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Monday, July 23, 2007
Back in 1988 in the
Electric Youth was preceded by the number one single Lost In Your Eyes, another piano fuelled ballad that I gave to my then girlfriend Jenny Jones (not that one!) on valentines day. Oh how things have changed since then... For the longest time, this was my favourite song, although (despite 4 British top 20 hits from OOTB) it only made number 34 on the British Charts. The album also topped the
And I was there! Bros in 2 Summer was the Bros concert to be at, although I was only there for Debs support slot where she premiered 2 songs from the still in gestation musical Skirts. Live fave We Could Be Together made 22 in
While waiting for the 3rd album to be released, Debs recorded 2 songs for the Wonder Years tv show soundtrack - a cover (her first one) of In The Still of The Night and the lilting acoustic throwback Come Home, which still makes me want to curl up with a mug of cocoa to this day...
By the time Anything Is Possible was released in late 1990, the pop market had changed and was leaning towards the dance-pop of Paula Abdul and Janet Jackson or the emerging grunge scene. The title track however, was another
With worldwide sales of "only" 1 million for AIP, Atlantic were in panic mode and paired debs up with various writers for her fourth opus Body Mind Soul which followed a stint on Broadway in 1992 playing Eponine in Les Miserables to critical acclaim. For me, Deb produces her best work on her own and therefore BMS is not her strongest entry in the cannon. There were no top forty hits from it, although 4 singles were released. The one that garnered most attention was a sexed up Debs singing about how to Shock Your Mama with the most brilliant rap this side of Madonna’s American Life (which i adore).... but it was too little too late and Debs Atlantic career was over :( It’s too bad, because the album had some gems on it, including the achingly gorgeous Goodbye.
Sadly, a definitive Greatest Hits from this era was not released, but i made my own and the track listing is below with an unreleased track making up the new material - a gorgeous Japanese only b side that shows she has an ear for a lovely melody and great romantic lyrics.
- Only In My Dreams
- Shake Your Love
- Out Of The Blue
- Foolish Beat
- Lost In Your Eyes
- Electric Youth
- No More Rhyme
- We Could Be Together
- Anything Is Possible
- This So Called Miracle
- One Hand One Heart
- One Step Ahead
- Losin Myself
- Shock Your Mama
- Free Me
- How Can This Be
- The Most Beautiful Love Song
When
Well after leaving Atlantic records following the lack of success of the Body Mind Soul pop album, Deborah signed with SBK records and released the most mature sounding and melodic album of her career. Think With Your Heart was a collection of mainly ballad tracks - all sung with deep emotion and high on quality vocal, lush production values and restraint when and wherever necessary. Title track For Better or Worse deserved to be sung at wedding and anniversaries around the globe as it detailed how love conquers all and how your loved one can indeed be your world. Didn't Have The Heart was equally as beautiful and detailed how sometimes trying in a relationship can just be trying too hard while the title track was as close to a Disney ballad as anything Deborah has sung. Over the years, Deb has sung a number of songs that have inadvertantly become gay anthems for her fans, but none more so than You Don't Have To See - a plainative plea for people to accept the lover for who and what they are, with an effective yet understated use of gospel singers, everything about this song is just sublime. There weren't many outtakes circulating from this time, though another Disney-esque Christmas song Take Me Home For Christmas was demo'd and doing the rounds. Sadly
If Deborah was Kylie, then MYOB would have been her Light Years – the most out and out glorious pop record of her career. Prior to that however, was one of the most accomplished releases of her career. Finding herself without a record contract, Ms Gibson went all Ms Independent and released her album Deborah (called Moonchild in some territories) which, while not as "pop" as her next project, was certainly an accomplished set of adult contemporary tunes that was the perfect stepping stone between the ballad heavy Think With Your Heart project and the more up to date pop sensibilities of MYOB. Lead off single Only Wordswas one of several perky pop tunes that reminded us all of the 80s before it was trendy to be reminded of the 80s. Mid tempo grooves like Moonchild and Nobody's You actually dripped with pop quality goodness and again ballads were her strong point with gorgeous tracks like the understated Naturally and the "same script different cast" of the pop world Cry Tonight- which if duetted with a man would make a great gay anthem! The album had different bonus tracks depending on where in the world you bought it. In the
