We wanted to leave you with a Thanksgiving-y recipe and Musical Pairing before those of us in the U.S. start heading off to gorge ourselves on good food and good drink tomorrow. So with that in mind, Kasey has presented a recipe for cake-y, chocolate-y pumpkin brownies. I’d bet my copy of the E.T. Read-Along Book and Record that these brownies would be more popular than some store-bought pumpkin pie at most Thanksgiving feasts. So if you are in the mood for a soundtrack to this food-based holiday, we selected an album Kasey described as “pumpkin-y”: Blondie‘s 1979 Eat to the Beat. Although underrated by many critics at the time of its release back in 1979, the sheer number of excellent and well-written pop songs blended with singer Debbie Harry’s creamy, upbeat vocals makes Eat to the Beat a great addition to any music library.
Eat to the Beat opens with “Dreaming,” a song based around a warm-rinsed organ melody, Harris’ clean and cryptic lyrics, and a percussion section offered by drummer Clem Burke that simply owns the rest of the song to form a fun, driving pop tune that can be described as Shangri-Las-esque. Loud ringing guitar chords welcome in the pure, shining rock n’ roll of the mid-tempo “Union City Blue,” which easily retains the title for most under-rated Blondie song of all time. In the clean-up position is another one of the album’s strongest tracks: ethereal and sonically-rich “Shayla.” Later on, Burke provides another moment of drumming mastery on “Accidents Never Happen” to happily compliment a chugging bass line and Harris’ alluring vocals: “No I don’t believe in luck / No I don’t believe in circumstance no more / Accidents never happen in a perfect world.” On the final stretch of the album, Blondie throws down one of the best disco-inspired dance-rock songs ever recorded: “Atomic.” It’s an album that is hard not to love.
Bonus: Voxtrot – Shayla (Blondie Cover)
Head back to eating/sf to read about Kasey’s yummy pumpkin-swirl brownies, and how you can make them for your Thanksgiving dinner.
