A few weeks ago we announced that archival record label Numero Group would be reissuing Blondie‘s 1979 pseudo-disco hit Heart of Glass, with six versions of the iconic track collected onto a deluxe vinyl EP. You can now listen to those six tracks.
Listen to six alternative versions of Blondie’s 1979 hit Heart of Glass, which feature on a new deluxe reissue EP.
The recording process behind Heart of Glass was notoriously laborious. Crafting the drum machine backing track took ten hours alone and producer Mike Chapman finally mastered the final version after 30-40 edits.
The song was first written as a loose funky jam, a demo the band dubbed Once I Had a Love, or more simply The Disco Song. Having recorded some rough demos years prior, the band decided to blow the dust off the track and breath some new life into it in 1978.
“We realised that we had created a very unusual record. It was us trying to do disco, and not really pulling it off,” Chapman said “It really and truly was an experiment. It was unlike anything that any of us had done before. I knew this was the hit that I was trying to make.”
You can hear both demos on the new EP, as well as Shep Pettibone’s 1988 remix, an extended mix and an instrumental version. All of the songs have been mastered from the original tapes. Listen to them below. The reissue will also feature original artwork reimagined by artist Shepard Fairey.
As well as the new EP, Numero has also announced a collector’s edition of the band’s discography titled BLONDIE: The Complete Studio Recordings 1975-1982. Buy the Heart of Glass vinyl here.
