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Plastic Letters
''Plastic Letters'' is the second studio album by American rock band Blondie, released in February 1978 by Chrysalis Records. An earlier version with a rearranged track listing was released in Japan in late December 1977. Overview This is the second and final Blondie album to be produced by Richard Gottehrer. " Denis", a cover of Randy & the Rainbows' 1963 song "Denise", was successful across Europe, reaching No. 2 in March 1978 in the United Kingdom, and also reached No. 19 in Australia. "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear" was the second single from the album, reaching No. 10 in the UK in May 1978. The song was written by the band's second bassist, Gary Valentine, shortly before he left for a solo career prior to the recording of ''Plastic Letters''; his departure necessitated Chris Stein playing bass on the album, as well as guitar. During recording Blondie was still signed to their old label, Private Stock Records. The album peaked at No. 10 in the UK and has been ...
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Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American Rock music, rock band co-founded by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the American New wave music, new wave scene of the mid-1970s in New York. Their first two albums contained strong elements of Punk rock, punk and new wave, and although highly successful in the UK and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground music, underground band in the U.S. until the release of ''Parallel Lines'' in 1978. Over the next five years, the band achieved several hit singles including "Heart of Glass (song), Heart of Glass," "Call Me (Blondie song), Call Me," "Atomic (song), Atomic," "The Tide Is High," and "Rapture (Blondie song), Rapture". The band became noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles, also incorporating elements of disco, pop music, pop, reggae, and early hip hop music, rap music. Blondie disbanded after the release of its sixth studio album, ''The Hunter (Blondie album), The Hunter'', in 1982. Debbie Harry con ...
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Mojo (magazine)
''Mojo'' is a popular music music magazine, magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, initially by Ascential, Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer Verlagsgruppe, Bauer. Following the success of the magazine ''Q (magazine), Q'', publishers Emap were looking for a title that would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music. The magazine was designed to appeal to the 30 to 45-plus age group, or the baby boomer generation. ''Mojo'' was first published on 15 October 1993. In keeping with its classic rock aesthetic, the first issue had Bob Dylan and John Lennon as its first cover stars. Noted for its in-depth coverage of both popular and cult acts, it acted as the inspiration for ''Blender (magazine), Blender'' and ''Uncut (magazine), Uncut''. Many noted music critics have written for it, including Charles Shaar Murray, Greil Marcus, Nick Kent, Jon Savage and Sylvie Simmons. The launch editor of ''Mojo'' was Paul Du Noyer and his successors have included Mat Snow, P ...
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British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with the Entertainment Retailers Association, and awards UK music sales through the BRIT Certified Awards. Structure Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all three "major" record companies in the UK (Warner Music UK, Sony Music UK, & Universal Music UK), and over 450 independent record labels and small to medium-sized music businesses. The BPI council is the management and policy forum of the BPI. It is chaired by the chair of BPI, and includes the chief executive, chief operating officer (COO) and the general counsel. In addition it includes 12 representatives from the recorded music sector, six from major labels, two each from the three major companies, and six from the independent sector, which are selected by votin ...
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Private Stock Records
Private Stock Records was a record label that operated from 1974 to 1978. The label was founded by Larry Uttal after he was ousted from Bell Records. The label primarily focused on pop music and had numerous hit records, many of them one-hit wonders, including singles by David Soul of ''Starsky and Hutch'' fame (" Don't Give Up on Us"), Starbuck ("Moonlight Feels Right"), Austin Roberts ("Rocky"), Samantha Sang ("Emotion"), Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band ("A Fifth of Beethoven"), Cyndi Grecco ("Making Our Dreams Come True", a.k.a. the theme song to ''Laverne & Shirley'') and Frankie Valli ("My Eyes Adored You", " Swearin' to God", "Our Day Will Come"). The label also released Brownsville Station's album with the same name, and the singles "The Martian Boogie" and "(Lady) Put the Light on Me" in 1977. Even during 1976 and 1977 Jose Feliciano released two albums on the label, "Sweet Soul Music" (produced by Jerry Wexler) and "Angela" (soundtrack of the movie Aaron Loves An ...
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Chris Stein
Christopher Stein (born January 5, 1950) is an American musician known as the co-founder and guitarist of the new wave band Blondie. He is also a producer and performer for the classic soundtrack of the hip hop film '' Wild Style'', and writer of the soundtrack for the film '' Union City'', as well as an accomplished photographer. Music upStein performing with Blondie in 2011 In 1973 Stein became the guitarist of the Stilettos and began a romantic relationship with Debbie Harry, one of the singers. In the summer of 1974 Stein, Harry, and the band's rhythm section left to start their own group which they eventually called Blondie. They soon became fixtures in the punk and new wave scene centered around CBGB and Max's Kansas City and by the end of the decade achieved international stardom. Blondie broke up in 1982 but reformed in 1997 and has been active off and on ever since. In addition to being the sole writer of the Blondie song "Sunday Girl", Stein co-wrote numerous hit ...
