November 1989
Deborah Harry
Def, Dumb and Blonde
Sire/Reprise
After two tepid solo efforts, the seventies’ most coolly gorgeous, gorgeously cool woman is back to her bleached blondie roots. Most of Def, Dumb and Blonde has a sparkling pop sheen courtesy of Mike Chapman, our man in the producer’s seat with a can of Lemon Pledge and a feather duster.
Chapman, who twiddled the knobs when Blondie was slick and successful, helps make “Bike Boy” and “Comic Books” (two CD/cassette-only tracks) a pair of right little punk ravers, and “End of the Run” has that cheesy Blondie organ sound; it’s not Jimmy Destri playing, but you’d never guess. “Maybe for Sure” is sucked from the same pumping vein as “Union City Blue.” The album’s only tarnish comes from “I Want That Man” and “Kiss It Better,” two writing/producing contributions from Thompson Twins Alannah Currie and Tom Bailey. Deborah Harry – cooler than a popsicle in the North Pole at Christmas – deserves better than bland dreck written by some Australian sheila in a stupid hat and a guy guilty of multiple hairstyle violations. But the rest of Def, Dumb and Blonde puts Deborah Harry back on the Blondie beat, where she belongs.
Jane Garcia
