Geez I hope youtube allows this post through! Although i have previously posted a clip of Ellen Foley's debut 'We Belong To The Night', this is a mixed pictorial and performance video which marks the 40th anniversary of not only one of the best vocal performances of 1979 but also one of the most auspicious debuts in pop music history. Released in the final months of that year, inexplicably America didn't issue this track as the single from her debut LP 'Night Out' - but the Spector-ish 'What's A Matter Baby' which barely scraped into the Billboard Top 100. In Australia we got this glorious track and the clip from which you see portions of in this post. 'We belong to the night' made the Top 15 nationally here, and the album went Gold in early 1980. Ellen's name might not have been familiar at the time, but she had recorded vocals for Meat Loaf's debut in 1977 'Bat Out OF Hell' and in particular the enduring classic 'Paradise By The Dashboard Light'. Fans had been confused for years as it was Karla DeVito who had appeared in the videos for the songs from 'Bat Out Of Hell' although some of them were not recorded by Karla but Ellen. It was perfectly apt that both artists were on the CBS Epic label as 'epic' is a great word to describe the music of both singers and there is a huge wall of sound on this fab track; produced by Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson. I love how as with taste buds, 'ear buds' also mature - what i might have not appreciated as much 40 years ago, i now celebrate and revere. This is a wonderful track and is a powerhouse of production and performance. Australia was really lucky to get it on high rotation back in 1979 and that Ellen Foley became a name in her own right. More to come on the sublime Ms Foley....
