More showing their roots than going back to their roots, this is [a]Blondie[/a] attempting a Killers-style anthemic electro-rock makeover but with only limited success. Lead-off single ‘Mother’, a recollection of [a]Debbie Harry’s days on the New York nightclub scene, shows their genius for big radio choruses is still very much alive and kicking.
Meanwhile, ‘D-Day’ and ‘What I Heard’ are nicely adventurous cyber-punk, on which Debbie shows upstart [a]Lady Gaga[/a] a thing or two about Warholian pop sleaze. Christ, if only the other half of this album didn’t spiral off into wretched reggae stylings, this would be alright. Actually, forget that, this is fucking [a]Blondie[/a], we owe them, they can have a 6.
Martin Robinson