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''Autoamerican'' is the fifth studio album by American
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band Blondie. It was released in November 1980 and reached in the UK charts, in the US, and in Australia.


Background

The album was a radical departure for the band, with the opening track "Europa" setting the pace. The track is a dramatic instrumental overture featuring orchestral arrangements and ending with vocalist Debbie Harry declaiming a passage about automobile culture over an electronic soundtrack. 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 Tide Is High "The Tide Is High" is a 1967 rocksteady song written by John Holt, originally produced by Duke Reid and performed by the Jamaican group the Paragons, with Holt as lead singer. The song gained international attention in 1980, when a cover vers ...
" was a cover of
the Paragons The Paragons were a ska and rocksteady vocal group from Kingston, Jamaica, initially active in the 1960s. Their most famous track was " The Tide Is High", written by band member John Holt. Career The Paragons were originally Garth "Tyrone" E ...
' 1967 Jamaican ska song, whereas " Rapture" combined funk, rock, jazz, and even saw them embracing the then-emerging genre of rap. The closing track, "Follow Me", was a cover of a
torch song A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affect ...
from Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's 1960
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
musical ''
Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as th ...
''. Producer
Mike Chapman Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian-American record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suz ...
insisted the band record in Los Angeles. Guitarist Chris Stein lamented: "Every day we get up, stagger into the blinding sun, nddrive past a huge Moon-mobile from some ancient sci-fi movie." Drummer
Clem Burke Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums f ...
welcomed the change: "''Autoamerican'' was fun. We got to spend two months in California. I'm always up for a free ride." unpaginated. However, the band insisted on the cover artwork shot being from their hometown, posing on a roof near New York's
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
and Eighth (more precisely 300 Mercer Street). The image was taken from a commissioned painting by artist Martin Hoffman (1935–2013). In a 2020 interview with ''
American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwri ...
'', to mark the 40th anniversary of the album, Stein revealed the intended title was ''Coca Cola'', as it sounded "very American", but
The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrup ...
declined the idea. 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 US and the UK. "Rapture" became the first rap song ever to reach number one on the singles chart in the US. It also reached number five in the UK and number four in Australia. ''Autoamerican'' was
digitally remastered Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...
and reissued with two bonus tracks by Chrysalis Records in the UK in 1994 which included the extended 12″ Special Disco Mix versions of "Rapture" and its B-side "Live It Up", from 1981. The album was again remastered and re-released by
EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
-Capitol in 2001, again featuring the extended version of "Rapture" along with the full-length version of their number-one single " Call Me" (from the film soundtrack to '' American Gigolo''), as well as "Suzy & Jeffrey" which was originally the B-side to "The Tide Is High".


Track listing


Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Autoamerican''.


Blondie

*
Clem Burke Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums f ...
– drums *
Jimmy Destri Jimmy Destri (born James Mollica, April 13, 1954, Brooklyn, New York City, United States) is an American musician. Background Destri is of Italian descent. His father was a novelist who also wrote screenplays and eventually advertising copy to ...
– electric keyboards *
Nigel Harrison Nigel Harrison (born 24 April 1951) is an English musician. Harrison spent several years as the bassist of the American rock band Blondie during the 1970s and 1980s. Life & career Harrison grew up in Princes Risborough, a small town in the ...
– bass *
Deborah Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...
– vocals * Frank Infante – guitar * Chris Stein – guitar,
tympani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...


Additional musicians

* Wah Wah Watson – guitar on "Live It Up" *
Howard Kaylan Howard Kaylan (born Howard Lawrence Kaplan, June 22, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, along with bandmate and friend Mark Volman, a member of ...
– vocals on "T-Birds" *
Mark Volman Mark Randall Volman (born April 19, 1947) is an American vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the 1960s rock band The Turtles, and, along with his bandmate and friend Howard Kaylan, a member of the 1970s rock duo ...
– vocals on "T-Birds" * Tom Scott – saxophone on "Rapture" and "Faces",
Lyricon The Lyricon is an electronic wind instrument, the first wind controller to be constructed. Invented by Bill Bernardi (and co-engineered by Roger Noble and with the late Lyricon performer Chuck GreenbergIngham (1998) p.184), filed for patent o ...
on "Do the Dark" * Ollie Brown – percussion on "The Tide Is High" *
Emil Richards Emil Richards (born Emilio Joseph Radocchia; September 2, 1932 – December 13, 2019) was an American vibraphonist and percussionist. Biography Musician Richards began playing the xylophone aged six. In High School, he performed with the Hartf ...
– percussion on "The Tide Is High" *
Alex Acuña Alejandro Neciosup Acuña (born December 12, 1944), known professionally as Alex Acuña, is a Peruvian-American drummer and percussionist. Background Born in Pativilca, Peru, Acuña played in local bands such as La Orquesta de los Hermanos Nec ...
– 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 Jimmie Haskell (born Sheridan Pearlman, November 7, 1926 – February 4, 2016) was an American composer and arranger for motion pictures and a wide variety of popular artists, including Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Steely ...
– 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"


Technical

*
Mike Chapman Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian-American record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suz ...
– production * Lenise Bent – engineering * Doug Schwartz – engineering assistance * Gary Boatner – engineering assistance * Kevin Flaherty – production (2001 reissue)


Artwork

* Martin Hoffman – painting * John Van Hamersveld – design * Karen Knecht – peach * Billy Bass – art direction


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


References


Bibliography

* {{Authority control 1980 albums Albums arranged by Jimmie Haskell Albums produced by Mike Chapman Albums with cover art by John Van Hamersveld Blondie (band) albums Chrysalis Records albums