With the new millennium, came a new attitude for Deborah and she stopped trying to figure out what the pop world wanted and just get on and do her thing. First out the box was a piano only with vocal accompaniment track written especially for those new year feelings called With All My Heart. Certainly one of Deborah's most stunning vocals to date, it was a fan club only release that would do just fine chart wise if farmed out to Leona Lewis or someone of her "ilk"… Also floating around at this point was a charity track called Right on Time, another tender ballad that showcased Deborah's vocal capabilities and pure pop voice. Around April 2000, the album (at this point untitled) was tentatively mooted as on the way and You Belong To Me, a perky if somewhat tinny pop song circulated as first single. After two strong ballads, this was a little bit of a let down, so it's no surprise that it was quickly forgotten and the much sturdier poptastic What You Wantreleased as the first single proper. (B)rimming with a chunky chorus, pop beats and a little bit of sassy attitude it was the ideal song for Debs to crack the British pop charts with (particularly as pop was at a peak with Kylie, S Club and Steps all dominating the charts). Even the b-side (Comes Right Back) was a stand out gently strumming acoustic mid tempo romp. However, the real joy was to come when MYOB was released as the title track from the album. Written and produced by the Alessi Brothers, how this song wasn't topping the charts for weeks continues success in later years, the song took a playground chant and took it into a gloriously dark disco influenced journey of a tale of love spurned, jealousy, gossip and mistrust. And the to keep me awake at night. Utilising gimmicks that would give Gwen her dance remixes were pretty spectacular too – particularly as vocals were re-recorded to match the mood of the remix, rather than just cutting them in after. Then in March 2001, the album dropped and was an instant pop classic for me, along side Light Years, Like A Prayer and Music Box. 3rd single – Your Secret – was another dark dance stomper (being tired of being the other woman has never sounded so frug-worthy), but overshadowed by other tunes on the album. Down That Road was another great ballad, while The One was co-written with Chynna Phillips and featured a soaring vocal on an almost midtempo number. In Blue and Jaded saw Deborah embrace a more jazz influenced sound, while a remake of Knock Three Times with Tony Orlando was a lot of fun, but completely unnecessary considering the quality of the rest of the disc. Around November 2001, Deborah re-recorded a track from a musical about Zorro she had been in entitled What Makes A Hero and sang it live at a benefit for those affected by the twin towers disaster. Even in it's original form, it's a beautiful tale of the ordinary among us doing extraordinary things. 2002 dawned and saw an unofficial remix of album track Wishing You Were Hereturned from a soothing AC type tune into a pulsating dance anthem to great effect. And when two futher demos from this period appeared on Memory Line (Any Other Man and the gorgeous ballad Run To Her echoing the more sombre themes of Your Secret), it was clear that this overlooked cd saw Deborah at the top of her pop game.
When Coloured Lights was released late in 2003 – an album of broadway tunes done with a pop sensibility, I was in near nirvana! Mixing well known tunes with more obscure songs was a wise move and contributed to a well rounded set of ballads, jaunty pop and dramatic showstoppers. Had tracks been released as singles from this set, I would have gone for On My Own(Les Mis) as the haunting Christmas single, followed quickly by I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love (The Boy From Oz) just in time for valentines day. And then check out the sex and the city-esque intro to pop gem Raise The Roof(The Wild Party) – a track that could have been huge with a few scissor sisters remixes. And she was then perfectly placed to host BBC's Sound Of Musicals experiment. But we got some pregnant woman instead. Oh well. Still, this is a great album to check out – Deb even has her own song "sex" on it from her long in production musical Skirts.
It's been 3 years since her last studio album was released, but in that time Deborah has been as productive as ever, and produced some great pop songs that deserve to be collected up and acknowledged for the talent they show. The new music started flowing in December 2004, when Deborah released the sublime festive ballad Christmas Without You as part of a compilation cd. Quite rightly, as with all Deb's ballads it is heavy on melody and intrinsically beautiful in it's use of piano and sweet vocal. It was a perfect lead in to 2005, which was a busy year for fans. Not only were there two cds rounding up unreleased demos (Memory Lane 1&2 featuring some classic tunes such as Cinderella theme Some People and a number of songs deemed not good enough by Atlantic for the Body Mind Soul album in 1993 that far outshine much of the material eventually put on it…), there was a fan club day in Florida which I attended and was rather brillo, the naked but tasteful Playboy spread and of course the accompanying single Naked. This track was a great slice of guitar spangled pop that would have easily held it's own upside songs that Daniel Powter and Kelly Clarkson were releasing at the time. It was at this time that Rich Girl (a cover of the Hall & Oates song way before Nelly Furtado got the idea) was touted as a second single and prelude to an album, but sadly that has yet to materialise. 2006 saw Deborah back on tv lasting a few episodes into Skating On Ice and touring with the O'Neill Brothers, with whom she released a single Someone You Love – another piano and strings ballad that had some elegant and uplifting lyrics and a timeless chorus. Just beautiful. Sadly, her second collaboration of the year – with Jordan Knight on Say Goodbye – wasn’t written by her, though did give her a minor AC smash, for which we should be grateful. And 2007 sees rumours of an album once more as 3 new songs have been released to fans – Sounds Like Love is a mid tempo ballad a la Irreplaceable or We Belong Together and is the most contemporary thing Deb has done in a while. Famous is a slightly rocking tune berating those who are famous for the sake of being famous. And Rich Girl – I seem to remember the version played at the fan day being slightly rockier and dancier, though I am completely enjoying the pure pop interpretation of this version. Just lovely.
BUY THE MUSIC:
Anything is Possible/Body Mind Soul
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