We've so far featured two artistes in this section, and they've both been guys. BOO! I hear you ladies say. HISS! What about the girls? You sexist pi--- all right, all right! Point taken. There have of course been many successful female solo artistes, as as promised at the end of our last edition of “Gone solo in the game”, this time we're going to examine the solo career of that blonde icon of the seventies and early eighties
With a fairly prolific career in music, Debbie Harry is of course best known for her work with the new wave band Blondie, and has become identified with such hits as “Heart of glass”, “Atomic”, “Sunday girl” and “Hanging on the telephone”, but although she still works with the band she has over the span of her career branched out, both into solo ventures and collaborations, as well as guesting on many tracks, and indeed fronting the avant-garde jazz band The Jazz Passengers. As ever, though, it is her solo career with which we are concerned, and on which we will concentrate here.
Her first solo album was released in 1981, when she was taking a break from Blondie. With a sleeve designed by “Alien” artist and creator of visual nightmares, H.R. Giger, the album was moderately successful, though hardly broke the charts wide open like her Blondie output.
Koo koo --- 1981 (Chrysalis)
As I mentioned in the feature on Ric Ocasek a month and a half ago now, the debut solo album is always the hardest. The decision made to break out of the relative comfort of the band they're with, the artiste is no doubt faced with some trepidation as to how his or her own music will be received, not only by longtime fans of the band, but by others, who may not have liked the band. In short, the artist has to please both sides of their new fanbase: those who already know them, and those who don't.
“Koo koo” (strange title!) turns out, not surprisingly, to be a far cry from the pop/punk/new-wave rock of Blondie, much more influenced by funk and dance than rock or punk. The opener “Jump jump” does not, to be honest, impress, and were this not
the Debbie Harry, this is probably where I might stop, as the signs are not good. But we're committed to checking this album, and her others, out in their entireity, so let's perservere. Decent keyboard solo, but very very lightweight, with little improvement for “The jam was moving”, which was apparently chosen as a single. Hmm. Nice but of guitar there from Nile Rodgers, from seventies disco band Chic, while his partner, Bernard Edwards, takes bass duties. Still very dance-oriented though.
Bit of rock tries to force its way through on “Chrome”, which does have more of a Blondie feel, and though I don't want to fall into the trap of rating songs as like-Blondie/not-like-Blondie, it is part of this brief that we compare the artiste's solo output to that which they produced, or produce, within the band structure. This is the least dancy of the tracks so far, and therefore my favourite as I listen. Harry and her Blondie bandmate and boyfriend, guitarist Chris Stein, write about half of the material on the album, with the other half penned by the Chic duo, with or without input from Stein and Harry. “Chrome”, perhaps unsurprisingly, is a Harry/Stein original.
Back to the funk then for another Chic-written number, “Surrender”, and the hard edge is gone, almost forgotten. I'm sensing opportunities missed here. It's almost as if Debbie is allowing Edwards and Rodgers to dictate the kind of music she records, and while they do produce the album, I think it's a pity that they exercise such tight control over the material. “Surrender” is, frankly, crap. Not much better is “Inner city spillover”, where Debbie goes all reggae. Interestingly, this is one of the songs she writes with Stein, and while weak it's at least devoid of the funk influence of her producers. In fairness, it's not too bad, but I'm not a fan of reggae music, so I guess I'm biased in that way. That said, I certainly prefer it to anything else so far, “Chrome” excepted.
And here comes the funk --- complete with horns --- for “Backfired”, which was also a single. I feel both of these releases perhaps would have given a false impression of Debbie's solo work, and something like “Chrome” would have been a better bet. This has elements of semi-rap in it, sharp, jangly guitar echoing the melody of her hit single with Blondie the previous year (well, that year --- 1981, but the album was released in 1980), “Rapture”, which itself was seen as something of a departure from Blondie's recognised musical style, the rap in itself intensely embarrassing and laughable. She obviously hadn't learned from that...
