No Exit (Blondie album)

Last updated
No Exit
Blondie - No Exit.png
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 15, 1999 (1999-02-15)
Recorded1998
StudioRed Night Recording, Electric Lady and Chung King House of Metal (New York City)
Genre Alternative rock
Length59:05
Label Beyond Music
Producer Craig Leon
Blondie chronology
The Hunter
(1982)
No Exit
(1999)
The Curse of Blondie
(2003)
Singles from No Exit
  1. "Maria"
    Released: February 1, 1999 (UK)
  2. "Nothing Is Real but the Girl"
    Released: May 31, 1999
  3. "No Exit"
    Released: October 22, 1999
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Robert Christgau A− [2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Entertainment Weekly C [4]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [6]

No Exit is the seventh studio album by American rock band Blondie, released on February 15, 1999, [7] by Beyond Music. It was the band's first album in 17 years and features the UK number-one single "Maria". As of March 2006, the album had sold two million copies worldwide. [8]

Contents

Overview

As was customary for a Blondie album, No Exit dabbled in many genres, including pop, reggae, country, and hip hop. Mike Chapman, who had produced all but the first two of Blondie's previous albums, produced some of the early demos for the album, though final production of the album fell to Craig Leon.

A cover of the Shangri-Las' 1965 song "Out in the Streets" was included on the album. It was originally recorded by the band in 1975 while they were trying to get a record deal. The demo version was first issued on EMI's 1994 anthology The Platinum Collection and was later included on the 2001 remastered version of the band's eponymous debut studio album.

A comeback promotional tour, the No Exit Tour, was launched preceding the release of the album, which spanned 13 months and visited Europe, North America and Oceania.

Release and reception

No Exit reached number three on the UK Albums Chart, and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales in excess of 100,000 copies. It was preceded by the single "Maria", which became Blondie's sixth UK number one, exactly 20 years after the band's first number one, "Heart of Glass", making them the first American band to have chart-topping UK singles in three different decades: 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. [9] A second single, "Nothing Is Real but the Girl", peaked at number 26 on the UK Singles Chart. The title track, "No Exit", was released as a limited-edition third single in Europe, and is a fusion of classical, hip hop and rock, and featured raps by Mobb Deep, Coolio, U-God, and Inspectah Deck. "Screaming Skin" was released as a promo single in the US in late 1999.

The album was released in several editions in different countries with various bonus tracks, mainly live versions of songs recorded during the band's No Exit Tour. The album was also reissued in 2001 along with all of Blondie's other studio albums.

Chris Stein commented on the title of the album in a 2004 interview: "The title was taken from a Sartre play, which says there's no madness in individuals, it's all in groups. I think that's probably what all these reality TV shows are about. Maybe we were a reality TV show before there was reality TV."

The album was not available on streaming platforms or digital music stores for several years, most likely because of a possible dispute in licensing or distribution rights, although the song "Maria" from the album could still be found on these platforms and stores on compilation albums. No Exit and its follower The Curse of Blondie (2003) were added to all streaming platforms on November 16, 2023.

Track listing

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Screaming Skin"
5:37
2."Forgive and Forget (Pull Down the Night)"SteinStein4:31
3."Maria" Jimmy Destri Destri4:51
4."No Exit"
  • Destri
  • Stein
4:19
5."Double Take" (featuring Candy Dulfer)HarryStein4:12
6."Nothing Is Real but the Girl"DestriDestri3:13
7."Boom Boom in the Zoom Zoom Room"
  • Harry
  • Ashby
4:08
8."Night Wind Sent"
  • Harry
  • Ashby
  • Foxx
  • Stein
4:40
9."Under the Gun" (for Jeffrey Lee Pierce)SteinStein4:09
10."Out in the Streets"
  • Greenwich
  • Barry
3:03
11."Happy Dog" (for Caggy)
  • Harry
  • Ashby
Stein3:24
12."The Dream's Lost on Me"Ashby
  • Stein
  • Harry
3:19
13."Divine"
  • Burke
  • Valentine
  • Burke
  • Valentine
4:14
14."Dig Up the Conjo"Destri
  • Stein
  • Harry
  • Destri
4:55
US and Canadian edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
15."Dreaming" (live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998) (hidden track)
  • Harry
  • Stein
3:22
16."Call Me" (live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998) (hidden track)4:47
17."Rapture" (live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998) (hidden track)
  • Stein
  • Harry
7:07
Australian edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
15."Call Me" (live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998)
  • Moroder
  • Harry
4:47
16."Rapture" (live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998)
  • Stein
  • Harry
7:07
17."Heart of Glass" (live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998)
  • Harry
  • Stein
6:49
Limited edition bonus EP
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Call Me" (live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998)
  • Moroder
  • Harry
4:47
2."Rapture" (live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998)
  • Stein
  • Harry
7:07
3."Dreaming" (live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998)
  • Harry
  • Stein
3:21
4."Heart of Glass" (live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998)
  • Harry
  • Stein
6:49
Japanese edition bonus track
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
15."Hot Shot"
3:46
2001 reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
15."Hot Shot"
  • Kahn
  • Borusiewicz
3:46
16."Rapture" (live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998)
  • Stein
  • Harry
7:07
17."Heart of Glass" (live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998)
  • Harry
  • Stein
6:49

Notes

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of No Exit. [10]

Blondie

Additional musicians

Technical

  • Craig Leon – production, recording (all tracks); mixing (tracks 1, 7, 9–11, 13, 14)
  • Cassell Webb – production assistance
  • Mike Shipley – mixing (tracks 2–6, 8)
  • Randy Nicklaus – mixing (track 12)
  • Michael Tocci – engineering assistance
  • John Wydrycs – engineering assistance
  • Ian Blanch – engineering assistance
  • Milton Chan – engineering assistance
  • Tal Miller – engineering assistance
  • John Tamburello – technical installation
  • Michael Block – technical installation
  • Steve Hall – mastering

Artwork

Charts

Certifications and sales

Certifications and sales for No Exit
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Portugal8,000 [30]
Spain (PROMUSICAE) [31] Gold50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [32] Gold100,000^
United States417,000 [33]
Summaries
Worldwide2,000,000 [8]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

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