Debbie Harry: 81 eh?
Feeling a pathological need to expand her oeuvre away from the band collective of Blondie, rock’s greatest goddess kicked off her solo career in, appropriately enough, 81.
1981 happened to be the year I bought my first pop records, though KooKoo’s oddball acufunkture — (under)produced by Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards in a coruscating coke blizzard — was a little too outré for this nascent 12 year-old Bucks boy.
Cover wise, HR Giger’s body modification needlework was as confrontational as the contents, with the inevitable hoo-ha in the press resulting in the album’s promotional posters unceremoniously banned from London Underground. In retrospect, it’s arguably Debbie’s most cohesive solo statement though it’s still not the easiest of listens. Much like Bowie’s later Outside, it’s low on pop, high on art and almost dares you to like it.
Do I regard KooKoo as the lady’s loveliest long-player? Actually not. But if you feel that way inclined, there is a brand new 120-page Record Collector special on Blondie and Debs on the news stands as I write this. You may just get an idea which one still resonates all these decades later.
As well as exclusive interviews with all the key players including the great lady herself, there are the extensive features I was asked to pen as one of the band’s official essayists: one is indeed a complete overview of solo recordings, from The Wind In The Willows to Jazz Passengers and the output in between. That includes a whole heap of oddities, from Moroder magic, Iggy incredulity, and Costello collabs to those strange, eccentrically uneven albums: which one is a crib of Madonna’s True Blue with better lips? Which one “boasts” potty pastiches of Cyndi Lauper, Kid Creole and the Boomtown Rats?
As well as a sneak preview of the group’s forthcoming farewell album, High Noon, I also speak to two extraordinary bassists — Blondie’s Nigel Harrison (One Way Or Another, Union City Blue, War Child et al) and Rockonteur rascal Guy Pratt, who’s played with everyone from Roxy Music to Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson. Sitting in the producer’s chair for a contentious cut with Debbie, he tells me they were aiming for Sinéad O’Connor singing the “KLF meets The Who.”
There’s also a tasty trio of SAW/PWL productions to mull over — In Love With Love, Mind Over Matter and Sweet & Low — why did one of those get reused under someone else’s name?
It’s all in this quite great magazine, expertly edited by Rick Flynn, with sterling support from Kris Needs, Chris Roberts, Terry Staunton and a cast of thousands. A lot of blonde for your buck then.
Steve Pafford
https://shop.recordcollectormag.com/product/rc-special-blondie
Previously: https://stevepafford.com/debbie-harry-best-deborah-harry/
