BLONDIE: AUTOAMERICAN
Blondie's fifth album, Autoamerican, marked a major change in musical direction. It may not have continued the ongoing success of the band's first four albums, but it was still fairly decent by anybody's standards. After Eat To The Beat, Blondie could have gone several ways, but not in the way that any die-hard fan of the band or indeed anyone who listened to the major radio stations would have thought. Instead of producing bouncy, fun-packed anthems such as "In The Sun" or poppy feel-good tunes such as the mesmerizing "Heart Of Glass", Blondie opted for several different styles as opposed to sticking to a well-rehearsed formula which time and again pleased many. Autoamerican is thus an album which utilizes as many different genres of music as a standard Blondie release can take, but thankfully this isn't quite as alienating as one would think based on a first listen. Musical variety on this album is obvious from the very start, and in fact this already marks Autoamerican as the album that will always be recognized as Blondie's "wild card".
Tracklist:
1.Europa 2.Live It Up 3.Here's Looking At You 4.The Tide Is High 5.Angels On The Balcony 6.Go Through It 7.Do The Dark 8.Rapture 9.Faces 10.T-Birds 11.Walk Like Me 12.Follow Me 13.Call Me
Lineup:
Clem Burke - drums, Jimmy Destri - electric keyboards, Nigel Harrison - bass, Deborah Harry - vocals, Frank Infante - guitar, Chris Stein - guitar, tympani. Additional musicians: Wah Wah Watson - guitar on "Live It Up", Howard Kaylan - vocals on "T-Birds", Mark Volman - vocals on "T-Birds", Tom Scott - saxophone on "Rapture" and "Faces", Lyricon on "Do The Dark", Ollie Brown - percussion on "The Tide Is High", Emil Richards - percussion on "The Tide Is High", Alex Acuña - percussion on "The Tide Is High", Steve Goldstein - piano on "Faces", synthesizers on "Follow Me", B-Girls - backing vocals on "Live It Up", Jimmie Haskell - string and horn arrangements on "Here's Looking At You", "The Tide Is High", "Europa" and "Go Through It", Ray Brown - bass on "Faces", Scott Lesser - percussion on "Live It Up"