Blondie + NY Dolls + Robert Fripp (!?) @ CBGBs 1978
Huh?
Blondie cover the New York Dolls’ “Jet Boy” at CBGBs on May 7, 1978, with their new pal + producer Robert Fripp. The British prog-rock guru had recently moved to NY to plug into the new rock scene. Recording is way lo-fi, performance is sprited. Fripp really lets down his hair. If a dude is trying to impress Debbie Harry, apparently, half-measures will not do.
Legend has it Fripp applied to replace Tom Verlaine in Television when the group split, but Richard Lloyd + Co. passed. That would have been pretty interesting.
(BTW, the photo is from an unrelated show back in ’74 featuring some Blondie, some Dolls, and some Stilettos. Go figure.)
The second clip, from the same ’78 show, is an impressively trippy, Frippy cover of Iggy’s “Sister Midnight.” Further proof that Blondie were the most brilliantly mutable band on the CBGBs scene. Disco, rap, reggae, prog-rock: somehow they pulled it all off.
Thanks for the links!
I just purchased your book, looking forward to going home, getting under the covers (18F & no central heat!) & having a good read