Blondie: Deborah Harry (vocals); Chris Stein (guitar); Jimmy Destri (keyboards); Clem Burke (drums).

Additional personnel: Paul Carbonara (guitar); Leigh Foxx (bass).

Producers: Steve Thompson, Jeff Bova, Craig Leon.

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.

Blondie's first new studio album since 1999's NO EXIT accentuates the finest aspects of their seminal sound. The opening numbers "Shakedown" and "Good Boys," for instance, both mine the group's dance classic "Rapture," the former song finding iconic lead singer Debbie Harry revisiting her NYC rap persona, and the latter highlighting a disco-era beat.

While songs such as the rocking "Undone" show contemporary New York bands such as the Strokes exactly how it's done, the quirkier, more experimental material such as "Magic (Asadoya Yunta)" and "Desire Brings Me Back" returns Blondie to its fascination with ephemeral pop culture and an avant-garde sensibility. It's in this mode that both the band and Harry (sounding at times like a fresh-faced Nico) seem most at home. Displaying versatility and confidence, THE CURSE OF BLONDIE is the sound of a mature band revisiting its roots, while staking its claim to the future.

Entertainment Weekly (4/9/04, p.86) - "The songwriting has their old ebullience and craftiness...and Debbie Harry's sexy impudence is in full effect. May the curse never wear off." - Rating: B+