Customer Reviews

Debravation

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Debravation (deprivation) the title should give you a clue as to the sense of humour and brilliance that Deborah Harry as an artist carries.

This album for whatever reason was not taken well by most fans. The record company (Sire records, who was Madonna's label) under promoted and advertised this album as they probably didn't know how to market it.

In a nut shell I'd say it's a very adult contemporary modern album with light appartment jazz influences and dance fare. Far from the power pop that was Blondie this album still shines through the many collaborations.

For those not too sure:

I Can See Clearly - A classic high energy dance oriented track with a smooth velveting voice from Harry from the writer's over her big hit "I Want That Man".

Stability - A rap style ditty done in the fashion only Ms. Harry can get away with since she is the one who wrote the 1st rap song to go #1 in america in 1981. Not too focased on rap and really it's just her talking in a cool way than what most others thingk rap is.

Strike Me Pink - a ballad type jazzy song very cool and very hip.

Rain - One of the collaborations with a future Blondie band member Leigh Foxx. Great guitar solo and great chorus.

Communion - Either you love this one or you hate it. Dancable and tongue-in-cheek campy lyrics she's famous for this album could have gone without it but it holds up for camp style for most fans.

Lip Service - From the same producer of her dance hit "Sweet And Low" this Club dancefare track will have sing along complete with an Edgar Allen Poe excerpt from "The Raven".

Keep On Going - Calypso influenced uplifting track very early 90's and dateable but okay. She switches languages to spanish at the very end.

Mood Ring - More sexy jazzy grooves. Great for night time listening. This track showcases her lyricist abilities and the instument of her voice.

Dancing Down The Moon - Very dance rock very fast paced track with guitar. I like this one a lot.

Standing In My Way - More rock and roll with a punky twist more like her older material Blondie fans are used to. Originally done as a Duet with Joey Ramone but for some reason the record company rejected that version for this album. Still a great great song.

The Fugitive - Another rock track up beat and fun. Great Guitars.

Dog Star Girl - Another of Deborah Harry and Chris Stein's unique collaborations with influenced from H.R. Gieger. Rock acid jazz I think one could try to categorize this song.

Buy this if your into unique stylish rock.

It's quite unfair that people had to learn the difference between Blondie and Deborah Harry at the expense of the singer's solo career. Though she was largely the reason Blondie was so successful, Harry never drew the same crowds on her own. None of her solo work is bad, but Harry was never able to establish a musical identity of her own. Consequently, she's often grasping at straws, jumping between Madonna-esque dance tracks (clearly the path most record companies wanted her to take), campy rap numbers and Blondie sound-alikes. "Debravation," Harry's last solo effort to date, follows the same mish-mash approach of its predecessor, "Def, Dumb & Blonde," but not as successfully. Things get off to a promising start with "I Can See Clearly," a catchy dance tune perfect for Harry's voice, followed by the quirky "Stability," which showcases the singer's deadpan sense of humor. From there, though, Harry starts wandering down the middle of the road, with forgettable ballads ("Strike Me Pink," "Mood Ring") and overblown pop songs ("Rain"). This CD's nadir is "Communion." Using the liturgy of communion as a metaphor for sex ("Take! Eat! This is my body!"), it's sung too earnestly to be a parody, but the tacky lyrics and cheesy arrangement make the song too silly to be enjoyable. I don't know if Harry should be more embarrassed for recording it or having a hand in writing it. Things improve later on, with "Standing In My Way"--a definite nod toward Harry's Blondie days--and the tribal groove of "Dog Star Girl." Perhaps the best tracks, though, are the bonus ones: "My Last Date with You" (with REM) and "Tear Drops." These do-wop gems are ideally suited for Harry, and she performs them expertly. Too bad her best perfomances are tacked on as a CD extra.

Debbie's voice just gets better and better as she becomes older. This CD is a fine proof for that. You can hear almost the same voice as in NO EXIT--- very mature, articulate, powerful and sexy. All the songs are surprisingly in such high quality that even now it doesn't sound old a bit. This album will be treasured for decades, as it has been, by all the Debbie fans around the world.

