Debbie has only released five solo albums to date, so I'm going to try to feature them all. The next, her third, was released three years after “Rockbird”, in 1989, and is interesting because for one thing she had a hand in producing it (her first, to my knowledge, attempt at any sort of production) along with Chris Stein and Mike Chapman, producer of the Blondie albums. Also interesting because she decided to release it under her full name, so it carries the name Deborah Harry, but to us she's still Debbie.
Def dumb and blonde --- 1989 (Chrysalis)
Best known for its hit single, “I want that man”, written by the Thompson Twins, the album displays something of a shift back towards the rock Blondie were famous for and away from the lighter, pop and dance flavour of her debut, so that the three albums can be seen as a progression, almost as if Debbie were meeting her Blondie career head-on, or perhaps deciding that the experimentation she had indulged in on the previous albums had not worked, and she should return to what she knew, and was good at.
“Lovelight”, the only song written solo by Chris Stein, is a sort of new wave/pop track with interesting guitar work, while “Kiss it better”, a collaboration with the Thompsons is really more like one of their songs: weirdly, as the opener, written by only them, is more a Debbie Harry song, and yet when she adds her influence the result is less than her own signature sort of music. Lots of synthy bass and jangly guitar, very poppy. Meh. Throwaway, say I. Next up is a much harder, rockier, almost punky track, “Bike boy”, with hard, sharp guitar, pounding drums and lots of shouts of “Oi!” or something similar, which a lot of the punk tracks seemed to have. Good, solid stuff though.
This album is her longest so far, with a total of fifteen tracks, so I'm going to have to cherry-pick or just refer to some in a few words, unless I want to spend all night on this part of the review. So we'll pass over the largely forgettable “Get your way”, and concentrate on the really rather good “Maybe for sure”, which has a nice keyboard intro and then goes into a very Blondie melody, quite like “Sunday girl” in fact. Nice to hear her returning to her roots. Great song.
NOT so good to hear her going down the reggae route again! Still, “I'll never fall in love” isn't a bad song, but I could live without it. “Calmarie” is an atmospheric, almost Native American-type song, with chants and gentle percussion, with Debbie singing in another language (Italian?), with I think smatterings of English in there too. Almost Enya-like in its mood and style, it's a really nice, laid-back song that really showcases the true beauty of her voice when she takes it down a notch. “He is so” is another Blondie-like song, mid-paced and with a great melody, good hook. Really nice keys work near the end.
“Comic books” is pretty madcap, flying along at punk speed, with stabbing keyboards and churning guitars, while “Forced to live” kicks the speed up even more, so that you really get the impression you're listening to someone like maybe Siouxsie and the Banshees or Hazel O'Connor, with Debbie (sorry,
Deborah!) at her loudest, grittiest, sultriest punk bitch best. After all that craziness and speed, things slow down for penultimate track “Brite side”, a nice little ballad with rather good drum programming and quite a reserved, restrained melody. Is this the same woman who just moments ago was shouting her head off?
Closer “End of the run” is also the longest track on the album, and indeed her longest to date, at just over seven minutes, and has a nice guitar intro followed by a spoken vocal which reminds me of Faith Hill's later “Beautiful” off her album “Cry”: stuff like this is hard to pull off properly --- you're essentially creating poetry to music. But it works for Debbie, and she intersperses the spoken word stuff with some lovely breathy singing, really making the song something special, and bringing a rather triumphant end to what is, so far, her best solo effort and her most complete album.
TRACKLISTING
1. I want that man
2. Lovelight
3. Kiss it better
4. Bike boy
5. Get your way
6. Maybe for sure
7. I'll never fall in love
8. Calmarie
9. Sweet and low
10. He is so
11. Bugeye
12. Comic books
13. Forced to live
14. Brite side
15. End of the run
1993 saw the release of Debbie's fourth solo album, and her second under her full name. This would also see the end of a fifteen-year association with label Chrysalis, who had released all the Blondie albums as well as all of Debbie's solo material, up to and including this one.
