Gary Joseph Lachman (born December 24, 1955, Bayonne, New Jersey, United States) is an American writer and musician. Lachman is best known to readers of mysticism and the occult from the numerous articles and books he has published. He is additionally known to music fans by his stage name as Gary Valentine as one of the founders, and bassist for the alternative rock/new wave band, Blondie. (More from Wikipedia)
Holly Ramos wrote all but one of the songs for the Fur CD. The exception is “X Offender”, a track from Blondie’s first album, Blondie that was written by Gary Valentine and Deborah Harry. This song was also released as Blondie’s first single in June 1976, on Private Stock Records. This single did not chart, though two others from their first album did.
The title of “X Offender” is a double entendre; the reference is not to an ordinary ex-offender but to a sex offender. Fur’s version of the song is rougher and has somewhat lower production values, though I prefer it to the original. “X Offender” fits like a glove into the Holly Ramos songs that make up the remainder of the album, so I suppose you could say that Fur sounds like a punkier Blondie in their original incarnation.
(June 2013/2)
