Released in April 1982, Island Of Lost Souls was a bright and
breezy, calypso style pop song that peaked at #11 in the UK, #13 in
Australia and #37 in the US. It was the first single to be lifted from
Blondie's sixth studio album The Hunter, and was written by Deborah Harry and Chris Stein.
As with the reggae-inspired The Tide is High, this totally different style of music didn't go down well with some Blondie fans, and was a mile away from the band's original new wave/punk rock sound. You can't please all of the people all of the time, I suppose.
The following single from The Hunter album (entitled War Child) was the band's last proper single release of the 80s and peaked at #39, which meant that Island Of Lost Souls was the band's last major hit single, until the release of Maria in 1999 which reached #1 in the UK. However, there were various remixes released inbetween, including Denis (1988), Call Me (1989), Atomic (1994) and Heart Of Glass, Rapture and Union City Blue remixes in 1995.
