Panic of Girls

Panic of Girls
Studio album by
ReleasedMay 30, 2011
RecordedOctober–December 2009 and May 2010
StudioWoodstock, New York and Hoboken, New Jersey
Genre
Length42:33
Label
Producer
  • Jeff Saltzman
  • 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
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic57/100
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
Blurt
Daily Express4/5
Drowned in Sound4/10
NME6/10
Paste8.0/10
PopMatters6/10
Rolling Stone
Uncut

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, followed by physical releases in various formats later.

Background

Panic of Girls was recorded between October and 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. 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). 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), "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), "Dead Air", "Rock On" (David Essex's cover), "Bride of Infinity", "Practice Makes Perfect" (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. 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, and was released in the United States on September 13, 2011, exclusively through Amazon.com.

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

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 Louieaccordion 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 Needhammixing
  • Will Brierre – assistant mix engineer
  • Stephen Marcussenmastering

Charts

Chart performance for Panic of Girls
Chart (2011) Peak
position
Belgian Heatseekers Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 4
Belgian Heatseekers Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 4
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) 62
Scottish Albums (OCC) 67
UK Albums (OCC) 73
UK Independent Albums (OCC) 12

Release history

Release history for Panic of Girls
Region Date Label Format Edition Catalogue
United Kingdom May 30, 2011 Five Seven 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 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

This page was last updated at 2023-10-27 06:45 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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