This month 41 years ago Blondie released their punk-pop crossover in the danceable “Heart Of Glass”, although eventually reaching the number one slot in both the U.K and U.S charts later in the year along with grabbing top spots in five other countries. The days of Blondie being simply a cult New York act ended and instead was replaced by mainstream stardom.

A perfect slice of disco was the release that would secure the legacy of Blondie, although not a new track its roots hail back to the mid-seventies. Inspired in some way by the dance floor filler “Rock The Boat”, it did appear on the bands seventy-eight release ‘Parallel Lines’, in-fact ‘Heart Of Glass’ was the third release from the very successful album.
‘Heart Of Glass’ was the result of Debbie Harry’s lyrics and Chris Steins experimentation, far from the sound which echoed within the walls of CBGB’s at the time.

Chris Stein:”When Debbie and I were living in our top-floor apartment at 48 W. 17th St., I often messed around on a borrowed multitrack tape recorder. It let me record a rhythm guitar track and then layer melody and harmony lines on top. I wrote and developed my songs this way. In the summer of 1974, I wrote a song and referenced the catchy feel of “Rock the Boat” by the Hues Corporation, which was a big hit then. Debbie and I began calling it “The Disco Song.”

Debbie Harry:”The words I came up with expressed a very high school kind of thing, of falling in and out of love and getting your feelings hurt. But instead of dwelling on the pain, the words sort of shrugged off the breakup, like, “Oh, well, that’s the way it goes.”

Blondie did come under fire for selling out as it was seen, although, they had covered 'Lady Marmalade' and 'I Feel Love' at gigs, even Debbie Harry proclaimed her love for disco's production superhero Giorgio Moroder, in the scheme of Blondie’s music this was a natural progression for the band.

The sound of Blondie hinged very much on the raw punk sound combined with R&B and the girl groups of the sixties such as the Shangri-Las, given the heights which German krautrock had on music in general by crossing that commercial barrier, unknowingly or not, Blondie and the song itself did help pave the way for EDM and the the future.


Lyrics;

Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out had a heart of glass
Seemed like the real thing, only to find
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind

Once I had a love and it was divine
Soon found out I was losing my mind
It seemed like the real thing but I was so blind
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind

In between
What I find is pleasing and I'm feeling fine
Love is so confusing there's no peace of mind
If I fear I'm losing you it's just no good
You teasing like you do

Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out had a heart of glass
Seemed like the real thing, only to find
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind

Lost inside
Adorable illusion and I cannot hide
I'm the one you're using, please don't push me aside
We could've made it cruising, yeah

Yeah, riding high on love's true bluish light

Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out I had a heart of glass [radio version]
Soon turned out to be a pain in the ass [album version]
Seemed like the real thing only to find
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind

In between
What I find is pleasing and I'm feeling fine
Love is so confusing there's no peace of mind
If I fear I'm losing you it's just no good
You teasing like you do.

DISCOGS

[Kevin Burke]
Stein/Harry quotes courtesy of WSJ

This month 35 years ago Nitzer Ebb released their debut 12” single ‘Isn’t It Funny How Your Body Works’ (January 1985) on their own label Power Of Voice Communications. The 12” contained 4 tracks and was recorded in September 1984.

Although they released their first demo tape, Basic Pain Procedure, already in 1983 it would still be two years until they met producer Phil Harding, who produced their first 12” ’Isn't It Funny How Your Body Works?’ and helped them set up Power Of Voice Communications.

Isn’t It Funny How Your Body Works (12")

1. Isn’t It Funny How Your Body Works 3:49
2. The Way You Live 3:55
3. Crane 2:43
4. Cold War 3:45

Below is some rare live footage of Nitzer Ebb performing the song 'Crane' from this release in the early 1980s. It was filmed at "The Hermit Club" in Brentwood Essex. Apparently the fight was caused by someone off camera to the left, disconnecting Bon's microphone.

Below that there's another rare, but sadly only 44 second lasting, snippet of the band perfoming 'Isn't It Funny How Your Body Works?'

In January 1988 Canadian electro-industrial band Front Line Assembly released its second studio album State of Mind. However, since most of the material featured on State Of Mind was recorded in 1987, before the release of their first release The Initial Command, State of Mind can be seen as the actual debut album of Front Line Assembly. Although the original release's labels bear the publishing year 1987, the album didn't see the daylight until early1988.

