From the Entertaiment Today (April 1997)

Deborah Gibson/The Hutchinsons HOB April 2 by Jim Freek

Miss Gibson's first LA appearance since 1995 (also at the House Of Blues) was a much more spectacular affair than her previous visit. Since her last real "tour", half a decade ago, she's only made sporadic public appearances, concentrating more on a successful theater career and the occasional album release.

Appearing onstage with, dig this, a see-through shirt (!) she started with a handful of songs from her latest album, "Deborah", strapping on an acoustic guitar for the album's standout track "Moonchild." Also worth mentioning was her talented nine piece band that included 2 drummers (clearly an influence of both the Grateful Dead and Gary Glitter) and long-time guitarist Carlos Alomar, by far the coolest person in the building on this night (I still don't see the connection between Deb and ex-David Bowie musicians -- she's also worked with Bowie's 70s mainman, producer Tony Visconti). The well-paced set included songs from all phases of her career, yet sadly missing were any numbers from 1992's underrated "Body, Mind, Soul," a richly produced treasure of pseudo-soul dance tracks and elegant ballads. After asking the crowd "Do you wanna hear an oldie?", she performed a splendid version of her first ballad, "Foolish Beat". Impressive reworkings of her two earliest hits from the "Out of the Blue" album brought the biggest approval from the crowd: a world-beat influenced version of "Only In My Dreams", and a funked-up "Shake Your Love" that poked fun at the current disco renaissance by incorporating "Shake Your Booty" and "Shake Your Groove Thang" into the intro. After a horde of dedicated fans cried out for "Electric Youth", she initially declined the request, answering back with "it's stupid for me to still do that song; besides, the band doesn't know it." The fans were rewarded though, with a brief a cappella snippet of the generational anthem. Deborah's finest talent, though, is in writing stirring melodies, and two of her most tender ballads, "One Hand, One Heart" and "For Better Or Worse" (from 1995's "Think With Your Heart" album) were dutifully performed tonight.

With the arrival of the imminent show biz numbers from Funny Girl, Les Miz, Grease, and West Side Story, the show took on a bit of a Vegas feel. Deborah's second costume change of the evening saw her wrapped in a sultry, dark blue dress, and highlights of this segment were her renditions of "Don't Rain On My Parade" and a pair of songs from Grease, including the theme song which was given a fiery reading by one of her background vocalists. A rewarding encore saw Deb appearing in costume #3, a backless black shirt, while performing "We Could Be Together" in an acoustic campfire setting -- a sparkling, pure pop classic from the Electric Youth album in a bare, guitar/vocals arrangement that was truly spectacular. Conspicuously absent from the highly entertaining set was the much anticipated "Lost In Your Eyes", a song that was actually spotted on the set list. Maybe the over-rambunctious crowd had gotten to her and she decided to turn in early, or perhaps she thought that playing past midnight on a school night would tarnish her image.

The Hutchinsons' opening set of crunchy and catchy hard pop went over surprisingly well, considering that most of the crowd on hand probably never listened to anything harder than Winger. Free copies of the band's debut CD "Plastic Fruit And Popcorn" quickly vanished from the concession table, but less popular were the Hutchinsons condoms that many kids thought were buttons.

From Newsday (April 1997)

Gibson Grows Up; Into What, Exactly?
By Marc Ferris. Marc Ferris is a free-lance writer.

DEBORAH GIBSON. The Merrick native sings the gamut, from country to disco to show tunes. Seen Friday night at Westbury Music Fair.

IT'S NEVER EASY to outrun one's history, but Deborah Gibson is trying to shed her teenybopper image and conquer a myriad of musical genres.

Gibson brims with boundless energy and unbridled ambition, which sometimes backfire. Though she deserves respect for her grit and resilience, Gibson's homecoming at Westbury Music Fair on Friday night served as a reminder that the past casts long shadows.

Loose and confident, Gibson bounded onstage wearing knee-high black boots, a leather miniskirt and a see-through top with bra brazenly bared. Yet she displayed the wholesome playfulness of a cheerleader and the earnest effervescence of an aerobics instructor. After a round of jokes about "getting up there" at age 26, she seemed startled to find her former social studies teacher sitting in the front row.

The evening's first set mixed new numbers with revamped versions of old hits. Gibson's exuberance peaked when she performed peppy new pop tunes with anthemic choruses, like "Moonchild" and "Only Words." She is also fond of syrupy ballads, including "Naturally" and "I Will Let You Go," also from her latest release.

