The 3-Song Holiday EP features rare, original 1981 recording, alongside new Cut Chemist remix. Out on November the 5th. This year, legendary New York rock band Blondie are bringing a little more fun to the end this year with the release of their EP: Yuletide Throwdown. The 3-track EP, released on digitally on October the 8th , and on 12″ limited edition vinyl in both magenta and black, on November 5th (via UMe-Capitol/Numero Group) features the ultra-rare 80’s Christmas-inspired track “Yuletide Throwdown,” co-written and performed with Fab 5 Freddy, along with a new, exclusive remix of the song by Cut Chemist.

The ultra-rare 1981 holiday flexi-disc, now being reissued for the first time on 180gram vinyl, was originally given away by the U.K. magazine Flexipop and then rediscovered as the band was researching and reviewing material from their personal archive for their forthcoming box set, to be released in August of 2022.

If it sounds familiar, here’s why: the track was actually the original recording for what would later become one of Blondie’s biggest hits, “Rapture.” After shelving this version because the tempo was recorded too slowly (it was later recut into what became the global hit song), Chris Stein decided to go back into the studio a year later with the original track to record Debbie Harry and Freddy’s “Throwdown” vocals for this cheeky, holiday masterpiece.

“It has been an impossible amount of time since I believed in Santa Claus, but I could very well believe again if he was Freddy Brathwaite!! Some of my best times have been making music with Chris Stein and Freddy B,” notes Debbie Harry, with Chris Stein adding: “Freddy has done as much as any multi-platinum selling Hip-Hop star to promote rap culture.”

Flash forward 40 years – as the band sought to re-release the original recording, they engaged DJ and producer Cut Chemist (also known for his previous work as a member of both Ozmalti and Jurassic 5) to put his spin on the track, thus rounding out the Yuletide Throwdown EP project.

The new 2021 mix of the original track, which appears on the EP, was produced by 4x Grammy® winner Steve Rosenthal and mixed from the original analog tapes by Grammy® winner Tom Camuso on his vintage Neve console at Studio E in Brooklyn.

The limited edition vinyl, available in both magenta and black versions, will come packaged in a die-cut bespoke ‘disco-bag’ style sleeve with exclusive artwork by New York graffiti artist ‘Hugogyrl.’

Yuletide Throwdown is available to pre-order and stream at: https://blondie.lnk.to/YuletideThrowdownSR

SOURCE Universal Music Enterprises

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