Blondie - In The Flesh: FM Broadcast, San Francisco 1977 (2015)

In 1973, inspired by the burgeoning new music scene at the Mercer Arts Centre, Stein sought to join a band. He was accepted in 1973 by the Stillettoes as their guitarist and almost immediately formed a romantic relationship with one of the band's vocalists, Debbie Harry. In July 1974, Stein and Harry parted ways with the Stillettoes and formed a new group with band-mates Billy O'Connor (drums) and Fred Smith (bass). They had renamed themselves Blondie by October 1974. The band's first commercial success came in Australia in 1977, when the music television program Countdown mistakenly played their video In the Flesh, B-side of their then current single X-Offender. The single reached number 1 in Australia, while the album went top twenty in October 1977. A subsequent double-A release of X-Offender and Rip Her to Shreds was a minor hit in the UK and a successful Australian tour followed in December '77. While popularity and success was beckoning overseas however, on their home turf Blondie remained an underground act and it was while cloaked by such a status that the group played the Old Waldorf in San Francisco on 21st September 1977. A club owned by Bill Graham which would feature shows by some of the biggest international groups before its 1983 closure, on the date in question it was host to a bunch of relative unknowns outside of their NYC home. That would all change in September 1978 and the release of Blondie's third album, Parallel Lines, which would go top 10 on the billboard chart, and reach number one in the UK along with many other territories. This remarkably charged live performance by Blondie comes from an FM Radio broadcast and illustrates just what a dynamic yet professional act they were a, full year before the world knew their name. At the time seen as contemporaries it remains fascinating to consider what was to come for this little known combo as they played their very souls out on this late summer evening almost 40 years ago.

TRACKLIST
1. X Offender (Live) (3:00)
2. Youth Nabbed As Sniper (Live) (2:51)
3. Fan Mail (Live) (2:59)
4. Cautious Lip (Live) (4:39)
5. I'm On E (Live) (2:21)
6. Detroit 442 (Live) (2:34)
7. I Didn't Have The Nerve To Say No (Live) (2:37)
8. Bermuda Triangle Blues (Live) (2:25)
9. (I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear (Live) (2:33)
10. Contact In Red Square (Live) (1:51)
11. A Shark In Jet's Clothing (Live) (3:08)
12. In The Sun (Live) (3:58)
13. Heart Full Of Soul (Live) (2:05)
14. Playing With Fire (Live) (3:40)
15. Moonlight Drive (Live) (4:44)
16. My Obsession (Live) (2:27)
17. In The Flesh (Live) (2:29)