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Gary Lachman
Gary Joseph Lachman (born December 24, 1955), also known as Gary Valentine, is an American writer and musician. He came to prominence in the mid-1970s as the bass guitarist for rock band Blondie. Since the 1990s, Lachman has written full-time, often about mysticism and occultism. Biography Musical career Lachman joined Blondie in spring 1975 after original bassist Fred Smith left to join Television amid founding bassist Richard Hell's departure. He wrote the music to the band's first single, "X-Offender", and popularized the band's sixties-retro look. In 1977 he left the group to form his own band and was replaced by Nigel Harrison, just as Blondie were starting to gain recognition. His song " (I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear" was a UK top ten hit in 1978, and was subsequently recorded by Tracey Ullman and Annie Lennox. After Blondie, Lachman moved to Los Angeles and in 1978 released a single, "The First One/Tomorrow Belongs to You" on Beat Records. Shortl ...
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Randy & The Rainbows
Randy & the Rainbows are an American doo-wop group from Maspeth, New York. History The group was formed in 1962 in Maspeth, Queens, and featured two pairs of siblings, along with a fifth member. The Safuto brothers, Dominick and Frank, had previously sung in the group The Dialtones. They recorded with the producers of The Tokens, releasing the single " Denise" in 1963. The name "Randy and the Rainbows" was chosen by the owners of Laurie Records after the group recorded "Denise". The group had previously been called "Junior & the Counts" and "The Encores". "Denise" spent 17 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, reaching No. 10,Randy & the Rainbows - Chart History - The Hot 100
''Billboard.com''. Accessed September 30, 2015
while reaching No. 18 on ''

Denis (song)
"Denise" is a song written by Neil Levenson that was inspired by his childhood friend, Denise Lefrak. In 1963, it became a popular top ten hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, when recorded by the American doo-wop group Randy & the Rainbows. A cover version by the American new wave group Blondie, re-titled "Denis", hit number 2 in the UK Singles Chart in 1978. Dutch actress and singer Georgina Verbaan covered "Denis" in 2002 and reached number 30 on the Dutch Singles Chart. Randy & the Rainbows version The American doo-wop group Randy & the Rainbows recorded "Denise" with the producers of The Tokens, releasing it as a single in 1963. The group's name "Randy & the Rainbows" was chosen by the owners of Laurie Records after the group recorded "Denise". Previously, the band had been called "Junior & the Counts" and "The Encores". "Denise" spent seventeen weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, settling at number 10, while peaking at number 18 on the ''Billboard'' Hot R&B Sing ...
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Rock Music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States and United Kingdom.W. E. Studwell and D. F. Lonergan, ''The Classic Rock and Roll Reader: Rock Music from its Beginnings to the mid-1970s'' (Abingdon: Routledge, 1999), p.xi It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the blues and rhythm and blues genres of African-American music and from country music. Rock also drew strongly from a number of other genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical, and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock has centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar, drums, and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a time signature using a verse–chorus form, ...
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Vintage Books
Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random House merged with Bantam Doubleday Dell, Doubleday's Anchor Books trade paperback line was added to the same division as Vintage. Following Random House's merger with Penguin, Vintage was transferred to Penguin UK. In addition to publishing classic and contemporary works in paperback under the Vintage brand, the imprint also oversees the sub-imprints Bodley Head, Jonathan Cape, Chatto and Windus, Harvill Secker, Hogarth Press, Square Peg, and Yellow Jersey. Vintage began publishing some titles in the mass-market paperback format in 2003. Notable authors * William Faulkner * Vladimir Nabokov * Cormac McCarthy * Albert Camus * Ralph Ellison * Dashiell Hammett * William Styron * Philip Roth * Toni Morrison * Dave Eggers * Robert Caro * Har ...
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Spin Alternative Record Guide
The ''Spin Alternative Record Guide'' is a music reference book compiled by the American music magazine '' Spin'' and published in 1995 by Vintage Books. It was edited by rock critic Eric Weisbard and Craig Marks, who was the magazine's editor-in-chief at the time. The book features essays and reviews from a number of prominent critics on albums, artists, and genres considered relevant to the alternative music movement. Contributors who were consulted for the guide include Ann Powers, Rob Sheffield, Simon Reynolds, and Michael Azerrad. The book did not sell particularly well and received a mixed reaction from reviewers in 1995. The quality and relevance of the contributors' writing were praised, while the editors' concept and comprehensiveness of alternative music were seen as ill-defined. Nonetheless, it inspired a number of future music critics and helped revive the career of folk artist John Fahey, whose music was covered in the guide. Content Spanning 468 pages, the ' ...
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Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publisher in the United States, publishing 2,000 titles annually under 35 different imprints. History Early years In 1924, Richard Simon's aunt, a crossword puzzle enthusiast, asked whether there was a book of ''New York World'' crossword puzzles, which were very popular at the time. After discovering that none had been published, Simon and Max Schuster decided to launch a company to exploit the opportunity.Frederick Lewis Allen, ''Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s'', p. 165. . At the time, Simon was a piano salesman and Schuster was editor of an automotive trade magazine. They pooled , equivalent to $ today, to start a company that published crossword puzzles. The new publishing house used "fad" publishing to publish bo ...
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