KooKoo
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Koo Koo is the title of the debut solo album by Debbie Harry, released in August 1981 while Harry was still a member of the group Blondie.
Album information
Produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the 70's disco group Chic, it reached #6 in the UK and stayed in the charts for seven weeks, being certified "Silver" by the BPI. The album reached #28 in the US.
For the promotion of Koo Koo there were plans by Harry's record company, Chrysalis Records, to display large posters of the album cover created by Swiss artist H.R. Giger in various stations of the London Underground, but officials deemed the image of Harry's face with metal skewers going through her head too disturbing. In Japan the "Backfired" single was issued with an entirely different picture sleeve, showing a glamorous and most importantly non-provocative Debbie Harry looking more like her established Blondie persona.
Promo videos were made for "Backfired" and "Now I Know You Know", both directed by Giger, best known for his design work on the classic sci-fi horror movie Alien. Filmed at his studios in Switzerland, "Backfired" featured a dark-haired Harry dancing against a superimposed backdrop of Giger's distinctive artwork, whilst "Now I Know You Know" featured Harry in a long black wig, bodypainted as a skeleton coming out of a mummy's coffin.
The impact of the Koo Koo visuals was so strong that it threatened to overshadow the actual musical progression of the project, especially that of Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers and their early fusion of funk, soul and rock. It was this development that would later result in albums like David Bowie's Let's Dance, Duran Duran's Notorious, The Power Station's self-titled debut album, Robert Palmer's Riptide, Sheena Easton's Do You and The B-52's' Cosmic Thing.
Harry released two singles from this album: "Backfired", which peaked at #32 in the UK and #43 in the US in August 1981, and "The Jam Was Moving" which reached #82 in the US but failed to chart in the UK. A third single "Chrome", was only released in some parts of Europe and also failed to chart. A fourth single, opening track "Jump Jump", was only commercially released in Peru. Two months after the Koo Koo album Chrysalis Records issued the first Blondie hits compilation, The Best of Blondie.
Koo Koo was one of three albums to be written and produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers in 1981, the other two being Chic's fifth album Take It Off and Johnny Mathis' I Love My Lady which remains unreleased.
Koo Koo was digitally remastered and re-issued with two bonus tracks by EMI in the UK in 1994, and again by Razor & Tie in the US in 1999, this time with just one bonus track. The extended mix of the album track "Inner City Spillover", originally issued as the B-side of 12" "The Jam Was Moving", has yet to be released on CD.
Track listing
Side A:
- "Jump Jump" (Deborah Harry, Chris Stein) - 4:04
- "The Jam Was Moving" (Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers) - 2:59
- "Chrome" (Deborah Harry, Chris Stein) - 4:17
- "Surrender" (Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers) - 3:37
- "Inner City Spillover" (Deborah Harry, Chris Stein) - 5:04
Side B:
- "Backfired" (Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers) - 4:54
- "Now I Know You Know" (Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers) - 5:39
- "Under Arrest" (Bernard Edwards, Deborah Harry, Nile Rodgers, Chris Stein) - 4:54
- "Military Rap" (Deborah Harry, Chris Stein) - 3:51
- "Oasis" (Bernard Edwards, Deborah Harry, Nile Rodgers, Chris Stein) - 4:59
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Bonus Tracks CD Re-issue UK 1994
- "Backfired" 12" Mix - 6:23
- "The Jam Was Moving" 12" Mix - 5:03
Bonus Track CD Re-issue US 1999
- "Backfired" 12" Mix - 6:23
Personnel
- Debbie Harry - vocals
- Nile Rodgers - guitar, vocals on "Backfired"
- Bernard Edwards - bass guitar
- Tony Thompson - drums
- Robert Sabino - keyboards
- Raymond Jones - keyboards
- Nathaniel S. Hardy, Jr. - keyboards
- Chris Stein - guitar
- Vinnie Della Rocca - horns
- Ray Maldonado - horns
- Sammy Figueroa - percussion
- Manuel Badrena - percussion
- Roger Squitero - percussion
- Spud Devo - backing vocals
- Pud Devo - backing vocals
- Fonzi Thornton - backing vocals
- Chuck Martin - dog bark
Production
- Nile Rodgers - producer for Chic Organization Ltd.
- Bernard Edwards - producer for Chic Organization Ltd.
- Bill Scheniman - sound engineer
- Jason Corsaro - second engineer
- H. R. Giger - cover concept and painting
- Brian Aris - photography
- Peter Wagg - art direction
- Dennis King - mastering at Atlantic Studios
- Recorded and mixed at The Power Station, NYC
Sources
- Cathay Che: "Deborah Harry: Platinum Blonde" André Deutsch Publications 1999, ISBN 0 223 99957 4.
- Debbie Harry, Victor Bockris & Chris Stein: "Making Tracks: The Rise Of Blondie" Horizon Book Promotions 1982, ISBN 0 440 55150 1.