GARY VALENTINE
Richard D’Andrea, who was in the original line-up of the Motels with the bandleader and songwriter for Code Blue, Dean Chamberlain, later joined a band called the Pits that was founded by controversial rock critic John Mendelsohn, whose previous projects included underground glam rockers Christopher Milk. For about three years, D’Andrea was in The Know with one of the founding members of Blondie, Gary Valentine; they released several singles but never landed a record deal. (September 2012) * * * Holly Ramos wrote all but one of the songs for the Fur CD. The exception is “X Offender”, a track from Blondie’s first album, Blondie that was written by Gary Valentine and Deborah Harry. This song was also released as Blondie’s first single in June 1976, on Private Stock Records. This single did not chart, though two others from their first album did.
The title of “X Offender” is a double entendre; the reference is not to an ordinary ex-offender but to a sex offender. Fur’s version of the song is rougher and has somewhat lower production values, though I prefer it to the original. “X Offender” fits like a glove into the Holly Ramos songs that make up the remainder of the album, so I suppose you could say that Fur sounds like a punkier Blondie in their original incarnation.
(June 2013/2) |