Many people are not aware of it, but after 1982's "The Hunter" Blondie album, Deborah Harry continued to record, cowriting songs with Blondie collaborator Chris Stein. In 1986, she released "Rockbird", in 1989 she released "Def, Dumb, and Blonde", in 1993, she released "Debravation". In 1999 Blondie released "No Exit" and in 2003 "The Curse of Blondie". Her most recent solo effort was written without Chris Stein of Blondie, in 2007 "Necessary Evil". In 2010, Blondie will release a new album. Blondie and Deborah Harry did not disappear in 1982, they just stopped releasing a new album every year.
"Debravation" her third solo release includes memorable tracks: "I Can See Clearly" (not a cover of an older song of the same name), "Strike Me Pink", and "My Last Date with You" a cover of the old C&W song with REM.

Debbie's fourth solo CD is pretty damn good - not as good as Def Dumb and Blonde, her previous solo CD, but still very good. The lead single, I Can See Clearly, is an OK dance pop number that managed to get her played on the radio again, but it's one of the weaker tracks on the CD. Debbie rocks out on Standing In My Way and Dancing Down The Moon, gets all sassy on The Fugitive, slows it down for the excellent tracks Moodring, Strike Me Pink, and Keep On Going, and goes 60's retro for Teardrops and My Last Date With You. Rain is pure pop pleasure, while Debbie's punk roots show on Dog Star Girl. Lip Service is a poppy new wave track, as is Stability. I love the line Don't Orchestrate my Life from this song. The only real bummer on the CD is Communion, her collaboration with R.E.M. I don't know what this song is about, but it lacks melody and the lyrics are lame. But hey, only one bad track out of fourteen? That's quite impressive. This is a great CD. It should have been bigger, I don't think Sire promoted it. If you like Debbie Harry or Blondie, I think you'll like this record. Check it out!

After reading some rather puzzling reviews that would steer even a devoted fan away, I decided to give you a real review by a real fan.
"Debravation" is a step up from it's predecessor, 1989's "Def Dumb & Blonde". On this album, Debbie seems to have figued out how to balance her desire to experiment with the record company's demand for the perfect album. And instead of trying to avoid being associated with Blondie, she readily uses their best skill of various styled songs to produce an album that actually seems more sure of her solo abilities.
As on "Def Dumb & Blonde", "Debravation" utilizes multiple producers and outside collaborators. But this time, they are more involved than on the previous disc. By using the other artists more and Chris Stein less, Debbie is finally able to do a Debbie Harry album.
"Debravation" has contributions of very talented yet under appreciated musicians such as Anne Dudley from Art Of Noise (on "Strike Me Pink") and Jon Astley (on "Keep On Going"). Also lending his skills is current Blondie bassist Leigh Foxx, who co-wrote the high-energy rocker "Standing In My Way". Add to this the still important genius of Chris Stein (who else would think to set Willam Gibson to futuristic funk?) and you get the most intriguing solo effort since "KooKoo" in 1981. And this one seems less afraid of the Blondie legacy than any of her recordings during her hiatus. "Debravation" is able to run a parallel line along side any Blondie release. It shows that Debbie was more than just a pretty face to sell the product of some very talented men. She was as much a force in Blondie as Chris, Jimmy, Clem, Gary, Nigel or Frank and this album is the proof.
Now, it is known among the devotees that Debbie and Chris weren't totally satisfied with this album. But that goes with the territory in a business where true geniuses are locked in a mortal battle for control of their artistic souls with record company executives, who prefer to churn out mindless repetition of that artist's first successful hit. That struggle is why you get songs like "Rain" and "Communion". But these two compromises should not be used to discredit an entire album. Rather, the listener should admire what Debbie was able to do to both tweak the listener's ear (with the "saintly" smuttiness of the latter song) and still please her label. Debbie embraces the supposed Madonna knock-off "Communion", and it really comes across as very conscious effort to do to Madonna for one song what Madonna has done to Debbie for her entire career. I say brava!
This CD is really worth adding to your collection, whether you are grooming yourself to be a Deb-head or are just a casual listener wanting to hear something other than another teeny-bopper concoction.

A great CD in the tradition of Deborah's art/pop style. She again experiments with different styles of music, and her voice is suited for all. The first track "I Can See Clearly" is a underground dance classic, check out the remixes. "Strike Me Pink" is a beautiful jazz ballad. The following tracks are all great, better with each listen.