Debravation --- 1993 (Chrysalis)
It starts off badly, I have to say, with the europop dance number “I can see clearly”, which to my mind throws her firmly back to the days of “Koo koo” and the over-involvement of the boys from Chic, though they haven't been in her music at all since. Nevertheless, there's an uncomfortable sense of
deja vu here, and it's not helped by the second track, another ill-advised attempt at a rap, which once again scores high in the embarrassment factor. In fairness, the rap in “Stability” is only peripheral, but the rest of the song is pretty sub-Madonna pap. Not in love with this.
Luckily, things take a turn for the better then with “Strike me pink”, a Kim Wilde-like ballad with soft percussion and nice piano and keyboards, and a nice little soulful sax break. Keyboard-heavy beyond a doubt, Debbie employs the talents of no less than thirteen keyboard players --- not including Guy Pratt, who plays keys as well as guitar , as opposed to eight guitarists. So the album has a very sort of europop feel to it, yet not as dancy or disco as “Koo koo”, with some nice melodies and some very good ideas.
“Rain” is not bad, if a little limited, although it gives Debbie a chance to clean out her pipes, and has a nice guitar solo in it. “Communion” is nice, mid-paced bopper with a nice line in piano and some very good backing vocals, with it has to be said some extremely dodgy lyrics:-
”Take, eat, this is my body/I give it to you/ Take, drink, this is my blood/ Do it in remembrance of me/ So you won't forget me.” I'm sure the religious right would have had a field day with THAT one! Not a bad song though.
“Mood ring” has a very oriental feel, with some seriously funky bass and some really nice keys, a nice ballad, the first time she's had two on the same album. Again some really nice saxophone adds to the atmosphere of this song, then we're into “Keep on going”, which rather surprisingly maintains the low-key, laid-back and relaxed tone of the previous track. “Dancing down the moon” rocks things back up again, and for a while now fears that Debbie was going to return to the dance-oriented “Koo koo” have evaporated, as the album has improved, really in leaps and bounds, as it's gone on.
“Standing in my way” has a very Pretenders vibe to it, more fast rockin', with more than a nod back to the Blondie era, quite “One way or another”, in fact. Some great keyboards redolent of Dire Straits circa “Walk of life”. “The fugitive” is down and dirty soul, but the weirdest contribution has to be that of cyberpunk author William Gibson, who wrote the lyric for closer “Dog star girl”, and perhaps in deference to the great man the melody is quite industrial/electronic and futuristic sounding.
Mention should be made of the appearance of REM on the track “My last date with you”, which appeared only on the US version of the CD as an additional track, but as it's not on my copy I can't review it. However, Micheal Stipe and the boys are pretty heavyweight guests to have on your album.
I still at this point prefer “Def dumb and blonde”, but this is a worthy successor, and shows Debbie developing both as a musician and as a songwriter.
TRACKLISTING
1. I can see clearly
2. Stability
3. Strike me pink
4. Rain
5. Communion
6. Lip service
7. Mood ring
8. Keep on going
9. Dancing down the moon
10. Standing in my way
11. The fugitive
12. Dog Star girl
Although Debbie also worked with other artistes down the years, including Talking Heads, Giorgio Moroder and Fall Out Boy, and indeed joined and then fronted the Jazz Passengers in the mid 1990s, as I mentioned it is purely her solo work we are concerned with here. So as with Phil Lynott we didn't go into his association with the Three Musketeers or any other projects he was involved in, so too here we will leave such collaborations and contributions, including her many film soundtracks, to others.
Nonetheless, it does go part of the way to explaining why Debbie's next, and so far most recent, solo album did not emerge until fourteen years later. It's the longest of her albums by far, with a total of seventeen tracks, and her first not to be on the Chrysalis label.