Gibson told of her affinity for country music, moreover, and engaged a backup singer to help with the duet "Cry Tonight." Underscoring the song's pathos, Gibson contorted her face in mock pain throughout the number.

Subtlety is not her specialty, it seems. Gibson rapped out an introduction to her first hit, "Only in My Dreams," for instance, which featured Conrad Korsch's monster bass line. She also stopped her disco medley cold after 30 seconds and refused to sing another word until everyone in the audience stood up to shake their groove things.

At the set's midway point, moreover, Gibson mentioned that the first concert she ever attended was a Liberace gig in this very hall. With that, she peeled off the piano cover to reveal the flamboyant one's garish, mirror-speckled Baldwin and gushed that she had "come full circle."

For the show's Broadway segment, Gibson reprised some of the roles she has played over the years - such as Eponine from "Les Miserables" and Fanny Brice from "Funny Girl" - and decked the stage with a formal table setting ornamented by faux antique furniture. In the midst of this, Liberace's gaudy instrument reflected the spotlights like a deformed mirror ball.

Gibson's once-shrill voice has mellowed over the years. During subdued moments, she warmly embraced melody lines. Her rendition of the "Les Mis" standard "On My Own" elicited a standing ovation. During song buildups, however, she tended to force notes that hovered beyond her reach and muscled her way through the repertoire, instead of taking care to craft more memorable interpretations.

In one frenetic evening, which she referred to as "old home night," Deborah Gibson went from dance hall diva to pop balladeer to leading lady, and detoured into country, rap and pseudo-gospel.

Though she has forged a respectable career that traces its roots back to her parents' garage in Merrick, Gibson's unharnessed drive sometimes leads her to overreach.

From the USC Daily Trojan (April 8, 1997)

Gibson keeps pop sound but wins fans

By David Hildebrand
Contributing Writer

You have to give Debbie--oh, I mean "Deborah"--some credit.

When she strutted out onto the House of Blues stage last Wednesday night, her position was undeniably awkward: fans want to hear her melodramatic and wonderfully nave drum machine-programmed hits from the late-'80s; her critics want to see some kind of artistic growth--some kind of upstate-New York version of Alanis Morissette. The question of the evening for this writer: "Would she sell out and become another `90s Sheryl Crow/Jewel wannabe?" Even though she looked like a Friends clone with her a semi-see-through, midsection-revealing top, the answer was a resounding "No."

She began with some selections from her new independent release, Deborah. The feel is still light and poppy; ironically, she is something of a rebel these days by refusing to submit to the grungy decadence of current pop music. In concert, the experience of hearing Debbie is almost surreal, resulting in a kind of `80s timewarp minus the drum machine programs and synth strings. Naysayers cackled and giggled for a while, but her devoted fans in the front were able to bear with her for the opening minutes.

She won over most everyone in the house when she broke into some of her older material, including an ultra-slowed down, over-the-top rendition of "Foolish Beat" and a kind of salsa-ized "Only In My Dreams." After enduring shouts of "Electric Youth! Electric Youth!" for over 20 minutes, Deborah succumbed and treated her die-hard fans with an acoustic verse and chorus. She really showed her chops by delivering some self-deprecating schtick before the song, "I feel so silly singing it. I mean, `Zappin it to ya?' What was I thinking?"

Probably not much. Many people forget that Gibson was only 16 when she wrote, produced and performed (quite a few instruments, I might add) her first album, Out of the Blue, so it is understandable that she wrote those kind of songs. Was she supposed to write about date rape? Angst, rot and decay? To this day, she is still the youngest person ever to write, produce and perform a #1 single--an achievement that helped make her a star even as it has blacklisted her as an `80s teen icon.

Face it, folks. She'll never be Trent Reznor and she does not want to be.

Understated vocals have never been a Deborah Gibson trademark, so a long section of blaring Broadway tunes including selections from "Grease" and "Les Miserables" charmed the audience. She even came through with some selections from "Funny Girl," the touring revival that was supposed to open this year with her in the starring role but for some reason failed to materialize. Whatever the status of the show, Gibson roared through the show's trademark "Don't Rain On My Parade" with the vim and vigor of an eager Broadway starlet.

To the delight of her fans and the moans of her critics, as long as she continues to hold on to her smiley chutzpah, Deborah Gibson's going to be "zappin' it to us" for a long, long time. B-

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