Song of the Day-Fade Away And Radiate

In 1978 I was spending my days getting an undergrad education at Oakland University and spending my afternoon's and night's working at Full Moon Records. Full Moon was a Michigan only record chain with stores at the time in Pontiac, Port Huron, Rochester and Traverse City. Based on it's Facebook page, Full Moon appears to be fondly remembered. Those were the days when my life was much like John Cusack's in "High Fidelity." I picked up a vinyl habit that continues to this day. Met some good friends who I have mostly lost track of.

Punk rock had started in the US with the New York Dolls, Ramones and the Stooges, had crossed the ocean and came back at us as the Sex Pistols and The Clash.  I was still "back at home with my Beatles and my Stones" but I was slowly getting into the newer music, due to the more adventurous tastes of my co-workers. Talking Heads was very strange to me at first.  I didn't get Television  or some of the other CBGB bands. The exception was Blondie who I got right away. The album that hooked me was "Parallel Lines" which had tunes like "One Way Or Another" and "Hanging On The Telephone." Their sound carried echoes of the 60s "girl group" style which I loved. I slowly got into the other acts but the big early favorite was Blondie. I even got to see them, around that time, topping the bill with Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe's "Rockpile." Unfortunately, in my opinion, they fared poorly following the high energy Rockpile and I didn't stay for the whole set. Debbie Harry, in concert, had an icy unapproachability which did not go down well in comparison to Rockpile's "we're all mates at the pub" rockin' approach.

The tune that really caught my ear on "Parallel Lines" was "Fade Away and Radiate" which was a big moody ballad carried by Harry's sultry vocal and the humming synth lines of Chris Stein. The production of this song had a very spare feel. As Blondie became huge, taking over the world with the number one "Call Me" this was not a sound that they would return to. "Parallel Lines" to me, is their peak!