Debravation

Debravation is the fourth solo album by American singer Deborah Harry, released on July 19, 1993.

It was the final album Harry made whilst signed to the Chrysalis label, thus ending a partnership that began with her time as a member of Blondie in the '70's and had endured for over 15 years.

Background

Speaking of the album, Harry told Melody Maker in 1993, "The album I originally wanted to make was quite different from the one that came out in the end. There were lots of people involved in producing and arranging it and it became perhaps a bit too polished. It was supposed to be a lot more raw. It's come out kind of interesting, though."

Critical reception

In the UK, Chris Roberts of Melody Maker considered Debravation to be a "sensible attempt to consolidate fields ploughed" by Harry's previous album Def, Dumb & Blonde (1989), but also noted the lack of cohesion, calling it "something of a Jill of all trades – rock, pop, dance, rap etc". He felt the album's "great moments" were "as good as anything in the history of pop" and selected "Communion" as the album's "zenith", noting it boasts the "most irresistible chorus" since the Bee Gees' "Tragedy". He also praised "Stability", calling it the "Nineties kid sister" to Blondie's "Rapture", and "Strike Me Pink", with its "hovering 'Brite Side' haze". Stephen Dalton of NME described the album as a "saddening affair" on which Harry "too often seems to be imitating her imitators". He felt it is "poorly stocked with effortless techno gliders" such as the "svelte" "Lip Service" and "top-heavy with rock-funk chuggers" like the "middling, could-do-better first single", "I Can See Clearly". He noted that the "sweet pop-rap confection" "Stability" recalls Blondie's "Rapture", but added that the song, along with "a handful of New Wave guitar gushers" are "all stamped with a desperate longing for past glory", and that "even potentially oddball experiments like the William Gibson collaboration ["Dog Star Girl"] sound graceless and mechanical".