''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 Richard Gottehrer (born 1940) is an American songwriter, record producer and record label executive. In 1997, he co-founded the Orchard with longtime business partner Scott Cohen, an independent music distribution company. His career began as ...

. " Denis", a cover of

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 p ...

' 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 "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear" is a song by the American band Blondie, from their 1978 album '' Plastic Letters''. Written by recently departed Blondie bassist Gary Valentine, the song was based on the telepathic connections that ...

" 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 Gary Joseph Knipfing (born November 22, 1961), better known by his stage name Gary Valentine, is an American actor and comedian. He is the older brother of actor Kevin James. He starred as Danny Heffernan in ''The King of Queens'' (1998–200 ...

, 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 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 wo ...

. The album peaked at No. 10 in the UK and has been certified Platinum by the

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 ...

(BPI). The pink dress Debbie Harry wears in the cover art was designed by

Anya Phillips Anya Phillips (1955 – June 19, 1981) was an American fashion designer and the co-founder of legendary New York nightclub the Mudd Club along with Steve Maas and Diego Cortez. Phillips had an influence on the fashion, sound and look of the New York ...

. ''Plastic Letters'' has been remastered digitally and reissued twice: the first time by Chrysalis Records in 1994 with two bonus tracks, and the second in 2001 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 with four bonus tracks. The latter issue features the earliest demo of the band's future hit " Heart of Glass", then known as "The Disco Song".

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Plastic Letters''.

Blondie

* Chris Stein – lead guitar, guitar, bass,

E-bow The EBow, short for electronic bow or energy bow, is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It is manufactured by Heet Sound Products, of Los Angeles, California. It was invented by Greg Heet i ...

on "Youth Nabbed as Sniper", vibes *

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 * Clement Burke – premier drums, backing vocals * James Destri –

grand piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

Farfisa Farfisa (Fabbriche Riunite di Fisarmoniche) is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professio ...

organ,

Polymoog The Polymoog is a hybrid polyphonic analog synthesizer that was manufactured by Moog Music from 1975 to 1980. The Polymoog was based on divide-down oscillator technology similar to electronic organs and string synthesizers of the time. His ...

synthesizer and strings, Roland synthesizer, backing vocals

Additional personnel

– production * Frank "The Freak" Infante – bass, rhythm guitar * Dale Powers – background vocals on "Kidnapper" * Rob Freeman – engineering *

Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bishop ...

– mastering at Sterling Sound (New York City) * Phillip Dixon – photographs * Ramey Communications – art direction, design

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1977 albums Albums produced by Richard Gottehrer Blondie (band) albums Chrysalis Records albums