It Was A Gas: Numero Group Announces Major Blondie Campaign Including “Heart of Glass” EP and Complete Box Set

September 4, 2018 By Joe Marchese — 5 Comments
PRE-ORDER NOW FROM NUMERO GROUP

The Numero Group label is well-known for its deep dives into the musical underground.  So it came as a bit of a shock today that the label’s next release is celebrating a famous Number One single.  On October 26, the label will release a 12-inch vinyl and digital EP featuring six versions of Blondie’s 1979 chart-topper “Heart of Glass,” the song which propelled Debbie Harry and co. into superstardom.  But that’s not all.

This title will be followed in fall 2019 by the release of Blondie: The Complete Studio Recordings 1975-1982 featuring the group’s first six LPs remastered from the original analog tapes plus two additional albums containing B-sides, rarities, and unreleased tracks.  This set will be released on CD, vinyl and digital formats.

Written by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, “Heart of Glass” dated back to 1974-1975 and the song “Once I Had a Love,” reportedly inspired by The Hues Corporations’ smash “Rock the Boat.”  Harry and Stein kept working on the song, demoing it again in 1978 and then reworking it with the aid of producer Michael Chapman for Parallel Lines, Blondie’s third studio album.  The single was released in January 1979 as the third single off Parallel Lines.  Bolstered by a music video as well as an appearance on the hit sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, the disco-flecked track hit the Number One spot on charts in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and Switzerland.  It even courted controversy when some fans felt that the new wave band had “sold out” by “going disco;” in fact, it only reached No. 58 on the Billboard Disco chart.  In fact, “Heart of Glass” fused disco, rock, new wave, and Kraftwerk-inspired electronics to create a sound of its own.

With the inclusion of demos from 1975 and 1978, long and instrumental disco versions, a scratch track, and the Shep Pettibone remix, the Heart of Glass EP (limited to 10,000 units) is promised by the label to trace the song’s evolution: “Blondie transformed their campy ‘Once I Had A Love’ into a Roland-driven juggernaut and never looked back. Explored and exploded via six distinct versions remastered from the original analog tapes, the history of ‘Heart of Glass’ is documented here in a copious essay and its art reimagined by noted American illustrator Shepard Fairey.”

Heart of Glass arrives from Numero on vinyl and via all digital platforms on October 26.  It’s currently available for pre-order directly through Numero and from Blondie’s webstore, though we will update with Amazon links once they are available.  Stay tuned for more big Blondie news from Numero on the way to the release of The Complete Studio Recordings next year!

Blondie, Heart of Glass EP (Numero Group, 2018)

Side A

  1. Heart of Glass (Disco Long)
  2. Heart of Glass (Scratch Track)
  3. Heart of Glass (Shep Pettibone Mix)

Side B

  1. Once I Had a Love (1975)
  2. Once I Had a Love (1978)
  3. Heart of Glass (Disco Instrumental)
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Joe Marchese
Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song and beyond, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with labels including Real Gone Music and Cherry Red Records, has released newly-curated collections produced and annotated by Joe from iconic artists such as Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Spinners, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Meat Loaf, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Liza Minnelli, Darlene Love, Al Stewart, Michael Nesmith, and many others.

Joe has written liner notes, produced, or contributed to over 200 reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them America, JD Souther, Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, Petula Clark, Robert Goulet, and Andy Williams.

Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.

Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

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5 thoughts on “It Was A Gas: Numero Group Announces Major Blondie Campaign Including “Heart of Glass” EP and Complete Box Set”

    1. St8 Blondie Fan

      don’t worry, no matter how well this package is done, i’m sure you’ll still be able to find things to find wrong with it.

      Reply
  2. Chuck

    I wish they were including the original Best of Blondie with the studio albums as it has several single mixes, an exclusive promo edit of the Rapture 12”, and of course Call Me. Hopefully all that will be included in the ‘b-sides & rarities’ disc. AND it’d be awesome if they did another box of No Exit on, AND then a Deb solo box..
    I know, I don’t ask for much..

    Reply
    1. Steven

      I was looking forward to seeing Blondie get the Numero treatment. Hoping it’s still in the works & will appear on CD

      Reply

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