Killer rare track, just an amazing mix. Enjoy 🙂
Blondie became one of my favorite bands with their “Parallel Lines” LP, it was so trashy punk chic! I loved the deadpan vocals of Debbie Harry on Blondie’s twisted take on the garage sounds of the 60’s neatly updated, the tough girl of the sixties as a punk rocker. But they became so much more than that and constantly strived to incorporate new sounds into their productions without losing their new wave reputation. “Heart Of Glass” was an admitted compromise with commercialism but was hugely successful, the most famous line being “Once I had a love, and it was a gas, soon turned out to be a pain in the ass.” gave it real punk rock cred, kind of a middle finger to everyone. Their shining moment at the top of the pop heap for six weeks almost didn’t happen. Giorgio Moroder was working on the soundtrack to “American Gigolo” and had worked out a melody and dummy lyrics to “Call Me” which was offered to rock diva Stevie Nicks who turned it down. I don’t think it would have been as big of hit if she had done it, it just would not have had that cool punk mystique that helped to bridge the songs appeal to disco and rock audiences. Debbie talked about the genesis of the song, having seen the rushes of the movie and the dummy lyrics that suggested an automaton lover something like Machine Man…She went home, completed the lyrics and then got the band together to see how they could put the Blondie magic to it. They booked studio time with Giorgio and Debbie completed her vocals in a couple of takes and that was it. The synthesizer production of Giorgio and the impeccable musicianship of Blondie created a monster disco-new wave hit at the end of the disco juggernaut. They did go on to further success, but faded away when they began repeating sounds they had already recorded…ie “The Tide Is High” vs “Island Of Lost Dreams” from “The Hunter” which I personally liked, but not as much as their prior works.
