There's a fun interview with Debbie Harry, Chris Stein and Clem Burke over at American Songwriter in which they mark the 40th anniversary of "Autoamerican," Blondie's most ambitious album to date.
“When we turned it in," Debbie recalls, "I don’t think it was accepted right away by the label.”
Chris adds: “Very famously, when we gave the record to Chrysalis, they said they didn’t hear any singles on it.”
The album, of course, would go to be certified platinum and boast two Number One hits. (Should there have been a THIRD SINGLE?)
In addition to the reggae "Tide Is High," funk/rap "Rapture," torchy "Faces," spaghetti Western "Go Through It," snake-charmer "Do the Dark" and futuristic theme sound of "Europa," "Autoamerican" also featured today's song of the day, "Follow Me." Although I claim to not be a musical theater lover, like "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," it "Follow Me" was another Lerner Lowe composition, this time from "Camelot."
If anything stands out about "Autoamerican" for Harry, it’s how, even with that intrinsic eclecticism, it comes out sounding like classic Blondie, which is always a wonderful thing. “We sound like who we sound like, the way Chris played guitar and the way Clem played drums,” Harry says. “We definitely had our own sound. Which I always think was a problem for bands to really have their own sound. And to be recognizable for that. To me, that’s the goal.”
Many more fun details HERE.
1 comment:
'Autoamerican' is arguably their best disk, and their least Blondie one - as so many other musicians play on it. That said, while I love all of their first six disks, this holds a place in my heart - and oddly enough, any more, their two hits are my least favorite on them (though they're still great). "Europa" has never gotten its due, btw.
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