No Exit (Blondie album)

No Exit
Studio album by Blondie
Released	February 15, 1999
Recorded	1998
Studio	Red Night Recording, NYC; Electric Lady Studios, NYC; Chung King House of Metal, NYC
Genre	New wave, alternative rock
Length	59:05
Label	Beyond Records
Producer	Craig Leon
Blondie chronology
The Hunter (1982) No Exit (1999) The Curse of Blondie (2003)
Singles from No Exit
"Maria" Released: February 1, 1999 "Nothing Is Real but the Girl" Released: June 1, 1999 (UK) "No Exit" Released: October 22, 1999 (Europe)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	C[2]
Robert Christgau	A-[3]
Rolling Stone	[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[5]

No Exit is the seventh studio album by the American rock group Blondie. Released in February 1999, it was the band's first album in 17 years and featured their UK number one hit single "Maria".

Overview

As was customary for a Blondie album, No Exit dabbled in many genres, including pop, reggae, 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 but final production of the album fell to Craig Leon.

A version of The Shangri-Las' 1965 hit "Out in the Streets" was also included on this 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 remaster of the band's first album, Blondie.

A huge comeback promotional tour was launched preceding the release of the album, which spanned 13 months and visited Europe, North America and Oceania.

Release and reception

The album reached #3 in the UK charts, where it was certified Gold for sales in excess of 100,000 copies. It was preceded by the hit single, "Maria", which became Blondie's sixth UK #1, exactly twenty 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, 80s and 90s.^[6] A second single, "Nothing Is Real but the Girl", peaked at #26 in the UK. 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 & Inspectah Deck.

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, this time including three bonus tracks.^[7]

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."

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Screaming Skin"	Debbie Harry, Romy Ashby	Chris Stein, Leigh Foxx	5:35
2.	"Forgive and Forget"	Stein	Stein	4:31
3.	"Maria"	Jimmy Destri	Destri	4:51
4.	"No Exit" (feat. Coolio, Mobb Deep, Inspectah Deck & U-God)	Destri, Harry, Ashby, Coolio	Destri, Stein	4:51
5.	"Double Take"	Harry	Stein	4:12
6.	"Nothing Is Real but the Girl"	Destri	Destri	3:13
7.	"Boom Boom in the Zoom Zoom Room"	Harry, Ashby	Clem Burke, Kathy Valentine, Denny Freeman	4:08
8.	"Night Wind Sent"	Harry, Ashby	Foxx, Stein	4:40
9.	"Under the Gun" (for Jeffrey Lee Pierce)	Stein	Stein	4:09
10.	"Out in the Streets" (The Shangri-Las cover)	Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry	Greenwich, Barry	3:03
11.	"Happy Dog" (for Caggy)	Harry, Ashby	Stein	3:24
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

Bonus tracks on US & Canadian edition
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
15.	"Dreaming" (hidden track)	Harry, Stein	3:22
16.	"Call Me" (hidden track)	Giorgio Moroder, Harry	4:47
17.	"Rapture" (hidden track)	Harry, Stein	7:07

• Tracks 15 to 17 recorded live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998

Bonus tracks on Australian edition
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
15.	"Call Me"	Giorgio Moroder, Harry	4:47
16.	"Rapture"	Harry, Stein	7:07
17.	"Heart of Glass"	Harry, Stein	6:49

• Tracks 15 to 17 recorded live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998

Limited edition bonus EP
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Call Me"	Giorgio Moroder, Harry	4:47
2.	"Rapture"	Harry, Stein	7:07
3.	"Dreaming"	Harry, Stein	3:21
4.	"Heart of Glass"	Harry, Stein	6:49

• Tracks 1 to 4 recorded live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998

Bonus track on Japanese edition
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
15.	"Hot Shot" (Karen Young cover)	Andrew Kahn, Kurt Borusiewicz	3:46

Bonus tracks on 2001 Reissue
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
15.	"Hot Shot" (Karen Young cover)	Andrew Kahn, Kurt Borusiewicz,	3:46
16.	"Rapture" (hidden track)	Harry, Stein	7:07
17.	"Heart of Glass" (hidden track)	Harry, Stein	6:49

• Tracks 15 to 17 are sequenced as one track with total duration 17:51. Tracks 16 and 17 recorded live at Lyceum Ballroom, London, November 22, 1998

Personnel

• Chris Stein — lead guitar, bass
• Deborah Harry — vocals
• Clem Burke — drums
• James Destri — keyboards

Additional personnel

• Leigh Foxx — bass guitar
• Paul Carbonara — rhythm guitar
• Coolio — vocals on "No Exit"
• Candy Dulfer — saxophone on "Double Take"
• James Chance — saxophone
• Helen Hooke — violin
• Frank Pagano — percussion
• Dave Ironside — saxophone
• Robert Aaron — tenor & baritone saxophone, flute
• Rick Davies — trombone
• Ken Fradley — trumpet
• Rik Simpson — drum programming
• Donna Destri — backing vocals
• Cassell Webb — backing vocals
• Jeffrey Lee Pierce — backing vocals
• Nancy West — backing vocals
• Theo Kogan — backing vocals
• Romy Ashby — backing vocals

Production

• Craig Leon - producer, recording, mixing (tracks: 1, 7, 9 to 11, 13, 14)
• Mike Shipley - mixing (tracks: 2 to 6, 8)
• Cassell Webb - assistant producer
• Steve Hall - mastering

Charts

Chart (1999)	Peak position
Australian Albums Chart	72
Austrian Albums Chart[8]	20
Belgian Albums Chart[9]	45
Canadian Albums Chart[10]	34
Dutch Albums Chart[11]	80
German Albums Chart[12]	18
French Albums Chart[13]	25
Irish Albums Chart[14]	10
Portuguese Albums Chart[15]	6
Swedish Albums Chart[16]	36
Swiss Albums Chart[17]	21
UK Albums Chart[18]	3
US Billboard 200[19]	18

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/Sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[20]	Gold	100,000^^
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Notes

1. No Exit at AllMusic
2. Entertainment Weekly review
3. Robert Christgau Consumer Guide
4. Rolling Stone review
5. Rolling Stone Album Guide
6. "Blondie overview". rockhall.com. Retrieved 2014-01-10.
7. "No Exit". recmod.com. Retrieved 2014-01-10.
8. "Blondie – No Exit". austriancharts.at (in German). IFPI Austria. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
9. "Blondie – No Exit". ultratop.be. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
10. "100 Albums". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. 68 (20). 8 March 1999. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
11. "Blondie – No Exit". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 30 January 2014.
12. "German Charts > Blondie > No Exit" (in German). charts.de PhonoNet. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
13. "Blondie – No Exit". lescharts.com. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
14. "Blondie – No Exit". Retrieved 11 June 2016.
15. "Blondie – No Exit". Retrieved 11 June 2016.
16. "Blondie – No Exit". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
17. "Blondie – No Exit". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
18. "Blondie – UK Chart Positions". officialcharts.com. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
19. "Blondie : Awards". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
20. "BPI – Certified Awards Search". British Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved 2013-09-21. Note: User needs to enter "Blondie" in the "Keywords" field, "Artist" in the "Search by" field and click the "Search" button. Select "More >>" next to the relevant entry to see full certification history.