Blondie: Autoamerican - 1980

 

Ah, Blondie's forgotten fifth album. I remember getting this at the time and barely playing it. Compared to their previous albums, the hit singles apart, it is a bit of an underwhelming affair. 

Although it included a huge number one hit single, Blondie's stock was falling, rapidly, and my younger self was losing interest in them too. Their new wave spunk had become eaten into by their burgeoning disco obsession (although to be fair, their dabbling in rap was unique and ground-breaking). They also mess around with jazz and show tunes so it carries evidence of a band trying to diversify. So, is it time that I re-assessed this album? 

Europa is a sombre-sounding instrumental that was surely influenced by contemporary post punk-synth music. It plays like an introduction to a live concert and is pretty much dispensable. Living It Up taps into the band's proclivity for disco-influenced numbers and is actually a reasonable track in that very Blondie 1979-80 style. It has a nice groovy bass line, some fine keyboards and a funky wah-wah guitar. It is far better than I remember it. Not so impressive, though, is the 1920s-ish throwaway jazzy fun of Here's Looking At You. It sounds like something Freddie Mercury would put on a Queen album or Bryan Ferry would cover, in much better style. It is a most incongruous inclusion. 

Now we get the irresistible cover of The Paragons' reggae hit, The Tide Is High. I remember absolutely loving it when it came out and time hasn't eroded that feeling. It is one of the better reggae covers. Angels On The Balcony starts in disjointed fashion but soon becomes an attractive sixties-influenced new wave number, featuring some good guitar and organ parts, as well as a typically cool Debbie Harry vocal. Go Through It is also in the style of the previous few years and is another of the better tracks. It reminds me somewhat of Bruce Springsteen's River material from the same year. It is also enhanced by some Mexican-sounding brass backing, which broke the mould. 

Disco kicks off the old "side two" with the cool-detached vibe of Do The Dark, which has a heavy-sounding chorus in between its swirling middle-Eastern backing. I like this one, I have to say, and next up is Rapture, which has claims to be the first "white rap" number. Debbie raps with her now iconic deadpan, laconic voice about men from Mars eating cars over an infectious slow dance rhythm. These two tracks exemplify the dance-y Blondie sound of the period perfectly. Check out those funky guitar lines - memorable. The saxophone is great too as is the rock guitar solo near the end. 

It all goes jazzy again on the 1930s-ish Faces which finds Debbie singing over a late-night jazz saxophone backing. Although it is another incongruous track, I quite like it. T-Birds is a strange sort of song, sort of new wave with a big, muffled Spector-esque production that doesn't quite gel, for me. Walk Like Me is a healthily drum-powered new wave number, highlighting the great drummer that Clem Burke was. 

The slow torch song-style Follow Me was a tune from a stage show and it ends the album in low-key fashion. The album lacks cohesion, in my opinion, and I would have preferred Follow Me, Faces and Here's Looking At You replaced by the upbeat stand-alone non-album riffy dance single, Call Me (particularly in its excellent extended format) and maybe two other tracks in the Blondie dance style, giving the album more of a dance mood throughout. The 'b' side to The Tide Is High, Suzy & Jeffrey, has a nice new wave sound, but its gloomy car crash subject matter blights it for me. Overall, a patchy one.