From Knight-Ridder Newspapers

Debbie Gibson
"Body Mind Soul"

* (one out of four stars)

The latest album by the onetime Electric Youth takes off like a fire engine from the station house. Then it splatters and breaks apart like an egg on a brick wall.

Credit for the takeoff goes to the sassy, agile "Love Or Money." With its infectious hook, jittery guitars and tight, quick-cut production, it reminds you of something Paula Abdul might do if Abdul could sing.

Blame for the splattering goes to the rest of the album. Not that it's bad - it's not. It's just bland, like tuna on white bread. Like a Perry Como special with Kenny Rogers and Lionel Richie. And it's not that Gibson doesn't try to raise a spark. She works hard to infuse "Shock Your Mama" with funky swagger. And "When I Say No" is an earnest if unfocused attempt to deal with a woman's right to say no to sex. Clearly, Gibson - who was America's sweetheart a few short seasons ago - is hot to shred the old teen- dream persona and establish herself in the adult marketplace.

But outside of "Love Or Money," her material is second-class and the production is lacking invention.

From Sassy (January 12, 1993)

DEBBIE GIBSON - BODY MIND SOUL (Atlantic) **

With so much trama in the world, who can muster up the energy to hate Debbie Gibson? Cloistered in her Long Island garage, a role model to nice suburban girls everywhere, she write her own songs and had a hand producing her own albums. A Tiffany she was not. But as the years passed, Deb got older, her fans moved on to the New Kids, bubble gum ceased to thrill her loins and a turn on Broadway in Les Miserables failed to jump-start her stalled career. Body Mind Soul is clearly an attempt to shake things up, to grow as an artist, if you will. The Gibber goes lunging for the Paula Abdul/Janet Jackson audience base ("Love or Money," a catchy dance tune) while also dabbling in rap (ouch), a more sexual vibe and a moment of Mariah Carey-esque warbling in her upper register ("Do You Have It In Your Heart?"). You got your song about racism ("Tear Down These Walls," set to a funky-yet-safe, techno-inflected beat) and one about date rape (When I Say No," a public service annoucement in which Deb puts a little growl in her voice). All this while trying not to alienate her old audience (Goodbye," a saccharine ballad, is vintage DG). In short, this album is a sincere effort to be all things to all people. And yeah, Deb has every right to try new stuff, but flailing at social issues and aping VH-1 artists smacks of desperation. Incidently, the overproduced song Deb raps is "Shock Your Mama." Only in her dreams.

From the Toronto Star (January 16, 1993)

Debbie Gibson Body Mind Soul (Atlantic):

Message songs about date rape, AIDS and racism. A rapper. A sax player. People using the word "funky" like they really mean it.

Li'l Debbie grows up? Not quite. Four albums in - this one's out Tuesday - the now 22-year-old pop diva is still wrapping her songs in a protective hug of teddy bears, smiley buttons and peace signs, despite the serious intent of some of them.

Case in point is "Shock Your Mama", her "very funky" tune about how she's not as squeaky clean as she seems - even if she did have print a love letter from mom and dad on her debut album. The rapping boyfriend she's heard sneaking around with is electronically censored: "Anyone who thinks we're movin' too fast/Tell the whole world they can kiss my (bleep!)"

But complaining about the wimpiness of Gibson's lyrics is like slagging the Care Bears for being cute.

Youthful dancers will find what they're looking for in songs like "Love Or Money" and "Free Me", while fans of both Gibson and Cathy Dennis will enjoy "Tear Down These Walls".

And people who actually listen to lyrics can be advised to stay clear of "When I Say No", her song about date rape. Stick to the no-brainers, Debbie.

From Entertainment Weekly (January 22, 1993)

"The fluffy Top 40 songstress has outgrown her status as teenage prodigy, but her banal melodies and predictable lyrics haven't grown an inch. On Body Mind Soul, Debbie Gibson lunges for the brass ring of artistic validation by piling faux hip-hop touches on curiously prim love songs delivered with frenzied enthusiasm of a cheerleader. She doesn't sound mature. Only desperate." Rating : D

From Billboard (January 23, 1993)

DEBBIE GIBSON
Body Mind Soul
PRODUCERS: Deborah Gibson, Carl Sturken & Evan Rogers
Atlantic
82451

Maturing former teen icon aims to recapture late-80's chart success with a barrelful of potential hits. Perhaps as a result of her recent Broadway appearance, Gibson has begun to plumb the lower end of her alto, sounding downright sultry on such cuts as lead single "Losin' Myself." Other winners are "Shock Your Mama," with an irresistibly catchy chorus and a rap break, and "Love Or Money" and "Free Me," both tailor-made for Top 40. Also check out "When I Say No," an unequivocal message to presumptuous males.