This album was recorded and composed entirely by Bill Leeb in August 1987, mixed by Michael Balch and edited by Dave Olgivie. State Of Mind sounds quite rough and differs from the later Font Line Assembly releases and features some elements Bill Leeb later would elaborate further in the FLA side project Delerium. Wide open soundscapes, creaking and crashing noise samples, and echoing sound design, a spartan, bleak electronic landscape which is atmospheric yet taut.

One remarkable fact is that the verse melody of the track 'Resistance' would later be re-incorporated on the 'Tactical Neural Implant' album and become the chorus melody of Front Line Assembly's underground club hit 'Mindphaser' (1992).

It was originally released by Dossier on vinyl and CD and later re-released on Cleopatra Records on CD (1996) with alternate artwork and a bonus track, ‘Inside Out’ and finally again on vinyl, also by Cleopatra, in 2016 but with only 8 tracks.

State Of mind (1988 Release tracklist)

01. First Reprisal 5:21
02. Consequence 5:36
03. Burnt Soul 2:42
04. Testimony 5:26
05. Landslide 4:45
06. Terminal Power 5:49
07. Malignant Fracture 4:16
08. Eastern Voices 5:27
09. Resistance 4:31
10. Sustain Upright 4:07
11. No Tomorrow 5:06
12. And They Shall Bow 4:45

DISCOGS

The dark electronic band DOGTABLET featuring Jared Louche (CHEMLAB), Martin King (TEST DEPT.) and Roberto Soave are pleased to announce the release of their full-length album, Feathers & Skin.

For fans of: Coil, Portishead, Pink Floyd, Underworld, Bauhaus

DOGTABLET’s individual parts all make sense on their own, but together they should not. Combine the people involved in Industrial agit-noise disruptors TEST DEPARTMENT with the baroque-goth figures SHELLEYAN ORPHAN as well as the machine rock’n’roll pioneers CHEMLAB. Add dashes of THE CURE and some BEAT GENERATION ghost voices and you’d naturally come out with a directionless howl of meaningless cacophony.

DOGTABLET’s sound is a rich mixture of thrumming yet down-tempo grooves that nestle comfortably next to luxurious, grey-skied soundscapes. Their aching yet driving sounds are never more effective than on their third album, the newly-released FEATHERS & SKIN. By turns lushly intimate and brashly sweaty, Martin King and Roberto Soave’s programming sweeps from delicate to darkly hypnotic, groove-drenched and disturbed, confidently cycling from threatening to comforting without missing a beat. Jared Louche, front man for Machine Rock band CHEMLAB, sings, croons, whispers and shouts throughout much of Feather And Skin, stretching the boundaries of the music even further with his whiskey-soaked, Bukowski-Waits-Burroughs delivery.

From “Shadowlands”, the opening track’s piano-infused funereal ache, through the body-positivity chants of “Skin Job” urging you out onto the sweaty dance floor, straight through to the profoundly unnerving closing song “Black Hound”, DOGTABLET’s sound blurs futurist with retro, electronic dance with experimental ambient, creating a mixture so unsettlingly broad that it defies easy characterization. With the mellifluous voices of Jenny Bellestar and Sapphira Vee folded into the expansive mix, DOGTABLET’s Feathers & Skin is the sound track of heartbreak and laughing catharsis dancing hand-in-hand at the end of the world.

www.facebook.com/DogTablet

Today 28 years ago the British EBM and Industrialists Nitzer Ebb released the single Godhead. This single was taken from their fourth and previously released album EbbHead (Mute Records, September 1991) which was co-produced by Alan Wilder (Depeche Mode) and Flood.

Enjoy the Godhead video below!

Godhead
Hey now, what's this
The place I'm living's a fucking disgrace
Don't talk 'bout that
Get on your knees and pray that you're safe

But what to believe in
It's all so deceivin'
How about something else
The times ain't changing
It's what I been cravin'

How about something else
Where's this I'm at
There's more excitement
At a laundromat
Who's he, mmm looks good
He ain't a god
Well he fucking well should (be)

Now wait a minute, look at that
He's a god without a doubt
Can't you see it in his eyes
Got all of you to despise

And so they came
And they called him Godhead
Cried out his name
And the life that he led

DISCOGS