Customer Reviews

Electric Youth

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Debbie Gibson's outstanding writing skills flowered in full in this excellent album. Her themes are imaginative and insightful and her melodies infectious. The orchestrations sparkle and so does the friendly cover. How sad for her next album, "Anything Is Possible," the decision was to do an "adult" cover with absolutely no personality or appeal and do an album so ambitious few young people could feel comfortable with it. Gibson could have gone on to many hit albums more but with one bad production and packaging decision after another on just one album, Atlantic squashed it all. When will record companies learn to resist the temptation to keep artists growing by design and just let them do what they do best and evolve naturally? Meanwhile, "Electric Youth" is still electric and a charge of a listen. Enjoy!

Deborah Gibson's sophmore album proves she's a true musician, singer and songwriter. This consistent set of upbeat pop songs and melodic ballads reinforces Gibson as a prodigious and growing artist. _Lost In Your Eyes_ shows us she can write world-class ballads to stand the test of time. The title song, _Electric Youth_ is truly an anthem ahead of it's time. This techno dance tune uplifts young people and hints at the great things to come for a blossoming musical force. The young Deborah Gibson is electric...she's exciting...she's here to stay!

Such a pitty, this is good music if you don't like it prove you are better or leave your comments to yourself. It is easy positive listening smooth flowing nothing harsh. Debbie's concepts are wonderful she is a great inspirational person, someone who is capable of understanding certain concepts without being negative, I wish could meet a girl as cute and as understanding as her, but there is not really any chance of that now is there, well not in this state (sigh) I wish this was the 80's instead of the 90's. All of her early work is excellent, her later stuff his a bit more off-ballence though.

Walking around in my acid washed jeans with the neon socks trying to find an album that my mother would let me have and there it was... Maybe I shouldn't admit this but even now 10 years later I still have this cd and still listen to it. Say what you want but Debbie wrote and/or produced everything that she did, whjat did you do when you were 16?. The best songs on the cd are Lost in your eyes and we could be together, but there really aren;t any songs that I would skip atleast in the first listen. So what if she was the Brittney of the 80's. Debbie has alot more talent then Britt, ever will.

My mom bought me this tape in 1989 for my tenth birthday, and 10 years later I still love it! Everytime I listen to this or Out of the Blue, I'm transported to my elementary school years. Now I jack up the volume when this tape is on while I do housework. My fave cuts are "Electric Youth", "Who Loves Ya Baby", "Love In Disguise" and the lovely ballad, "Shades of the Past".

Debbie Gibson is truly one of the greatest stars of the 80's. The album "Electric Youth" one of her best. I miss her, and wish she would make more music and share her talent with the world. She shaped my youth!

11 October 1989 set a major precedent for me. That evening, at the auditorium at NMSU, I went to my first ever concert, and it was Deborah Gibson, then Debbie, on her Electric Youth tour. A pair of British twins, Bros, known for their hit "I Quit" opened for her. Miss Gibson performed many songs from Electric Youth and Out Of The Blue, despite the fact she had a cold, and it was still an exciting experience.

From listening to "Who Loves Ya Baby", I don't think Kojak sued her. Seriously though, the produced pop sound of synths, drums, and keyboards is tighter and full of more catchy hooks on verses and choruses.

One of the ballads I never got tired of, the #1 single "Lost In Your Eyes" proved the Debster could top her previous ballad "Foolish Beat." Her voice seems more vital as well, and as the song sports bursts of string-synths, it was an easy chart-topper.

The next two songs I seem to link together because of their similar upbeat rhythm and tempo. "Love In Disguise" and "Helplessly In Love." If the DJ accidentally put the disc on these songs, they could've been good radio-played tracks. The same holds true for "Should've Been The One."

An outstanding non-single ballad is "Silent Speaks (A Thousand Words)", where the flute solo gives the melody a medieval tinge. The psychologically crushing effects of silence opposed to a verbal putdown, i.e. when love grows cold, is explored here.

What really gets my goat is that the explosive title track did not reach the same heights as "Lost In Your Eyes" as it deserved to. I attribute that to an alternate radio version that paled beside the original LP version. This seems to be a call to those of earlier generations to put stock in the potential of youth. After all, look where she ended up. The best upbeat song here.

"No More Rhyme" is my favourite soft song here, sporting the same sad and melodic piano and what sets it apart from "Lost In Your Eyes". Parts of the chorus are sadly prophetic, as it relates to her career and album sales after EY: "I've always felt the rhythm/what happens when there's no more rhyme?" Another single that deserved to do better. The acoustic mix of this is just as heartfelt, and the only difference here is the guitar following the bridge instead of the sax solo.

