  30. "Five Seven Artists". fivesevenmusic.com. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  31. "Panic of Girls". Amazon.de. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
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