''The Hunter'' is the sixth studio album by American rock band Blondie, released on May 24, 1982, by

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British 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 Ellis-Wright A ...

. It was Blondie's last album of new material until 1999's It was recorded in December 1981.

Background

''The Hunter'', as stated in the press release, is loosely a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Some ...

based on the theme of "searching, hunting, or pursuing one's own Mt. Everest." Tracks on the album include Jimmy Destri's

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

pastiche "Danceway", while "Dragonfly" has a science-fiction theme to its lyrics about a race in space. "The Beast" deals with lead singer

Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...

's experiences of becoming a public figure: "I am the centre of attraction, by staying off the streets". "English Boys" is Harry and

Chris Stein Christopher Stein (born January 5, 1950) is an American musician 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 Style'', and writer ...

's melancholy tribute to "those English boys who had long hair",

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

, recorded the year after

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

's assassination in New York City, describing the innocence and idealism of the 1960s. " War Child" references military conflicts in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. The album concludes with a cover version of

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

's "

The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" is a 1966 song written by Smokey Robinson. It was a hit single in 1967 for the American girl group The Marvelettes for the Motown label, from their self-titled album released that same year. In 1980, Jamaican ...

", originally recorded by

the Marvelettes The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who wa ...

in 1967. The song "For Your Eyes Only" was originally written for the 1981

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

film of the same name. The producers of the film, however, favored a track composed by

Bill Conti William Conti (born April 13, 1942) is an American composer and conductor, best known for his film scores, including ''Rocky'' (and four of its sequels), ''The Karate Kid'' (and all of its sequels), '' For Your Eyes Only'', ''Dynasty'' (and its ...

and Michael Leeson and asked Blondie to record that song instead. When Blondie declined, the Conti/Leeson song was passed on to

Sheena Easton Sheena Shirley Easton (; born 27 April 1959) is a Scottish singer and actress. Easton came into the public eye in an episode of the first British musical reality television programme '' The Big Time: Pop Singer'', which recorded her attempts to ...

. Blondie opted to release their song (written by Harry and Stein) on ''The Hunter''. Two singles were released from the album, " Island of Lost Souls" and "War Child" (the latter of which was also released as a 12″ extended version). "Danceaway" was planned for release as a single in Canada (backed with "For Your Eyes Only"), but was issued only extremely briefly before the single was withdrawn. Videos for "Island of Lost Souls" and "English Boys" were produced. In the liner notes to the 2001 reissue of ''The Hunter'', producer Mike Chapman stated, "I knew that we were in a different and far less accessible artistic space. And that worried me. I could tell that things were different now, and I knew that this would be the last Blondie album."

Release and reception

The album peaked at in the UK, in Australia and in the US. Compared to Blondie's three previous albums with

Mike Chapman Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian-American record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suz ...

as producer (''

Parallel Lines In geometry, parallel lines are coplanar straight lines that do not intersect at any point. Parallel planes are planes in the same three-dimensional space that never meet. ''Parallel curves'' are curves that do not touch each other or int ...

'', '' Eat to the Beat'' and '' Autoamerican''), ''The Hunter'' proved to be a disappointment, both commercially and critically. Six months after its release, the band splintered. The summer ''

Tracks Across America Tour '82 The Tracks Across America Tour '82 was a concert tour by the American band Blondie in 1982. The tour supported their latest album, '' The Hunter'' (the first tour since their European Tour in 1979-'80) and would be Blondie's last tour before dis ...

'' was set to promote the album but turned out to be unsuccessful. The band's European tour which was due to follow in autumn was cancelled. ''The Hunter'' was digitally remastered and reissued by

UK in 1994, and again by EMI-Capitol in 2001, both times with the 12″ version of "War Child" as the only bonus track.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''The Hunter''.

Blondie

Clem Burke Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums f ...

drums * Jimmy Destri keyboards * Nigel Harrison bass *

vocals * Frank Infante guitar *

guitar

Additional personnel

Robert Aaron Robert Aaron (born Robert Arron Vineberg; November 13, 1955) is a Canadian jazz musician. According to John Leland of the New York Times "Mr. Aaron played flute, saxophone, clarinet and piano, then taught himself guitar, trumpet, bassoon, Fren ...

horn arrangements, saxophone *

Sammy Figueroa Sammy Figueroa (born November 16, 1948, The Bronx, New York) is an American percussionist. At 18 he joined the band of bassist Bobby Valentín and also co-led the Brazilian/Latin fusion group Raíces. Selected Discography Janice G. Pendarvis back-up vocals on "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" * Zachary Sanders back-up vocals on "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" *

Lani Groves Lani Groves (born 1980 in Bloemfontein) is a South African musician and actor. She began playing the cello and singing at the age of five years. Groves performs regularly at musical events across the Gauteng region in South Africa. In 2004, Grov ...

back-up vocals on "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" * Darryl Tookes back-up vocals on "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" * Ray Maldonado horns on "Little Caesar", "Island of Lost Souls" and "War Child" * Luis Ortiz horns on "Little Caesar", "Island of Lost Souls" and "War Child" * Richard A. Davies horns on "Little Caesar", "Island of Lost Souls" and "War Child" * Mac Gollehon horns on "Little Caesar", "Island of Lost Souls" and "War Child"

Technical

production * Doug Schwartz engineering * Merwin Belin – group production liaison * Markie Iannello technician * Kevin Flaherty production (2001 reissue)

Artwork

Brian Aris Brian Aris is a British photographer who began his career as a photojournalist. Initially, he was a front line photographer of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, the plight of Palestinian children in Jordan, the civil war in Lebanon, famine in Af ...

photography *

Richard Raynis Richard Raynis (born December 27, 1956) is an American animator and television producer. He is a six-time Primetime Emmy Award winner for his work as one of the main producers of ''The Simpsons''. He is also known for co-creating several Adelaide ...

cover illustration * Bruce Carleton lettering, back cover illustration *

John Holmstrom John Holmstrom (born 1954) is an American underground cartoonist and writer. He is best known for illustrating the covers of the Ramones albums ''Rocket to Russia'' and '' Road to Ruin'', as well as his characters Bosko and Joe (published in Sch ...

lettering * Janet Levinson design

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, The 1982 albums Albums produced by Mike Chapman Blondie (band) albums Chrysalis Records albums Concept albums