From Weekly Variety (January 28, 1993)

DEBBIE DOES THE 90'S
By Kevin Zimmerman

New York - Growing up is never easy - espcially when your a teen idol. Case in point: teenybopper-cum-popstar Debbie Gibson.

Six years after she burst onto the music scene with the aptly titled "Out Of The Blue," Gibson is sporting a new look and a new sound. But is anybody listening?

Her 1987 debut album spawned four Top Ten singles and effectively established her as a pop force to be reckoned with. Two years later came the ostensible mall-girl anthem "Electric Youth."

All of which was enough to guarantee Gibson a fairly important slot in Atlantic's day-long 40th Anniversary Concert at Madison Square Garden in 1988, her own cosmetics line and the promise of toplining a major motion picture.

Figuring it was time to emulate one of her two main inspirations, Billy Joel, Gibson penned some Really Important Lyrics (as Deborah, not Debbie) with the likes of Motown alum Lamont Dozier. The result was 1990's "Anything Is Possible," which bombed out big time.

Three years later, with the film long-scrapped, Gibson is busy aping another key influence: Madonna.

Dance-hall stripper image

The video for "Losin Myself," the lead single from her new "Body Mind Soul" album, features Debbie as, of all things, a dance-hall stripper. (Yikes!) Other cuts off the LP address such issues as date rape (it's bad) and racial prejudice (it's bad). There's even an attempt at rapping.

But is there an audience for the new Debbie? The Madonna/Joel crowd will wait for the real thing, while the mall rats who shimmied to "Electric Youth" are now either listening to the likes of Boyz II Men or have graduated to more adult pabulum like Whitney Houston's.

Still, you can't blame Gibson for trying. Bobby Sherman, David Cassidy and Donny Osmond all tried the "new, mature" angle. (Remember the "Donald Clark Osmond" album?) At this very moment, Vanilla Ice may be holed away somewhere, working on "harder-edged, socially conscious" material.

And she's hardly the only teen fave of the late '80s to lose the hitmaking path: Whither the New Kids On The Block and Tiffany?

Perhaps Gibson will make it in other avenues: She still professes an interest in acting, and acquitted herself without embarrassment during a run in "Les Miserables." But for now, her pop music career seems to have collapsed like a house of bubblegum cards.

From the Los Angeles Times (February 7, 1993)

Debbie Gibson, "Body Mind Soul," Atlantic. ** (of ****)

Sure, she _looks_ different as a brunette "Twin Peaks" wannabe, but Gibson mostly still _sounds_ like the peppy, precocious teen-ager who swept up the pop charts in the late '80s. Her fourth album's more "mature" moments, like the dusky ballad single "Losin' Myself," emphasize Gibson's sure, steady, yet ultimately ordinary talent.

From the St. Paul Pioneer Press (February 21, 1993)

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! Off the stage, right into the fire, one might say. In the wake of her Broadway stint as Eponine in 'Les Miserables,' Debbie Gibson is back with this new album, an effort fraught with nothing but problems.

The high-pitched vocals sound like Marie Osmond's without the charm, the tunes sound like Paula Abdul's without the edge, and the whole product's irritant factor surpasses even Kylie Minogue's.

Imagine that.

Now don't get me wrong. I'd be the first to welcome return to pop banality. Really. Problem is, while Minogue sings within the confines of endearing mindlessness, Gibson tries to add funk and punch to her songs. Unfortunately, her sweet voice is not equipped with the necessary edge. Songs such as 'Kisses for One,' (sic) 'Love or Money' and 'Shock Your Mama' epitomizes an album that neither varies in style nor speed.

It doesn't matter how many journalists call this Gibson's come-of-age, 'mature' album. What it really is, is a collection of Paula Abdul songs (Abdul producer Elliot Wolff also produces some tracks on this album) with weak(er), saccharine vocals that grate, and an end product to be relegated to the bottom shelves next to your New Kids on the Block albums.
1.5 stars (2=fair, 1=poor)

From the Los Angeles Weekly (February 22, 1993)

DEBBIE GIBSON
Body Mind Soul (Atlantic)

Teen dreams die hard. Tiffany just became a mother at age 20, Dana Plato (better known as Kimberly from _Different Strokes_) is currently on probation for forging Valium prescriptions and robbing a video store, and Debbie Gibson is giving Long Island as bad a name as Amy Fisher did now that her "Shock Your Mama" single has been banned in Korea for being too sexually suggestive and her video for "Losin' Myself" has been rejected by several TV stations because of her portrayal as a stripper. We all want our teen idols to stay the same, to become images frozen in time as the word "idol" suggests, but Gibson's follow-up to 1990's _Anything Is Possible_ is ample evidence that this electric youth has done a bit of growing up. For one thing, she's not a teenager anymore; the callow optimism of _Anything Is Possible_ has been replaced by songs about date rape and AIDS which show that everything possible is not necessarily recommended.

