Blondie-"One Way Or Another"

The Parallel Lines album was not the out-of-the-gate smash that I thought it was. "Heart Of Glass" was the hit single, but it was the THIRD single from the album in the US, following "I'm Gonna Love You Too" and "Hanging On The Telephone". It was also the third single in the UK, following "Picture This" and "Hanging On The Telephone". (Info taken from the Platinum Collection liner notes.)

"Heart Of Glass" was huge worldwide, of course. In the UK, Chrysalis went with "Sunday Girl" as the follow-up single. In the US, we got "One Way Or Another". No complaints from me; "One Way Or Another" totally rocks.

LP mix

The LP mix was around before the song was released as a single. As noted above, the LP mix has the call-and response vocals at the end of the song panned left/right.

I don't have the Parallel Lines album on CD, so I don't know which mix is on any version of Parallel Lines.

The oldest version of the LP mix that I have is on the US Best Of Blondie. It sounds pretty good here - good dynamic range, reasonable EQ, no unnecessary noise reduction, and nice hiss on the fade. The same analog transfer is used for:

• Priority's Seventies Greatest Rock Hits Vol. 8 Super Songs (1991, no extra NR, louder than Best Of but very little clipping)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Modern Rock Vol. 17 Lost Hits Of The '70s (2002; digitally exactly 1.721 dB louder)

The song wasn't released as a single in the UK, so it doesn't appear on the UK Best Of Blondie.

45 mix

Chrysalis wasn't taking any chances with the follow-up to "Heart Of Glass", so they remixed "One Way Or Another" for the 45. Bigger drums and, as noted above, the LP mix has the call-and-response vocals at the end of the song panned left/center. The fade is also a little shorter than the LP mix.

Of the CDs I have, I found three different analog transfers of the 45 mix.

The first was on Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 19 1979 Take Two (1991). It sounds a little bass-heavy here, but still very good. Great dynamic range, no extra compression/limiting, no noise reduction, and nice hiss on the fade. The same analog transfer is used for:

• Time-Life's Guitar Rock Vol. 2 1978-1979 (1993; shortens fade slightly - avoid because you can do better with the other CDs here)

The second was on Rhino's Just Can't Get Enough Vol. 1 (1994). Much more midrange than the Time-Life disc. And also with great dynamic range, no extra compression/limiting, no noise reduction, and nice hiss on the fade. I'm an unabashed fan of the Bill Inglot masterings, so no surprise that I like this one.

The third was on Chrysalis's 2-CD The Platinum Collection (1994). The sound here is surprisingly close to the Rhino disc. There's a little extra compression/limiting, and maybe a small amount of noise reduction because there's little or no hiss on the fade. The same analog transfer is used for:

• Simitar's Number Ones Rock It Up (1998)
• Madacy's Rock On 1979 Heart Of The Night (1998; digitally exactly 3.384 dB quieter)
• EMI's cheapie 10 Best Series (1999; digitally identical)

Recommendations

For the LP mix, go with the common '80s-era US Best Of Blondie.

For the 45 mix, go with Rhino's Just Can't Get Enough Vol. 1 (1994).

Edited by crapfromthepast