Autoamerican
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| Autoamerican | |||||
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| Studio album by Blondie | |||||
| Released | 29 November 1980 | ||||
| Recorded | 1980, United Western Studios, Hollywood | ||||
| Genre | New Wave | ||||
| Length | 46:39 50:49 (cassette) |
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| Label | Chrysalis Records | ||||
| Producer | Mike Chapman | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| Blondie chronology | |||||
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Autoamerican (November 1980) was the fifth studio album to be released by Blondie, whereupon it reached number 3 in the UK charts, then stalled in the lower regions of the charts for some weeks before dropping out. This was the last big hitting album for the band before they broke up in 1982.
Musically the Autoamerican album proved to be a radical departure for the band, with opening track "Europa" setting the pace. While track one on previous albums Parallel Lines and Eat to the Beat had been typical Blondie powerpop, "Hanging on the Telephone" and "Dreaming" respectively, "Europa" was a dramatic instrumental ouverture with a full symphony orchestra, ending with Debbie Harry reciting a poem about the importance of the car in American society - hence the album title. Besides rock and pop tracks like "Live It Up", "Angels On The Balcony," "Go Through It", "Do The Dark", "T-Birds" (a reference to the classic Ford Thunderbird) and "Walk Like Me", the band explored a wide range of other musical genres; "Here's Looking At You" and "Faces" was Blondie going jazz and blues. "The Tide Is High" was a calypso take on The Paragons 1965 Jamaican ska hit. "Rapture" combined funk, soul, rock, jazz, Latino and even saw them embracing the then budding genre rap. The closing track "Follow Me" was a cover of a torch song from Alan Jay Lerner and Frederic Loewe's 1960 Broadway musical Camelot, based on the King Arthur legend - the Autoamerican project as a whole was definitely a bold move for a band in the new wave/rock genre in the early 1980s, but the album received favourable reviews worldwide and proved to be very successful, even topping the US albums chart in late 1980.
The band released two singles from this album, "The Tide Is High" and "Rapture". "The Tide Is High" hit number one in several countries, including the U.S. and the UK. "Rapture" became the first rap song not only to be released from the band but also the first ever to reach number one on the singles chart in the U.S.. It also reached number five in the UK. The first edition of the US pressing of the album had a sticker on the cover stating Including "The Tide Is High", "Rapture" and "T-Birds", indicating that the track was planned as the third single release.
Autoamerican was digitally remastered and reissued with two bonus tracks by Chrysalis Records in the UK in 1994. The album was again remastered and re-released by EMI-Capitol in 2001, this time with three different bonus tracks.
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
Programme A:
- "Europa" (Chris Stein) – 3:31
- "Live It Up" (Stein) – 4:09
- "Here's Looking at You" (Debbie Harry, Stein) – 2:58
- "The Tide Is High" (Howard Barrett, Tyrone Evans, John Holt) – 4:39
- "Angels on the Balcony" (Laura Davis, Jimmy Destri) – 3:47
- "Go Through It" (Harry, Stein) – 2:40
- "Suzy & Jeffrey" a.k.a. "Susie & Jeffrey" (Harrison, Harry) – 4:10 (cassette only)
Programme B:
- "Do the Dark" (Destri) – 3:51
- "Rapture" (Harry, Stein) – 6:30
- "Faces" (Harry) – 3:51
- "T-Birds" (Nigel Harrison, Harry) – 3:56
- "Walk Like Me" (Jimmy Destri) – 3:44
- "Follow Me" (Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe) – 3:01
Bonus Tracks (1994 UK CD reissue)
- "Rapture" (Special Disco Mix) (Harry, Stein) – 9:59
- "Live It Up" (Special Disco Mix) (Stein) – 8:13
Bonus Tracks (2001 CD reissue)
- "Call Me" (Original Long Version) (Harry, Giorgio Moroder) – 8:06
- "Suzy & Jeffrey" (Harrison, Harry) – 4:10
- "Rapture" (Special Disco Mix) (Harry, Stein) – 9:59
[edit] Personnel
- Deborah Harry - vocals
- Chris Stein - guitar, bass guitar, vibraphone
- Jimmy Destri - piano, organ, synthesizer, background vocals
- Frank Infante - bass, background vocals
- Clem Burke - drums, background vocals
- Howard Kaylan - vocals on "T-Birds"
- Mark Volman - vocals on "T-Birds"
- Jimmie Haskill - string & horns arrangment
- Wa Wa Watson - guitar on "Live It Up"
- Tom Scott - saxophone on "Rapture" & "Faces"
- Steve Goldstein - piano, synthesizer
- Ray Brown - bass on "Faces"
- Scott Lesser - percussion on "Live It Up"
- Ollie Brown - percussion on "The Tide is High"
- Emil Richards - percussion on "The Tide is High"
- Alex Acuna - percussion on "The Tide is High"
- B-Girls - background vocals on "Live It Up"
[edit] Production
- Mike Chapman - record producer
- Recorded at United Western Studio, Hollywood, California in December 1980. Originally released on Chrysalis (1290).
- Kevin Flaherty - 2001 reissue producer
[edit] Chart Peaks
- UK: 3
- USA: 7
- Australia: 8
- Sweden: 11
- Austria: 18
- Germany: 42
[edit] References
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