Blondie: Vivir En La Habana (BMG)
Verdict: Havana Ball
Rating: 
John Mayer: Sob Rock (Columbia)
Verdict: Having a bawl
Rating: 
Clairo: Sling (Polydor)
Verdict: Bedroom pop beauty
Rating:
Blondie were always one of the more imaginative acts to emerge from the storied New York punk club CBGB in the 1970s.
Singer Debbie Harry’s new wave credentials were impeccable, but the band she fronted soon outgrew the limitations of three-chord rock songs. They topped the UK charts with a disco single, Heart Of Glass, sparking cries of ‘Sell out!’ from their peroxide-dyed peers. Other hits included a classic reggae cover, The Tide Is High, and the brilliant Rapture, one of the first singles to mix rap and rock.
So it’s no surprise to find the band, with Harry still in magnificent voice at 76, continuing to take chances. Vivir En La Habana, out today on vinyl and digitally, was made in Cuba and puts a Latin spin on some of their biggest hits. Made on a visit to the island in 2019, it’s billed as an EP, but is actually a 40-minute live album, with three of its six tracks expanded into lengthy medleys.
Singer Debbie Harry’s new wave credentials were impeccable, but the band she fronted soon outgrew the limitations of three-chord rock songs
Invited to Havana by the Cuban ministry of culture, Harry and her bandmates stayed for four nights, rehearsing with local jazz-fusion group Sintesis and playing two concerts with them at the Teatro Mella. That trip is also the basis of a forthcoming short film by director Rob Roth, so the album doubles as an official soundtrack.
Some songs lend themselves well to the Latin treatment. With Harry joined by a brass section and Sintesis singers Ele Valdes and Maria del Carmen Avila, The Tide Is High becomes a feelgood Caribbean fiesta close in spirit to Jamaican singer John Holt’s 1967 original.
Originally sung in Spanish, Wipe Off My Sweat also sits comfortably in a Cuban setting, with Clem Burke’s rock-solid drumming bolstered by Latin percussion and flamenco guitars.
Other tracks stick to a more familiar game plan. Heart Of Glass, an inevitable delight, includes a diversion into Donna Summer’s Euro-disco standard I Feel Love. A more recent single, 2017’s Long Time, is an electronic dance workout co-written with London singer Dev Hynes, AKA Blood Orange. With Harry’s voice a tuneful focal point, both tracks should feature again when Blondie tour the UK in the autumn.
Invited to Havana by the Cuban ministry of culture, Harry and her bandmates stayed for four nights, rehearsing with local jazz-fusion group Sintesis and playing two concerts with them at the Teatro Mella
The group remain the embodiment of downtown New York cool, and they use the
