Panic of Girls is the ninth studio album by the Americanrock band Blondie. It was the band's first album of new material in nearly 8 years, since 2003's The Curse of Blondie.The album was first released digitally on May 30, 2011, followed by physical releases in various formats later.
Background
Panic of Girls was recorded between October-December 2009 in Woodstock, New York, and May 2010 in Hoboken, New Jersey, being the second album in the band's history to be recorded outside of Manhattan, after 1980's Autoamerican. This is the first Blondie album that does not feature original keyboardist Jimmy Destri. According to Clem Burke, the band's drummer, Destri had planned to contribute to the writing and recording of the album, but was ultimately not a part of it. Paul Carbonara, who was with Blondie since 1998, departed the band partway through the recording sessions, and was replaced by Tommy Kessler. Both of them, along with Leigh Foxx and Matt Katz-Bohen, are credited as full band members on the released album. The album name came from the lyrics of a track recorded for the album, "End of the World", which ultimately did not appear on its final track list. Panic contains one song in French and two in Spanish and features many rhythms and musical styles. Clem Burke also said that about 35 songs were recorded during the sessions for the album, with only 14-16 planned to make the album. Many of these tracks were released before and after the album: "We Three Kings", "Don't Stop", "Horizontal Twist", "Mirame", "Please Please Me", "End of the World", "Sleeping Giant", "Restless", "Dead Air", "Rock On", "Bride of Infinity", "Practice Makes Perfect". There are also alternate mixes of "Mother" and "What I Heard", the former published on the band's site in Christmas 2010 and the latter on the song's promo CD single.
Promotion and release
Two tracks from the album, "What I Heard" and "Girlie Girlie", were included on a special release of the band's 1978 album Parallel Lines that came free with the British newspaper The Mail on Sunday on December 5, 2010. Another song, "Mother", was made available as a free download from the band's website. A second, final version of the song was later announced as the lead single, available for purchase on May 23, 2011. A third single, "China Shoes", was announced on early press releases, but never materialized. The album was originally due for release in 2010, but difficulties with record companies delayed the release. In an interview with the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph on March 24, 2011, Debbie Harry revealed that the band would be releasing the album themselves in the United Kingdom as part of a special "Collector's Pack" in conjunction with Future Publishing. The pack includes the album, a special 132-page magazine charting the making of the album and the band's history, as well as many archive photographs, four postcards, six badges, and a poster. It was made available in the UK from 1 June 2011 in over 3000 nontraditional music retail outlets including Tesco, Asda, Waitrose, WHSmith, and Sainsbury's. The album, by itself, was released on July 4, 2011, and was released in the United States on September 13, 2011, exclusively through Amazon.com. The tour in support kicked off in summer and featured European and North American legs.
