Deborah Harry - Necessary Evil
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CD Details
Artist: Deborah HarryEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2007-10-09
Music Label: Eleven Seven Music
Soundtracks:
- Two Times Blue
- School for Scandal
- If I Had You
- Deep End
- Love with Vengeance
- Necessary Evil
- Charm Redux
- You're Too Hot
- Dirty and Deep
- What is Love
- Whiteout
- Needless to Say
- Heat of the Moment
- Charm Alarm
- Jen Jen
- Naked Eye
- Paradise
Music reviews of Necessary Evil
Music Review: One Of Rock's Elder Stateswomen Proves She's A "Charm Alarm" Chameleon
Rating: 4 Stars
I have to be honest...I hated this album after my first couple of listens! It just struck me as a 60+ ex-diva desperately grasping at any genre that might garner her some radio airplay or a few sales. In fact, I was originally going to title this review A Lot Of UnNECESSARY EVIL! Then something happened...with each successive listen, the disc began to grow on me more and more. The grooves were real, the vocals strong. And that's when it really hit me....Deborah Harry is still a contender, with NECESSARY EVIL being her strongest release (by far!) since she and her bandmates in Blondie burst back onto the music scene in the late 1990's. Oh, sure, there are some moments that are a bit over the top, but, overall, this is one strong disc. Things open up with the shimmering "Two Times Blue." Anchored by a propulsive pop beat, Harry's vocal is equal parts sassy and sweet. A nice way to kick things off, as well as a wise choice for the first single. "School For Scandal" has some of that early Blondie New Wave sneer to it that's still fun after all these years. This could very well be a commentary on the current state of the music industry....whatever the case, Harry's not happy about something, and she lets us know just that. Up next is the gorgeous "If I Had You", one of the loveliest ballads Harry's ever recorded. Among delicate acoustic guitars, atmospheric strings and gentle percussion, Harry lays down a vocal that is full-bodied and lush. Toss in a soaring chorus and strong lyrics ("After all this time I still can't remember/Things that I've forgotten to say/And every time I see you the words don't come out right/It's just a stupid game that I play") and you have one of EVIL's spotlight tracks. "Deep End" has a nice, hypnotic vibe to it, while "Love With A Vengeance" is sultry and sly. The album's title track is another winner...the perfect blend of a killer arrangement, smart vocal and clever lyrics ("When I beat up Miss Fortune, told her to get out/I sold the last things on eBay/I was without doubt caught between that hard place/In over my head/Chewing off something in a trap/Quicksand in my bed"). "Charm Redux" is the first of three mostly instrumental snippets, and definitely the weakest by far, not really adding anything to the overall feel or flow of the disc. "You're Too Hot" is one of the tracks that I did a MAJOR about-face on....there's no denying that there's really nothing to the song at all, but there's just something mesmerizing about it! From the chanting little girl-esque intro to the almost tribal grunting (not to mention the killer sax solo!), the song just sucks you in! Yes, I think it would have benefited from at least a few more additional lyrics, but even as it is, this is one of N.E.'s most fun moments. "Dirty And Deep" is probably the number one track that still doesn't work for me.....supposedly a tribute to Lil Kim, it seems forced and trite. The lyrics are silly at best, while the music's nothing that hasn't been done before. "What Is Love" is another lovely ballad that allows Harry's vocals to just ooze out of the speakers like warm honey. Defeated, hopeful, unsure, wounded...Harry conveys it all, asking us "What is love, what is love?/Yesterday I knew what it was/What is love, what is love?" Haunting and powerful, it's another magical moment on the album. Things take a 180 degree turn with "Whiteout." All sass and attitude, this sharp-edged pop punker is full of frantic energy....this cut would have had the kids pogoing across the room 30 years ago! Thing is, it still could, if the right DJ got ahold of it! "Rip her to shreds", indeed! Things settle down again for "Needless To Say", another sumptuous ballad. Unlike the earlier ballads on the disc, "Needless To Say" isn't just pretty....it's serene. There's a soothing quality to the track that's undeniable, featuring one of Harry's best vocals to date. A real winner! "Heat Of The Moment" is the second snippet....while not really vital, there is a sultry, seductive quality to it that is a nice little bridge between cuts. "Charm Alarm" is a blistering dance number, and another favorite of mine. Done as a duet with Miss Guy, I was first caught by his reading of the lyrics "Well, you're a dainty jewel hooked on a chain/A souvenir of some other time", but now I think the true core of the song is Harry's turn on the lines "What we don't remember/Just didn't happen." Either way, this is a club hit waiting to happen! Next up is "Jen Jen", a little ditty that's nothing more than a tribal chant. Written and produced by ex-lover and Blondie bandmate Chris Stein, I really wish Stein had fleshed the song out a bit more and given Harry something to work with.....the cut's fun, but it could've been a blast! "Naked Eye" is another fave....buoyed by a pulsating bassline and lilting vocal, Harry comes across as both coy and brassy. The grooves just don't let up, and this is the sort of cut you keep hitting REPLAY on! Sweet! Things wrap up with the jazzy "Paradise", a so-so track that neither adds nor detracts to the overall feel of the album. So, in closing...I once again have to bow down to the chameleon qualities of Deborah Harry, as well as to the many varied charms of NECESSARY EVIL. This one's a keeper! (As with all my reviews, I'm docking the disc half a star for not including the lyrics. Also, try to listen to the album thru headphones at some point or other....it's the only way to pick up a lot of the subtle production nuances!).
Description of Necessary Evil
Following the ending of Blondie's second life as a recording and touring outfit, and nearly a decade and a half after her last solo record, Debbie Harry, at the age of 62, makes a surprisingly feisty and invigorating return to form on the spunky Necessary Evil. Recorded with songwriting and production assistance from the likes of longtime collaborator Chris Stein and young production team Super Buddha, this album features echoes of early Blondie's ironic updating of classic '60s pop (the Phil Spector-like "Two Times Blue" shows where Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse got many of their ideas) mixed with contemporary Hip Hop and Electro Rock influences. Highlights include the lascivious "Dirty and Deep" and the lovely ballad "If I Had You," a worthy successor to Blondie's glorious love song "In the Flesh." At an age when many of Harry's contemporaries, such as Elvis Costello or Nick Lowe, are working in musical styles that have no connection to the modern Pop marketplace, Debbie Harry proves that it's possible to rock the mainstream at any age.Anyone hoping for the 62-year-old Debbie Harry to sit up and act her age will be sorely disappointed by the former Blondie vixen's sixth solo album (and first in 14 years). Viscerally contemporary, Necessary Evil harnesses youthful exuberance from across the charts, and Harry and her team of producers and songwriting partners do radio-ready rock, pop, and soul-lite with à la mode savvy to spare. Big-time sing-alongs ("Two Times Blue," "You're Too Hot") rub elbows with spare, distorted guitar lines piled in arena-sized stacks ("Love with Vengeance," "Charm Redux," and the especially vivacious "Whiteout"). "The Devil's dick is hard to handle," Harry growls in "School for Scandal," encapsulating the attitude of shameless defiance coursing through this and other lean, mean, up-tempo numbers like the half-rapped, full-lipped "Dirty and Deep." Between the reversed hip-hop break bisecting "Charm Alarm," the title track's stolen riff from Rage Against the Machine's "Know Your Enemy," and Harry's bits of Internet imagery, this album won't dare let go of its of-the-moment moxie. Gumdrops like the flaccid "What Is Love" and closer "Paradise" are irrevocable but few; in all, the occasional slice of tripe strangely sweetens Harry's otherwise surprising longevity, ready to rock and salty as ever. --Jason Kirk
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