Blondie box set 'Against the Odds: 1974-1982' is a textbook example of how to do a band's legacy justice. Read sabyrk_'s review:
It’s hard to imagine now, but the term “punk” didn’t originally refer to a sound so much as an outlook. When the punk movement blossomed in Lower Manhattan in the early ’70s, bands as disparate as The Ramones, Television and Patti Smith were all unified by a commitment to creative independence. The scene they emerged from incubated the efforts of musicians who had little in common with the more stylistically uniform definition of punk that we think of today.
What a pleasant shock, then, to discover that this ramshackle early session offers a crystal-clear glimpse of all the elements that made Blondie stand out from the start—much clearer, in fact, than the band’s 1976 self-titled debut. The first sound we hear is a set of harmony “ooh”’s from frontwoman Debbie Harry on a cover of the 1965 Shangri-Las single “Out in the Streets.