Blondie - Autoamerican
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Free Music Notes for Autoamerican
Free Music Review: Good Transition from Disco to the Punk 80's
Hit: 4 Stars
In my early teens, this was one of the first albums I ever owned (on vinyl!), purchased from my paper route earnings. I have since upgraded to the CD version, although I do not have the CD with the last 3 bonus tracks.This album grows on you. As a child, I was disappointed with it, yet played it over and over. As an adult, it is one of about 5 CD's I would try to fetch if the house was burning.
Resisting an emerging trend at the time the album was originally cut, 1980, the album avoids the electronic sound. The guitars, bass and percussion are crystal clear, and Jimmy Destri makes the electric keyboard sing.
The album begins with the mostly instrumental Europa, with several lines of skat near the end, making for an excellent lead-in to the next track, the powerful, jazz/disco song Live It Up.
The melancholy Here's Looking At You is a mellow, jazzy tune about a woman reflecting upon her current romantic relationship.
The Tide Is High, which received oodles of radio play, requires no explanation; either you like it or you don't!
Angels On The Balcony is a song which begins very quirky; be careful if you're wearing headphones! This track showcases lead vocalist Deborah Harry's range, perhaps like no other song on this album. Plus, the band REALLY has it together on this track.
Go Through It, the shortest song on the album at 2:40, is a lively, "cruising song."
Do The Dark, which received limited airplay years ago, exemplifies Harry's talents well, but has too much of a synthetic sound at times.
Rapture, along with The Tide Is High, also received quite a lot of radio play. It is a cutesy, punky song.
Faces is perhaps the most disappointing track on the CD. Its high register can pierce right through you. This one would have sounded nice by Sarah Vaughn!
Following is T-Birds, another lively cruising tune like Go Through It.
Of the last 2 tracks, Walk Like Me sounds like it was a few years ahead of itself, but is a decent effort. The album, minus the bonus tracks, ends with the toned-down Follow Me, an excellent closing track.
As far as "hit or miss" is concerned, this album is definitely more hit than miss, and I highly recommend it to Blondie fans. It would also be a good first Blondie album to have.
Review the artwork on the back of the liner insert carefully. There appears to be thick, low black clouds or smoke on the New York skyline. Interestingly enough, the CD with extended tracks was released on 9/11...
Free Music Review: a tad bit pretentious
Hit: 4 Stars
When I first listented to this album, I couldn't help but think of Talking Heads' Speaking In Tounges...after all, both groups got started around the same time, found fame at CBGB's, and while SIT was released 3 years after Automerican, in invokes the same "dance" sound that the groups seemed to produce in the middle to latter parts of their careers. Autoamerican is often accussed of being overindulgent, and it's easy to see why. The bands' attempts at trying to be experimental comes of being too contrived, and at times just plain ridiculous. I'd venture to say that about 75% of the cuts on this album are top notch, while the rest is simply pleasent or mediocre. Live It Up,Do the Dark, and the timeless Rapture are a progression from Atomic and Heart of Glass, and are the pinnacle of Blondie's dancehall crazes. T-Birds, Walk Like Me, Angels on The Balcony, and Go Through It are classic Blondie, none of which, suprisingly enough, went on to become singles. And of course, the cream of the crop, The Tide Is High remains of the band's most beloved hits. The rest, however, leave alot to be desired. Europa, while pleasent, is simply too pretenious to belong on a Blondie album, while Here's Looking At You and Follow Me are horrible schtick that cheapen the rest of the cuts. Were they truly being serious including these tracks, or was there some sort of joke that the rest of us didn't get? Faces seems to exist as a means of filling the ballad quotient of Blondie's cuts, and while not terrible, doesn't live up to the quality of the the better songs. The album also includes three bonus tracks: an unreleased track, Suzie and Jeffrey, depicting a doomed love affair, the excellent Call Me, and an extended version of Rapture. Had the band cut some of the weaker tracks and stuck Suzie and Jeffery in somewhere, this album might have been just as good as Eat to The Beat or Blondie, but as it stands, it's slightly uneven to be considered excellent. Blondie has never succeeded as a pretentious group, and one must wonder why they felt the need to start such a trend after earlier successes. That's not to say that a band can't evolve musically, as Blondie has proved time and time again, but trust me, your fans can tell when you're trying a little too hard to impress.Free Music Review: Challenging, experimental album; mostly hits the mark
Hit: 4 Stars
When Blondie released "Autoamerican" in November 1980, their record label was concerned that the album contained no hits. Many at Chrysalis must have been surprised when a few months later "The Tide is High" and "Rapture" both hit #1.Chrysalis was concerned about "Autoamerican" because of the variety of music it contained; it was difficult to discern any particular style overall. There was swing ("Here's Looking at You,") reggae ("The Tide is High,") country rock ("Go Through It,") rap ("Rapture,") and blues ("Faces.") This hodge-podge resulted in many critics dismissing the album for its appearent grab-bag approach and meandering style.