Necessary evil --- 2007 (Eleven Seven)
Quite a polished feel from the off, with nice production on a smooth mid-paced opener with nice bass and good keyboards, understated guitar and indeed rather restrained vocals from Debbie on “Two times blue”, which was in fact the first single to be released from the album. Very catchy, stays with you long after it's ended. Good start indeed. “School for scandal” continues her return to the rock songs that characterised her last two albums, with a good mix of guitars and keys and some solid drumming, then we're into the first ballad, “If I had you”, which to me has a very REM flavour, a kind of waltzy rhythm, possibly picked up after her association with them on her previous album. There's also a little Bryan Adams in there too, maybe also a nod to Coldplay.
Three solid songs. Not bad. Can she maintain this quality throughout? Let's see. Well, “Deep end” is sort of new wave for the twenty-first century, with low growling guitar and heavy bass, slow measured percussion and Debbie doing her best Blondie, while “Love with a vengeance” comes across very Queen-like, with its busy bass and handclap beats, and then we're into the title track, a raw, edgy, sharp tune with very punk overtones and Jam-like guitar. “Charm redux” is the first ever instrumental on a Debbie Harry album, very electronica with the title chanted behind the music, a short little track at just over a minute, then “You're too hot” is another rocker with a deceptive opening, and “Dirty and deep” is just that, very Janet Jackson with its programmed keyboards and low vocal, and its harkback to previous track with the refrain
”Don't touch me/ You're too hot!”
Another ballad follows, nice little acoustic guitar on “What is love” and “Whiteout” is a pretty screaming rocker, with “Needless to say” then taking the tempo right down for the third ballad on what is really turning out to be a pretty flawless album, and pushing “Def dumb and blonde” for the place of best DH solo album. It's interesting that this time around she has decided to collaborate on, or write herself, most of the tracks without the input of Chris Stein, who is only involved in two, near the end. Most of the songs, in fact, are written by the triumvirate of herself and producers Barb Morrison and Charles Nieland, and the songwriting team seems to have struck gold.
“Heat of the moment” has an almost voodoo/jungle vibe, mostly driven on percussion, with just the one lyric --- yeah, you guessed it! It's a short song, and gives way to “Charm alarm”, on which the trio pull in an extra helper for songwriting duties, one Guy Morrow, and it's a sort of funk/dance fusion which unaccountably reminds me of Matt Johnson's The The...! Chris Stein then comes into the picture, as mentioned, writing both the next song and the one after it. “Jen jen” is almost New Order in its guitar and drum machine opening, with an African chant of some sort forming the lyric, and some pretty cool guitar work --- very different indeed. As a matter of fact, I don't even hear Debbie singing on this...
Not so great is “Naked eye”, his other contribution, possibly the weakest track on the album, a little confused I feel, then the closer, “Paradise” is, I believe, one of the songs recorded by the Jazz Passengers. It's a nice smooth ballad, with not at all surprisingly some smooth and sweet sax to take the song to its conclusion, a good way to close what has turned out to be a really good album overall.
TRACKLISTING
1. Two times blue
2. School for scandal
3. If I had you
4. Deep end
5. Love with a vengeance
6. Necessary evil
7. Charm redux
8. You're too hot
9. Dirty and deep
10. What is love
11. Whiteout
12. Needless to say
13. Heat of the moment
14. Charm alarm
15. Jen jen
16. Naked eye
17. Paradise
So, what are we, in the final analysis, to make of the solo career of Debbie Harry? Well, like our first star to feature in this section, Phil Lynott --- and unlike our second, Ric Ocasek --- it seems clear she is unafraid to try new things, branch out and extend her reach beyond the type of music she usually plays in Blondie. Her embracing of dance, techno, funk, reggae and other styles, as well as some of the lyrical themes visited over her five solo albums demonstrate an artist who is prepared to take chances, experiment and is not all that pushed about commercial success, as she waited almost as long as some people's music career lasts between her fourth and fifth album, so she's not about to rush any product out to placate record labels.
“Necessary evil” was four years ago now. By Debbie's standards, that's a short hiatus, but it will be interesting to see if, and when, she heads into the studio again. One thing is for certain: whenever she does, and whatever comes out of those sessions, it won't be predictable.