12 tracks · 47 min
Autoamerican is the fifth studio album by the US New Wave band Blondie. It was released in November 1980 and reached number 3 in the UK charts, number 8 in Australia and number 7 in the US. The album proved to be a radical departure for the band, with opening track "Europa" setting the pace. The track was a dramatic instrumental overture featuring orchestral arrangements and ending with vocalist Debbie Harry reciting a poem about the importance of the car in American society. Besides rock and pop tracks, the band explored a wide range of other musical genres: "Here's Looking At You" and "Faces" show jazz and blues influences, the reggae hit "The Tide Is High" was a cover of The Paragons' 1965 Jamaican ska hit, whereas "Rapture" combined funk, rock, jazz, and even saw them embracing the then budding genre of rap. The closing track, "Follow Me", was a cover of a torch song from Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's 1960 Broadway musical Camelot, based on the King Arthur legend. The band released two singles from this album, "The Tide Is High" and "Rapture". "The Tide Is High" hit number 1 in several countries, including the US and the UK. "Rapture" became the first rap song not onl…
