She's A Photograph...

Gold Legion, a small company in the US that re-releases rare vintage albums on CD, is currently working on a release of the debut album from Amanda Lear.

I Am A Photograph was released in 1977 and many years later became my introduction to Miss Lear when I bought a used copy of the LP. The album is a total campfest and remains one of my favorite album of hers.

In Allmusic's review of the album Michael Freedberg writes: "Lear, previously known as a Roxy Music album cover model and a protégé of Salvador Dali, appears here as a cabaret countess. She enunciates sexually naughty suggestions in a smoke-and-velvet rasp. Her best subversions hit a dancer's most salacious fantasies dead on. Most of these songs support their studied lewdness with absurdly different music, creating tangible friction (e.g., "Alligator" — funk bottom, frothy violins on top) that makes Lear's tape-loop voice feel even naughtier. All of Lear's tempos assault disco norms, either as sleaze or ultra-fast high-energy. An album not to be missed."

No release date has been announced yet, but I will of course post more info here when it has been made available. I already own the excellent reissues Gold Legion released last year of Fame and Muse by Grace Jones. The releases from the company are generally only available from their website, so don't expect to find them anywhere else.

http://goldlegion.com/