Having let Stein and Harry have their head, to some extent (STOP that dirty laughing!) on the first part of the album, the Chic duo keep something of a stranglehold on the second half, or side, writing or co-writing four out of the five remaining tracks. The first, and indeed only, ballad, “Now I know you know” is really not bad, echoes of Judie Tzuke in there, and Debbie on fine song, with some nice laid-back guitar and piano, but the following track, “Under arrest”, actually comes even closer to Blondie's own style, with a staccato, hard-edged pop/rock tune --- must be the input from Debbie and Chris on this one, although Edwards and Rodgers collaborate on the writing.
I fear for a song which has a title of “Military rap”! Still, it maintains the new-wave/punk style favoured by Blondie, even if there is a
really bad attempt at a rap in there, along with some very Mexican-sounding bugles...! Fast, certainly, and not a funk lick in sight. The only track on the second side of the album without writing input for the Chic guys, and the better for it. But they're involved in the closer, “Oasis”. Hang on though: a promising start, with its eastern/arabic flavour and whistling keyboards, tom-toms and some very nice, if funky, bass.
So a decent end, then, to an album which started badly, but improved a little as it went on, until there was a final sprint for the finish line, and although I would doubt I'd listen to this album again, I'm a little more impressed with it now than I was when it began. As a debut though, I'd have to say that if this was someone other than Debbie Harry, with her already legion of fans to buy this record (whether or not they liked it is another matter), I doubt she would have secured a deal for a second album. Hey, fame is certainly handy when you decide to take that solo flight!
TRACKLISTING
1. Jump jump
2. The jam was moving
3. Chrome
4. Surrender
5. Inner city spillover
6. Backfired
7. Now I know you know
8. Under arrest
9. Military rap
10. Oasis
Personal problems prevented Debbie from releasing a follow-up to “Koo koo” until 1986. By that time Blondie had split, largely due to the illness contracted by Chris Stein, though they would reform fifteen years later in 1997. Debbie's next album was not under the control of the “Chic gang”, but was in fact produced by one of the J. Geils Band, one Seth Justman, and though he co-wrote some of the songs with her and Stein, this time they had greater artistic freedom, and Debbie and Chris wrote or co-wrote eight of the nine tracks on the album.
Rockbird --- 1986 (Chrysalis)
With a name like that, you have to hope this album would be more a rock album than a dance one, but let's see. Kicking off with a very frantic piano, “I want you” harks right back to the fifties, with a very Lewis/Richard fast piano melody, and a start/stop melody somewhat reminscent of the Jam, but definitely a step up from the debut. Although horns again feature quite prominently, this time they're used more in a jazz/ska vein than a dance mood: bold, brassy, exuberant. The opener certainly sets the mission statement, and though its 50s bubblegum pop/rock is still lightweight, it's closer to the sort of thing Blondie would be expected to produce.
“French kissin' in the USA”, ironically the only track on the album without any input from either her or Stein in terms of writing, turned out to be the huge hit single from the album, and remains one of her most popular solo songs. Very pop oriented, it's a lot slower than the opener, but not a ballad. It seems to feature a lot of programmed drums and synths, fitting well in to the sound of the mid-eighties, while “Buckle up” is more of a boogie, again replete with horns and brass, kind of Madness-like in style. “In love with love” is lightweight pop, very new romantic, close to the likes of Fiction Factory and the lighter moments of Depeche Mode.
Horns again feature prominently in “You got me in trouble”, with a pop/dance flavour, and things slow down nicely for “Free to fall”, a nice sort of mid-paced semi-ballad, and then kick back into high gear again for the rockin' title track, with some nice fast piano, some good hard guitar and decent backing vocals. Both “Secret life” and the closer “Beyond the limit” sort of pass by without making any real impression, and sadly do the reverse of “Koo koo”, which started badly but ended strongly. Still, on balance, “Rockbird” is a great improvement on the debut, and allows Debbie to spread her wings (sorry!) a little more.
TRACKLISTING
1. I want you
2. French kissin' in the USA
3. Buckle up
4. In love with love
5. You got me in trouble
6. Free to fall
7. Rockbird
8. Secret life
9. Beyond the limit