Blondie reached the pinnacle of their critical and commercial success with the adorable illusion of this perfect pop parallelogram. After two albums with producer Richard Gottehrer ('Blondie' and 'Plastic Letters'), Australian pop producer Mike Chapman was brought in to hone their sound. His approach was more disciplined than Gottehrer's tendency to use the first take and the result is a spectacular new wave synthesis of diverse musical forms. The sessions took place at the Record Plant in New York City and featured Deborah Harry on vocals; Chris Stein on guitar, 12-string guitar, and E-bow; Clem Burke on premier drums; Jimmy Destri on electronic keyboards; Nigel Harrison on bass guitar; and Frank Infante on guitar.
Chapman says: "My relationship with Blondie was very interesting. As I’ve said, I was a perfectionist in the studio, and it was extremely hard for Debbie and the guys to accept my authority. I expected greatness from them and I got it. I had no choice but to use the whip to get those performances and make all those hits. Poor Debbie! She really didn’t know what hit her at first."
http://www.blondie.net/
'Heart of Glass' was a worldwide smash hit cruising to number eight in New Zealand; five in Belgium and Norway; three in Italy and Sweden; and number one in Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, the UK, and the US. And it was divine...
Harry reveals: “A lot of people were so against us doing disco but we never called ourselves a new wave band or anything like that. We just wanted to make music, we never really thought about how we should sound or how other people would take us. I think to say that a band should only sound one way is ridiculous, you have to grow and you can’t do that if you just keep repeating yourself.”
Chapman remembers: "When we were rehearsing 'Heart of Glass', the song was a little different from the way it ended up. It was sort of reggae-punk. I was worried that the reggae ingredient might lessen its potential in the US, so I discussed changing the vibe on the very first day. Debbie and Chris really liked the vibe that Georgio Moroder had with Donna Summer, so we decided to give it a bit of that and it sort of snowballed from there. I don’t think any of us ever considered it to be disco. We all saw it as clubby and cool. And it worked."
Stein says: "The first thing that was on the track was the little rhythm machine that you hear in the beginning, and the synthesizer just playing bugga-bugga-bugga-bugga. Everything else was built on top of that. Was punched in, you know, and stuff. But everything is in real time. There's no looping. There's no anything. So every time you hear something it's the only time it's there...I think some of the parts, you know, we would find as we were working them up. I get annoyed with Mike Chapman now because he gets this sort of...I mean, I really love and respect him, but he has a crazy view of things and he still presents the whole picture as if we were a bunch of wild, out of control maniacs that he was roping into whatever. And, you know, I saw him learning stuff as we were doing it. He did stuff with us that I'm sure he had never done before. I know he was inventing things as he went along. And also, he never had a hit in the States from what I understand. At least before us, so all those things considered. But yeah, actually all that stuff, a lot of it was worked up as we went along...Everybody takes credit for different things. You know, memory is subjective."
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 coulda made it cruising, yeah
Yeah, riding high on love's true bluish light
Ooo ooo ooo whoa
Ooo ooo ooo whoa
Ooo ooo ooo whoa
Ooo ooo ooo whoa
Once I had a love and it was a gas
Soon turned out to be a pain in the ass
Seemed like the real thing only to find
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind
Ooo ooo ooo whoa
Ooo ooo ooo whoa
Ooo ooo ooo whoa
Ooo ooo ooo whoa
'One Way Or Another'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXewIR7Y7cc
'Sunday Girl' topped the charts in Australia and the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udi0-Fhw7g4
'Hanging on the Telephone' hit number five in the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWhkbDMISl8
'Parallel Lines' full album:
Side one
1. "Hanging on the Telephone" (The Nerves cover) Jack Lee 2:17
2. "One Way or Another" Deborah Harry, Nigel Harrison 3:31
3. "Picture This" Harry, Chris Stein, Jimmy Destri 2:53
4. "Fade Away and Radiate" Stein 3:57
5. "Pretty Baby" Harry, Stein 3:16
6. "I Know but I Don't Know" Frank Infante 3:53
Side two
7. "11:59" Destri 3:19
8. "Will Anything Happen?" Jack Lee 2:55
9. "Sunday Girl" Stein 3:01
10. "Heart of Glass" Harry, Stein 3:54
11. "I'm Gonna Love You Too" (Buddy Holly cover) Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, Norman Petty 2:03
12. "Just Go Away" Harry 3:21
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