I decided to purchase "Debravation" after I heard "I Can See Clearly." It is a mid-tempo dance song and fun to listen to. However, when I listened to the rest of the album, I was not as impressed as I was with some of Debbie's other solo albums. It is not terrible by any means, but it is certainly not Debbie's best solo album. There are a few standouts though. Of course, "I Can See Clearly" is one of the best songs on the album, and "Standing In My Way" is a standout as well. It sounds much like Blondie's newer material, and it is fun to sing along to! "Strike Me Pink" is a very calm song. "Lip Service" sounds like it could have been a club song. "Dancing Down the Moon" is also upbeat, and "Dog Star Girl" is an usual song, but it is also an album standout. All in all, if you are a Debbie fan, you will probably enjoy the majority of this album!

Not as strong as her brilliant 1989 return to form with `Def Dumb & Blonde', 1992's `Debravation' is nevertheless a pretty good album. Its major downfall is that, like many albums in the 90s, it has a number of producers (six in total). This tends to make it lack a certain artistic cohesion and causes the 12 tracks to sound more jarringly eclectic than they would have if they had been overseen by a single person. That said, they are mostly fine songs and Harry carries them off with style and finesse.

For the first half, there is an emphasis on dance, while things get moodier and rockier on the second. (The 2005 re-release includes 2 additional songs at the end -`Tear Drops' and `My Last Date'.)

Influential early hip hop producer, Arthur Baker, co-wrote, and produced the opening adult-oriented dance single, `I Can See Clearly', setting the tone for most of the first six songs. `Lip Service', co-written with and produced by Toni C, whom Harry had written with on her previous 2 albums (`Sweet and Low' on `Def, Dumb and Blonde', and `I Want You' on `Rockbird'), is a slightly nutty up-tempo dance track that pauses hilariously in the middle for Harry to recite lines from Edgar Allan Poe's `The Raven'. Former Art of Noise member, Anne Dudley produced the loungey, sassy `Strike Me Pink', as well as `Mood Ring', its companion piece in the second half - both slow, moody pieces that up the class quotient of the set and are among its finest songs.

Former partner and Blondie member, Chris Stein, also co-wrote with Harry and produced four of the remaining songs - all rockier than the rest - including the darkly threatening album closer, `Dog Star Girl', co-written with cyber punk author, William Gibson.

Realistically, the different styles and sounds on `Debravation' don't really fit together well, so the album tends to feel a bit disjointed. At the same time, there is not a bad song among them. After an 18 year association, Chrysalis Records dumped Harry when this one flopped. But that does not mean `Debravation' is not worthy of a place in any Harry/ Blondie fan's collection.

Like most of Deborah Harry's solo work, there's too much going on to hold the album together. It's been plaguing her work from "AutoAmerican" on, even if "AutoAmerican" had the huge hit by way of "Rapture" on it. "AA" also had "The Tide Is High," which meant that you had a reggae and rap song on the same disc bouncing you from planet to planet. At that time, it sold in tonnage. Years later, it reeks of formula.

"Debravation" starts off promisingly enough, with the Madonna-esque "I Can See Clearly." Obviously a nod to the influence Blondie had over the material girl, it's a danceable confection and promises a fun album to come. Then you get strained "Stability," which includes some rapping and tries to ape hip-hop. Doesn't work. From that point on, it's strictly hit and miss. Unlike most of the other reviewers here, I thought "Communion" to be a real hoot, and very in synch with the kind of satiric goodies that Blondie would have delivered with verve.

More interesting is the Science Fiction collaboration "Dog Star Girl." Co-written with William Gibson (the classics "Neuromancer" and "Mona Lisa Overdrive"), it steers Deborah in a fresh direction that the rest of "Debravation" didn't want to risk. Hypnotic and lyrically interesting, as opposed to a greater part of the disc's predictability. Of equal interest are the CD's final two cuts, covers of a pair of Doo-Wop hits. "My Last Date" fares best of the two, including backing from REM!

Unfortunately, "Debravation" spends too much time on familiar ground, hop-scotching from place to place without really making sense of the map. The reformed Blondie provided proof to the theory of band chemistry by making the superior "No Exit" and "The Curse Of Blondie" albums. Also, "Most Of All," the import collection of solo Harry, contains "I Can See Clearly," "Strike Me Pink" and a single edit of "Communion." It's a strong culling to the best of Deborah's four solo albums and a couple soundtrack singles. While may be a little pricey, it holds together better than any of the solo discs.