Twenty years later, "Autoamerican" deserves a better fate. Blondie did not like being pigeon-holed as a "New Wave" or "Punk" or "Pop" group; "Autoamerican"'s diversity reflects this. The album's varied approach keeps it fresh and alive, even after all these years. While not as vibrant and classic as "Parallel Lines" or "Eat to the Beat," "Autoamerican" remains an essential entry in the Blondie catalog for its diversity and experimentalism. The main architect behind the varied sounds was Chris Stein, and he should be applauded for wanting to take Blondie into new directions and challenge the group's fans.
This said, I must admit there is one song on the album that has faded from favor in my book, and that is the hit "Rapture." At the time the album was released (before the song was relased as a single), myself and many others considered "Rapture" the novelty song on the album. Now it is hailed as the first rap song by a prominent white group. I have never cared much for rap music (being a mostly modern rock afficionado) and have to blame "Rapture" somewhat for rap's proliferation.
That said, if you're interested in hearing a diverse album from the #1 group in the world in 1980, "Autoamerican" is not a bad choice.
Free Music Review: Schizophrenic and spotty, but with some of their best songs
Hit: 4 Stars
I have to admit that it was the two big hits on this album that delayed my interest in fully pursuing Blondie's full musical output. Though I did own the old Best of Blondie CD for the other good singles they released, it wasn't until the early 2000's that I took a chance and actually listened to a full album. The results were that I ended up purchasing the entire back catalog, and was pleasantly surprised at how good many of the songs were on the various albums.
Now for Autoamerican... On the downside there are the two overrated singles, which I still find unlistenable and tedious today. In addition, you get a number of overblown songs that either date the album poorly or make Blondie sound like a lame lounge act.
On the plus side, the songs that stand out as good are very strong. One of my personal favorite Blondie songs from their entire catalog is the catchy hook of 'T-Birds'. It's a bit experimental and really cool, containing some wonderful vocal hooks.
I also love 'Go Through It'. Even though it has some glossy horns in it, it's very catchy and Debbie sounds wonderful. "I love you, honey. Give me a beer".
And probably one of the most stunning songs Blondie ever came up with is the gorgeous 'Angels on the Balcony'. If this was the material I was exposed to at the time, I would have been a follower back in the day. At least I did eventually take the chance to see what Blondie had to offer, so now all of these albums are classics in my catalog. That being said, Autoamerican is one of the more schizophrenic and spotty albums, but when it works, it's perfection.
Free Music Review: A good album; but great for a rarity ...
Hit: 4 Stars
This is the only place on CD you can find the nearly 7 minute version of Rapture, which is totally fabulous. Let's forget about the version on The Best of Blondie; while it's still good this is the one to have. Strangely enough, this version was released in early 1981 as the 45 version & became terribly hard to find later.Otherwise this is a good album featuring Rapture & The Tide Is High. However, the real reason to have this one is for the wonderful Rapture mix here.