EMI always delivers a handsome added-value package and recently we've had excellent Whitesnake and Hawkwind re-issues in their 'Collector's Edition' series, the latter with a novelty DVD sequencing a whole live album.

'Eat To The Beat' gets the special treatment too, this time it's a chance to enjoy a DVD of the complete album, the first time it's been available in this format. Originally, there was the simultaneous release of the video album in VHS format.

The album, the band's fourth in the studio, dipped when it was released in the States although in the UK it yielded the hits 'Dreaming', 'Union City Blue' and 'Atomic'. If not as strong as 'Parallel Lines', 'Eat To The Beat' maintained Blondie's mantle for fashioning the perfectly-formed three minute pop song.

More diverse than its predecessors, it's also a chance to explore some of the lesser-known band fare, such as 'Shayla', the cod-reggae of 'Die Young Stay Pretty', and the racy 'Accidents Never Happen'.

And the video album is perhaps as significant as the audio version. Remember this predates the MTV Age, and makes Blondie veritable pop pioneers. And of course there's not many female front-persons as photogenic as Debbie Harry. (Try 'Sound-A-Sleep' for starters).

The videos are a lot less cheesy than much eighties pop fare, so here's an album that should be enjoyed as it was intended. Seen as well as heard. For anyone who grew up in the late seventies, at a time when Blondie's star was still in the firmament, this is a rewarding purchase.

****

Review by David Randall