Deborah Gibson ~ Already Gone: I spent an inordinate amount of time yesterday glued to the tinternet waiting for the new Deborah Gibson single to "drop". Of course, then John pointed out that California was a good 7 hours behind me so they were sleeping while I was feverishly anticipating and it eventually got uploaded sometime last night. While You Were Sleeping (which - movie fact fans - is one of my fave movies ever). Obviously I am a huge fan of LaGib and simply cannot wait for a new album any longer. This track is a "teaser" rather than the first single proper from her forthcoming cd of original material (excluding demo albums, this will be her first album of original tunes since MYOB in 2001!!) The song itself is an uptempo gentle rocker about splitting up, and being the person brave enough to do that. Positioning itself firmly in the femi-rock mode of Pink and Kelly Clarkson, the guitar riff is fairly prominent throughout the song with a lot less piano than I'm used to from Ms Gibson. However, the melody is firmly delivered through Deborah's impassioned vocal, particularly in the fist thrusting chorus - perfect motorway driving music! I particularly love the line "ignore the signs, the neon is blinding my eyes" which may be my favourite lyric of hers since "hard to go on, it's like waiting for/the other shoe to drop, i'll never stop believing in you" (No More Rhyme, 1989). Oh, also get ready for a totally 80s guitar solo in the middle 8 which is custom made for air guitar/guitar hero (whichever your preference is nowadays). Overall, it's an interesting direction for Deborah and if radio could get over their prejudices, this would be a perfect fit at top 40 radio and a lovely spring hit as the weather gets warmer and the tops come down.
I think Deborah is vastly underrated as a songwriter and performer, and this track not only works in it's current format, but would also be perfect in an acoustic mix. This would probably highlight the country "twang" in the song and give it a more gentle feel which would then maybe accentuate the really quite sad lyrical content. Perhaps that is forthcoming? It also follows on nicely from her last internet only song Famous, which had a sprinkling of fuzzy guitar throughout and is also available as a free download at the link below). A video to accompany the track should be up on Wednesday, and i'll add it into the post then :) Now don't be shy everyone - you can't wait can you? :P
EDIT (10 Hours later) ~ oh! What's occuring....?! I've listened to the track now a number of times and have some additional thoughts. I'm not disappointed, but I am a little bit deflated - i appreciate it's not a single release, but a teaser for the album, yet I was expecting something that resonated more with me. It's the vocal in the chorus that gets me most - perhaps I'm not used to Deb singing so rawk-high like that and it grates a little. I still think it's a terrific tune, but would have prefered a different version of it that let the melody shine a little more.
LINKS:
MP3 DOWNLOAD - for Already Gone and her 2007 track Famous at Reverbnation
MYSPACE - preview the song first on Deborah's myspace page
FIZZYPOP - my 2007 interview with Deb and review of Famous
Deborah Gibson ~ Already Gone: I spent an inordinate amount of time yesterday glued to the tinternet waiting for the new Deborah Gibson single to "drop". Of course, then John pointed out that California was a good 7 hours behind me so they were sleeping while I was feverishly anticipating and it eventually got uploaded sometime last night. While You Were Sleeping (which - movie fact fans - is one of my fave movies ever). Obviously I am a huge fan of LaGib and simply cannot wait for a new album any longer. This track is a "teaser" rather than the first single proper from her forthcoming cd of original material (excluding demo albums, this will be her first album of original tunes since MYOB in 2001!!) The song itself is an uptempo gentle rocker about splitting up, and being the person brave enough to do that. Positioning itself firmly in the femi-rock mode of Pink and Kelly Clarkson, the guitar riff is fairly prominent throughout the song with a lot less piano than I'm used to from Ms Gibson. However, the melody is firmly delivered through Deborah's impassioned vocal, particularly in the fist thrusting chorus - perfect motorway driving music! I particularly love the line "ignore the signs, the neon is blinding my eyes" which may be my favourite lyric of hers since "hard to go on, it's like waiting for/the other shoe to drop, i'll never stop believing in you" (No More Rhyme, 1989). Oh, also get ready for a totally 80s guitar solo in the middle 8 which is custom made for air guitar/guitar hero (whichever your preference is nowadays). Overall, it's an interesting direction for Deborah and if radio could get over their prejudices, this would be a perfect fit at top 40 radio and a lovely spring hit as the weather gets warmer and the tops come down.
