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Autoamerican
Artist:
Blondie
Format: CD
New: Available now at the Record Store, ready for pickup or to be shipped. Used: In stock used at Record Store
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Formats and Editions
More Info:
1980's Autoamerican found Blondie exploring a variety of sounds from the reggae of monster hit the Tide is High to the Lerner and Loewe torch song Follow Me to this fairly new thing at the time called rap. Rapture wasn't just a huge hit for the band but also the first ever rap song to reach #1 on the pop charts. This remaster adds the extended version of Call Me (as featured in the 1980 film American Gigolo), the disco mix of Rapture and the b-side Suzy & Jeffrey !Reviews:
''Autoamerican'' is the fifth studio album by the US new wave band Blondie. It was released in November 1980 and reached no.3 in the UK charts, and no.7 in the US.
The album proved to be a radical departure for the band, with opening track "Europa" setting the pace. The track was a dramatic instrumental overture featuring orchestral arrangements and ending with vocalist Debbie Harry reciting a poem about the importance of the car in American society. Besides rock and pop tracks, the band explored a wide range of other musical genres; "Here's Looking At You" and "Faces" show jazz and blues influences, the reggae hit "The Tide Is High" was a cover of The Paragons 1965 Jamaican ska hit, whereas "Rapture" combined funk, rock, jazz, and even saw them embracing the then budding genre of rap. The closing track, "Follow Me", was a cover of a torch song from Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's 1960 Broadway musical ''Camelot'', based on the King Arthur legend.
The band released two singles from this album, "The Tide Is High" and "Rapture". "The Tide Is High" hit number one in several countries, including the U.S. and the UK. "Rapture" became the first rap song not only to be released from the band but also the first ever to reach number one on the singles chart in the U.S. (it also reached no.5 in the UK). The first edition of the US pressing of the album had a sticker on the cover stating ''Including "The Tide Is High", "Rapture" and "T-Birds"'', suggesting that the track was planned as the third single release.
''Autoamerican'' was digitally remastered and reissued with two bonus tracks by Chrysalis Records in the UK in 1994 which included extended "special disco mix" versions of "Rapture" and "Live It Up". The album was again remastered and re-released by EMI-Capitol in 2001, again featuring the extended version of "Rapture" along with the extended version of their no.1 hit "Call Me" (from the film soundtrack to ''American Gigolo''), and also "Suzy & Jeffrey" which was originally the B-side to "The Tide Is High" single. - Wikipedia