"We Could Be Together" rivals Electric Youth in its positivity and optimism. Giving up security for doing the title? Gutsy, but after hearing "If you said 'jump' I'd say 'how high'?"/If you said 'run!' I'd run and fly," I figured she'd make it. The campfire mix of this song is more stripped down, sporting only a strumming guitar. Hmm, if Deborah wants to do now what Heart did to their old synth-era hits a la The Road Home, maybe she should incorporate the campfire mix on all her old hits.

The ballad "Shades of The Past" embodies making a strong firm choice, black or white, and forgetting the shades of grey. Nothing radio-worthy, but still worth listening to.

What really gets me and what probably would get Ms. Gibson is that in the 1990's, she became the queen of the bargain bins at record stores, when they still had those cardboard long boxes, and I recall seeing tons of Electric Youth, Anything Is Possible, and Body Mind Soul. Which is too bad, because some of the songwriting shows a higher degree of maturity on the ballads, i.e. "No More Rhyme", "Silence Speaks A Thousand Words", and "Shades Of the Past" and the energy level goes up a notch, reaching its zenith in the title track. Not only that but Ms. Gibson produced many of the tracks solo, occasionally sharing co-producing credits with Fred Zarr, who did Out Of The Blue. Electric youth indeed! And thanks to Ms. Gibson for a great concert experience 14 years after the fact!

This is by far Debbie Gibson's best album. All of her work is fantastic, but this album has everything that you need. For those days when you are feeling great and want an unbeat song to sing along with to those days when you're down in the dumps about a relationship gone bad, this album has it all. The cover is great too. I remember when this album first came out I bought about 4 of those hats in different colors. What a fashion statement, huh? If you like peppy, poppy perfection, then this is the album for you. It's great for kids and adults alike. A delightful family listenting experience.

Before Tori, Sarah, Alanis etc, there was Debbie Gibson. Some would remember her "tussles" with Tiffany for the title of teenage pop queen. One thing though, this gal could really write, sing, play and produce. "Electric Youth" proves that her previous album was no fluke. From the slightly experimental instrumentation of the title track, to the ballad sweetness of "Lost in Your Eyes," to the campfire favorite "We Could Be Together," this album plods along with equal measures of consistency and surprise. That makes her on the few to be really deserving of idol status.

Debbie Gibsons second effort into the pop arena came out in 1989 entitled "Electric Youth".

Though the CD went triple platinum here in the states like "Out of the Blue", it was the onset of her singles becoming less than hits.

Gibson reached her peak into the pop world with the first cut on the album entitled "Lost In Your Eyes" which incidentally became Gibsons last #1 and Top Ten hit. She debut in the Top 40 with "Lost In Your Eyes" making it her highest debuting chart single ever, this was the beginning of the end.

Gibsons second single "Electric Youth" stalled at No.11, then came "No More Rhyme" which fared worse stalling at No. 19. Then the 4th single "We Could Be Together" failed at No. 71.

Gibsons debut album "Out of the Blue" was much stronger than "Electric Youth",...in my opinion her label rushed Gibson to do a 2nd album, and it shows. Though a good album, not strong with the hooks and melodies of "Out of the Blue".

Atlantic her old label only cared about making quick money off of Gibson knowing her star would soon fade in the Billboard Pop Chart arena.

"Electric Youth" the album is good the strongest cuts by far are the first 3 singles released from the album along with "Over the Wall" and "Shades of the Past" - the later should of been the 4th single instead of the campy "We Could Be Together".

The album as a whole was very mundane with middle of the road to nowhere songs as "Love In Disquise", "Who Loves Ya Baby" and "Silence Speaks A Thousand Words". These are by no means weak songs just middle of the road songs which lacked the hooks of "Only In My Dreams", "Shake Your Love", "Out of the Blue", "Staying Together" and even "Fallen Angel" which should of been released as a single.

"Electric Youth" was just a middle of the road album that luckily kept Gibson on top a little longer.

Today Gibson still has a flourishing pop career with her latest installment entitled "MYOB" which came out 3/2001, which unfortunately radio is not grasping, probably due to her previous Debbie years. Otherwise it is her best album to date with R & B influences, strong ballads, and a Sade-ish side with vocals in top form, besides her latest pop efforts Gibson is having a growing broadway career with her latest efforts starring in "Gypsy" with Betty Buckley and "Cinderella" with Eartha Kitt.

Deborah Gibson is the pop star that keeps on giving, as for "Electric Youth" it is fair pop. I say either go "Out of the Blue" or for the new milennium check out the new hot Gibson style with "MYOB".