This month 42 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 49 years ago KRAFTWERK released their second studio album KRAFTWERK 2
Kraftwerk 2 is the second studio album that was released under the moniker Kraftwerk. The album was written and performed by founding Kraftwerk members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in late 1971, with the sessions produced by the influential Konrad "Conny" Plank. It was released by Philips in January 1972.
Hütter later commented in an interview: "Nobody wanted to play with us because we did all kinds of strange things...feedbacks and overtones and sounds and rhythms. No drummer wanted to work with us because we had these electronic gadgets."
Although one should expect the obvious, this album features no synthesizers, the instrumentation being largely electric guitar, bass guitar, flute and violin. The electronic tricks and experiments both gentlemen display here belong to the realm of 1960s tape-based music, with heavy use of tape echo, reverse playback and tape speed effects. Overall, the sound has a rather muted, twilit, dusky feel, similar in feel to "Megaherz" on Kraftwerk's debut album, as Hütter and Schneider explored the possibilities for electronic and auto-mechanical enhancement of their music.
The lengthy, almost side-long "Klingklang" which opens the album is notable for its use of a preset organ beatbox to provide the percussion track. A term which would later be used as their fifth virtual member in the shape of a recording studio.It starts with a clangourous Stockhausen-like metallic percussion montage and gives rise to the unmistakable Kraftwerk sound. Later, the song title also became the name of the band's own self-built studio, in Düsseldorf. "Atem" is a recording of breathing, while "Harmonika" features a tape-manipulated mouth organ.
The cover design, by Ralf and Florian, further hints at conceptual art, being a repeat of the first album's pop art design – except this time fluorescent green replaces the red and the number '2' is added.
No material from this album has been performed in the band's live set since the Autobahn tour of 1975, and to date, the album has not been officially reissued on CD. The band is seemingly reluctant to consider the release as a part of their legacy
In interviews, Schneider described the first three Kraftwerk albums as "archaeology".
KRAFTWERK 2
A1. Klingklang 17:36
A2. Atem 2:57
B1. Strom 3:52
B2. Spule 5:20
B3. Wellenlänge 9:40
B4. Harmonika 3:17
Dark Ambient Act WITHERING OF LIGHT Unveils Their New Full-Length Album 'Reliquary'.
US dark ambient act WITHERING OF LIGHT has unveiled their new full-length album Reliquary.
Reliquary is available now on digital and CD formats. Vinyl LP format tentatively due in February.
"The concept behind this album became how each of the words that are the titles took me out of the mundane everyday and put my mind in somewhat of a different state.
For instance, "Reliquary" is a vessel that contains a sacred or holy relic of some kind. We as humans fetishize objects, moments, memories. Even your mind can become a reliquary harboring the sacred, profane and otherwise. Each of these words I found carried some kind of weight, a spectral resonance (hence that title) and the sounds here are the aural embodiment of these." - Todd Janeczek
Texas Goth-Rock Band IN A DARKENED ROOM Unveils Their New Video: 'Final Vows'.
Texas goth-rock band IN A DARKENED ROOM has unveiled their new video for the song "Final Vows." This is the third single off of their debut album slated for release in 2021.
“Final Vows was written about a love lost and the realization of knowing, as things pass and change with time, they sometimes leave a trace of what was. The feeling that time may come and go, but the strongest emotions we experience leave an imprint on this world and we sometimes unknowingly search for these remnants again. The song is about feeling something special, whether it be a person or an idea, and having to say goodbye to those things and wandering the Earth wondering if you will ever find them again."
-CJ Duron
For fans of: THE CURE & DRAB MAJESTY
Absolute Body Control break their silence and start 2021 with a brand new single and music video!
With shows already confirmed in Belgium, Germany and Spain, 2020 was supposed to be the year of the return of the Belgian minimal electro cult band Absolute Body Control. Since the band went in hibernation in 2016 their return to the stage was highly anticipated, sadly the Covid 19 pandemic decided otherwise.
Realising rehearsals would be a waste of time the band decided to turn something negative into something positive. Unexpectedly they broke the silence, on the last day of this annus horribilis 2020, with a brand new track and accompanying music video! The song/title ‘Earth Takes A Break’ doesn’t need much more explanation. The video was shot in the 572 metre long iconic Antwerp pedestrian tunnel Sint-Anna, built between 1931 - 1933 and stretching underneath the river Schelde, connecting the left river bank with the city centre on the right river bank.
The images of the Sint-Anna tunnel, referred to by Antwerp residents as the ‘Voetgangertunnel’ (Pedestrian Tunnel), will look familiar to those who have been following the career of Absolute Body Control’s members Dirk Ivens and Eric Van Wonterghem as it has been featured on artwork and pictures frequently throughout their career.
Enough facts and talking! Enjoy ABC’s splendid new years gift below!
