''Plastic Letters'' is the second studio album by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band Blondie, released in February 1978 by

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British independent record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ell ...

. An earlier version with a rearranged track listing was released in Japan in late December 1977.

Overview

This is the second and final Blondie album to be produced by

Richard Gottehrer Richard Gottehrer (born June 12, 1940) is an American songwriter, record producer and record label executive. His career began as a Brill Building songwriter in the 1960s. His first number one record as a songwriter and producer was " My Boyfr ...

. " Denis", a cover of Randy & the Rainbows' 1963 song "Denise", was successful across Europe, reaching No. 2 in March 1978 in the United Kingdom, and also reached No. 19 in Australia. " (I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear" was the second single from the album, reaching No. 10 in the UK in May 1978. The song was written by the band's second bassist, Gary Valentine, shortly before he left for a solo career prior to the recording of ''Plastic Letters''; his departure necessitated

Chris Stein Christopher Stein (born January 5, 1950) is an American musician and songwriter known as the co-founder and guitarist of the new wave band Blondie. He is also a producer and performer for the classic soundtrack of the hip hop film '' Wild St ...

playing bass on the album, as well as guitar. During recording Blondie was still signed to their old label, Private Stock Records. The album peaked at No. 10 in the UK and has been certified Platinum by the

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

(BPI). The pink dress Debbie Harry wears in the cover art was designed by Anya Phillips. In an interview in 2024, Frank Infante said, “There’s a lot of misinformation out there. If you look on Wikipedia, it says that the band did ''Plastic Letters'' as a four-piece and that Chris Stein played guitar and bass. No – I played guitar and bass. I did all the bass." Infante, not yet an official band member at the time of recording, is credited on all issues of the album (as Frank "The Freak" Infante) with rhythm guitar and bass. Stein is credited with lead guitar, bass, e-bow and vibes. ''Plastic Letters'' has been remastered digitally and reissued twice: the first time by

in 1994 with two bonus tracks, and the second in 2001 by

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

-Capitol with four bonus tracks. The latter issue features the earliest demo of the band's future hit " Heart of Glass", then known as "The Disco Song".

Critical reception

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' wrote that "some of Blondie's hardness has been made pliable with curious arrangements and an attempt to make the band seem more formidable than it really is."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Plastic Letters''.

Blondie

– lead guitar, guitar, bass,

E-bow The EBow is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It was invented by the American guitarist Greg Heet in 1969 and introduced in 1976. The EBow uses a pickup and a magnetic feedback circuit to ...

on "Youth Nabbed as Sniper", vibes * Deborah Harry – vocals * Clement Burke – Premier drums, backing vocals * James Destri –

grand piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Farfisa Farfisa () is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professional and VIP ranges, and later, a se ...

organ,

Polymoog The Polymoog is a hybrid polyphonic analog synthesizer that was manufactured by Moog Music from 1975 to 1980. The Polymoog was based on divide-down oscillator technology similar to electronic organs and string synthesizers of the time. Histor ...

synthesizer and strings,

Roland Roland (; ; or ''Rotholandus''; or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was mil ...

synthesizer, backing vocals

Additional personnel

– production * Frank "The Freak" Infante – bass, rhythm guitar * Dale Powers – background vocals on "Kidnapper" * Rob Freeman – engineering *

Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bishop ...

– mastering at

Sterling Sound George Marino (April 15, 1947June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He attended ...

(New York City) * Phillip Dixon – photographs * Ramey Communications – art direction, design

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1977 albums Albums produced by Richard Gottehrer Blondie (band) albums Chrysalis Records albums