Deborah Harry - Necessary Evil
|
List Price: Our Price: $8.49 You Save: $3.49 (29%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.48 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Necessary Evil
Free Music Review: Very necessary!!
Hit: 4 Stars
"Necessary evil" is Blondie songstress Deborah Harry's fifth solo release in 26 years. Her first, the Chic produced "Koo koo" came out in 1981, followed by "Rockbird", "Def dumb and blonde", and "Debravation". As with most of its predecessors (she's dabbled in rap, reggae and jazz), the sonic palette on this is as diverse as ever, and rather difficult to get into immediately, but constant listening reveals all it's latent beauty.
Opening is the sunny upbeat lead off single "Two times blue" a-la "Maria" or much of seventies Blondie. "School for scandal" and "Deep end" are both edgier rockers with less sugar than the opening cut. Title track "Necessary evil" has a Jimmy Hendrix sounding riff (nicked though from Rage against the machine), with spoken lyrics.
"You're too hot" is a playful sounding rocker with repetitive yet catchy lyrics. "Down and dirty" is a bubbling sounding number with spoken vocals in lower register. "White out" is an upbeat punk rocker, very much in the vein of what Pink would do. "Love with a vengeance" (with its clap like effects and falsetto vocals) is a nice moody number.
We also get what can be described as psychedelic, largely instrumental interludes; "Charm redux", and the dreamy "Heat of the moment".
For ballads, we get the beautiful "What is love" (very catchy chorus), "If I had you", and the initially dull "Needless to say" which them transforms into a beautiful dreamy, echo-ey ending which more than makes up, in my opinion. Then there is the hypnotic and enchanting "Paradise", with lyrics from the perspective of a female suicide bomber no less.
I've been a fan of Blondie/Debbie/Deborah Harry, from their debut, including "The hunter" (which most didn't like, but I love) up till date, and it's exciting to see Ms Harry still as avant-garde as ever. Most of her contemporaries have been making "safe" sounding music (usually albums of covers), but not her.
"Necessary evil" is necessary for your collection.
Free Music Review: It's Debbie Harry....kneel down and worship.
Hit: 4 Stars
Debbie Harry's last solo release was 14 years ago. In that time she has toured with a jazz band, reformed with Blondie to international acclaim (her home country, the USA, being the least responsive), been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and finally seems to be getting the respect and admiration she deserves as both an artistic genius and a cultural icon. It is now common knowledge that many of today's most popular female stars, like Madonna, Gwen Stefani and Courtney Love were most likely lip-syching in the mirror to Blondie 45's with a hairbrush-microphone, and even pop-tarts like Paris Hilton, Hillary Duff, Pink, Ashlee Simpson and Lindsay Lohan admit to drawing on Debbie for everything from musical style to attitude to fashion sensibilty. A much more confident woman now than she was 14 years ago, you can hear the difference from her last release, with a strong commanding prescence in every track on "Necessary Evil". Starting off with the radio-friendly "Two Times Blue", the CD continually startles its listener with each track delving into new unexpected genres of music. Some of the tracks are good, some are bad and some are very, very strange. But the fact that she is releasing such a cool, youthful and artistic CD should be cause for you to bow down and kiss the floor Debbie has set her high-heeled feet on. She may be more confident, but she's still that same beautiful weirdo with the herky-jerky dance moves who appeared on "The Muppet Show" three decades ago.Free Music Review: Necessary Harry
Hit: 4 Stars
This is the first solo effort for Deborah Harry since she has become admired as an image and music icon. Her beauty remains as does her look crystalline voice, but the music depends on which track you play. The well-preserved Ms.Harry is more confident than ever and marks her classic presence that blends in with hip-hops beats of modern radio, transit club grooves, the rage of a punk statement or rock riff--all the diversity Harry seems to gravitate toward is visited on Necessary Evil. While a few moments come up spotty with slower tracks that almost sound too romantic to define Harry's artistic core, her attitude and persona are all over the place, plus she sounds as hip as any popular artist of today by virtue of owning the same cool charisma she did it with generations ago.Free Music Review: Not perfect but a welcome addition to the DHB library
Hit: 4 Stars
I'm a huge fan of Deborah Harry and Blondie, and I find it interesting how Debbie's solo work never impresses critics as much as Blondie's. I like both, but I think that musically and lyrically this album is as good as any of the the comeback Blondie albums.
That said, I have a fairly low tolerance for the slow, jazzy, sax-infused numbers, but Debbie's rapping is even better here than on the Blondie albums and overall she's in good vocal form. The sheer variety in music on this album pretty much guarantees that there is something for everyone.
Free Music Review: Very nice!
Hit: 4 Stars
I wasn't expecting much, but omigod this is a good album! One of the best full on rock albums that I've heard in a while.
The rock legends really have been delivering this year - Debbie Harry, Bruce, Joni Mitchell...