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| BACK ON THIS DAY 30 YEARS AGO ....WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 9TH 1977 |
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| Blondie's label Private Stock Records is busy filling orders for the rerelease of their debut LP 'Blondie' in Europe. 'Blondie' was originally released on the Private Stock label in 1976 before Chrysalis bought Blondie's contract and re-released it. Cuts include 'X-Offender', 'In The Flesh', 'Rip Her To Shreds' and 'Attack of the Killer Ants'. Several contemporaries in the New York music scene find it funny that this most unlikely band are beginning to succeed where so many others have failed. But the pessimists can't deny lead singer Debbie Harrys photogenic good looks are pretty unique? Return of the teen nymphette BLONDIE Blondie (Private Stock - Import) EVER SINCE Janis Joplin cashed in her chips prematurely, the majority of star-struck girl rock singers have practically all adopted a (tired) stance that's a hybrid of a terminal dipsomaniac, a bull dyke and the proverbial golden hearted hooker. With few exceptions, all have been blessed with an embarrassing sense of melodrama and a voice that would put a regimental sergeant major to shame. At the other extreme, there's a multitude of folksy lank-haired vesta virgins! Then suddenly, there's Blondie. Or to be more precise, Debbie Harry, singer and focal point of a band called Blondie. In the face of bands like The Ramones, Television, Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, Talking Heads and Richard Hell, Blondie represent the more melodic and less frenetic aspects of New York's hard-rock bubble gummers. They debut with a self-penned album of 11 songs - not the same song performed 11 times with a five-second break every three minutes. It's a collection in the very best tradition of Brill Building Bop. With Blondie as support, the luscious Debbie has chosen to skillfully resurrent the role of the All-American thumb-sucking nymphette. Rooted in the time-honoured tradition of such teen queens as Shirley Alston of The Shirelles, the Shangri-Las' star-crossed Mary Weiss and the incomparable Ronnie Spector, she (and the band) has taken the very best elements of these legendary 60s Noo Yawk girlie groups and streamlined them to meet both their very highly distinctive talents and the mood of the late 70s. Emmitting the kind of WASP coolness one associates with Karen Carpenter, she smoulders beneath the ice-cool exterior with a presence that must eventually elevate her as one of the best of the new song stylists. Debbie knows all the tricks of the trade and then a few more of her own. She can take an archetypal teen dream doo-wopper of absence-makes-the-heart-grow-fonder like "In The Flesh", innocently yearn for the return of her boyfriend, and guarantee he hops aboard the next Greyhound Bus with the promised payload - "I can't wait to touch you in the flesh". Lesley Gore, eat your heart out! In the provocative "Look Good In Blue", she picks out her prey and beats out any competition with the ultimate offer of hospitality. "I can give you some head and shoulders to lie on". Most definitely an offer you can't refuse. The single "X-Offender" (a truncation of "Sex") - a headlong collision between the songwriting styles of Barry & Greenwich and Springsteen - finds Debbie casting herself in the role of Happy Hooker, while The Leader Of The Pack is a member of the vice squad with a prediliction for bondage. "In The Sun", a token surf's up amphetamined ruch, "Kung Fu Girls" and "The Attack Of The Giant Ants" are examples of how the band really know how to talk trash. And "Rip Her To Shreds" shows Debbie's ability to put her hands on her hips and play Queen Bitch. She ain't no Runaway Cherry Bomb but Bette Davis at her most vicious. One of the ultimate putdown songs, not only is it on a par with anything that Jagger & Richard have ever scribed, but the fact that it's one chick trashing another chick makes it that more lethal. If ever directed at any specific individual (apparently she sometimes inserts Patti Smith into the lyrics), it could inflict permanent damage. Watch out! Enough of Debbie Harry, because this ain't a one-woman show. Chris Stein (guitar), Gary Valentine (bass), Clement Burke (drums) and, in particular, James Destri (Farfisa, synthesizer and keyboards_ supply a series of most effective backdrops which run the gauntlet from The Ventures, Question Mark, The Velvet Underground and The Floyd. The end result is pure unadulterated Blondie. Though they rely upon the sheer sparseness of their arrangement for maximum affect, production-wise they could do with some beefing-up. Richard Gottehrer has done a commendable job, but what Blondie need to enable them to achieve their obvious potential, is a bright young producer with the creative flair of a Shadow Morton, a Phil Spector, even a Bjorn and Benny. At this time, any band who can pursuade Ellie Greenwich into the studio and up to a microphone have got to have something extra special going for them. I think it's called talent! Roy Carr (NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS) |
| James Destri, Clem Burke, Chris Stein, Gary Valentine and Debbie Harry The Rejects Eater play The Roxy tonight . play Woking, Central Halls, UK tonight. The Stranglers number one fan nicknamed by Hugh Cornwell as 'Dagenham Dave' jumps off Tower Bridge in London and dies after a heavy bout of depression. The Stranglers wrote 'Dagenham Dave' shortly afterwards as a epitaph to him which appeared on the No More Heroes album that came out later in 1977. ONLY ONES play Londons Speakeasy tonight. |
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| Civic Center Saginaw, MI |
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