Debbie Harry - Koo Koo/Def, Dumb & Blonde

Debbie’s under-rated first and third solo albums back-to-back

Released in 1981 at the height of Blondie-mania, Koo Koo saw Harry and partner Chris Stein hook up with the untouchable Chic, defying commercial expectations to follow their creative noses. Maligned at the time (not least for its striking skewered-Debbie cover art by HR Giger), the album stands as a bold, individual statement, mixing the elegant Chic-style street-funk of first single Backfired with quirky gutter-pop and New York underground romps (while the time-stopping Now You Know I Know is one of the best ballads either party produced).

After Blondie imploded in 1982, Debbie spent four years nursing Stein through his nearfatal illness, returning with 1986’s Rockbird, then Def, Dumb & Blonde, which made the UK Top 20 when it was released in October 1989. Stein was still Debbie’s creative foil, the pair joined by former Blondie producer Mike Chapman on some tracks, though Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey produced the album’s hit, I Want That Man. Harry’s voice still resonates with street angel cool as the Blondie-style pop magic is rekindled, but it’s the spaced-but-stately ballads which have grown in stature, the beautifully-melancholic End Of The Run finding Debbie reflecting on her amazing life, of which these two albums are an undersung but vital part.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

BGO | BGOCD 869

Reviewed by Kris Needs
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