Gibson's music has matured also, but not without some help. For the first time in her career, this singer/writer/producer has enlisted outside help in songwriting. A lucky thing too, since the best cuts on this LP were co-written with Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers of Rhythm Syndicate. Their "Losin' Myself" is a house-beat ballad that puts Gibson on a par with Whitney and Mariah; the song's lush production combined with Gibson's comely vocals proves that this ambitious mall queen has more than youth going for her. On the other hand, duds like the half-digested high-NRG funk of "Love Or Money" and the overwrought, overproduced "Little Birdie" drag the album down.

Gibson's at her best when she's not too terrified to sound out of touch with comtemporary dance music, as in "Goodbye," where she puts her recent Broadway experience to use, setting aside the drum machine and focusing on melody and sincerity instead. However, most of the time, Gibson and friends are too busy taking notes from the competition, as on "Shock Your Mama," which starts off in a Prince groove, segues into a C+C Music Factory beat, and climaxes with a couple of raps, a few Aretha Franklin samples and a breathy Madonna-like come-on. Gibson says the song is supposed to be sarcastic (after all, in real life her mama is also her manager), but with lyrics such as "In a different world, I'm a different girl/You'll see me in a darker light," it sounds more like a fantasy. After all, Gibson's 22; she's entitled. We're just lucky enough to be taken along for the ride as Gibson's love - to paraphrase Giant Sand's Howe Gelb - turns from wonder and lust to just sin.

From the San Digeo Union Tribune (February 25, 1993)

Debbie Gibson, "Body Mind Soul" (Atlantic) ** (out of ****, Mixed)

She was so cute when she was little, just a precocious bundle of talent with a chirpy voice and an amazing knack for tossing out bite-sized chunks of bubble-gum pop.

But little girls grow up, don't they? And in the six years since Debbie Gibson put four self-penned songs in the Top 5, the cute girl became a photogenic young woman, her chirpy voice began to sound anemic, and her knack for songwriting became something of a lost art.

With the questionable help of producers Elliot Wolff (Paula Abdul), Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers (Rhythm Syndicate), and Phil Ramone (Billy Joel), Gibson has spliced together pieces of Janet Jackson, Madonna and Abdul into a bland dance-pop mix that sounds like practically everybody but Debbie Gibson.

Fast forward past the generic "Love Or Money," "Free Me" and the misguided "Shock Your Mama" (She couldn't shock your grandma with that tiny voice.), and you will hit a few tunes that rediscover Gibson's original charms while hunting at improvements to come.

"Losin' Myself" is a warm piece of intimate adult pop, and the exceedingly peppy "When I Say No" and "Kisses 4 One" deal with such dicey issues as date rape and safe sex without a blush or a giggle.

At the advanced age of 22, Gibson is torn between youthful exuberance and adult sophistication, and this album is an uneasy mix of both. Debbie Gibson's pop doesn't snap like it used to, but as the best of "Body Mind Soul" suggests, she could very well bounce back with something interesting.

From Details (March 1993)

Debbie Gibson - _Body_Mind_Soul_
(Atlantic)

With Gibson playing a stripper in her new video, the title could be a listing of her talents - in order of appearance. Now twenty-two and trying to cope with her lost teen years, Deb has made her first "mature" record with help from Narada Michael Walden and the Rhythm Syndicate. "Losin' Myself" is a fussy piano ballad, and "Little Birdie" is as bouncy and vacuous a piece of ear candy as "Shake Your Love." The surprise here is Gibson's competent use of black pop idioms, although she's not too convincing strutting through the heavy grooves of "Shock Your Mama." Hey Deb, if you really want to give mom a jolt, try taking away her executive producer credit.

From Rolling Stone (March 4, 1993)

BODY MIND SOUL
Debbie Gibson
Atlantic
*** (out of *****)

Used to be the most risque thing about Debbie Gibson was how in "Lost In Your Eyes" you could hear her sing "I get weak in the glands/Isn't this what's called romance?" when she really meant "glance." But "Losin' Myself," on her surprising new _Body Mind Soul_, is another story -- what Deb does here, Madonna only talks about on _Erotica_ in a voice too frozen to perk up a lonely sailor. Gibson's breathy notes climb mall waterfalls and extend toward heaven as the music flows into cascades of incrementally harder rhythms; she loses her inhibitions as something that "hurts me so right" sends the "ocean ... rushin' over me."

That ocean feeling is in the sound, and it's interesting that joyless guitar droners of the My Bloody Valentine ilk are hyped as "oceanic" or "dream pop," because Debbie beats them on both counts. Bashful Eurodisco girls had been whispering about fleeing to dreams for years, but Debbie's 1987 debut, _Out of the Blue_, was dream disco's commercial coming out. "Only In My Dreams" was her greatest moment, and "Foolish Beat" was a torch nightmare about abandoning a place where you could wish on four-leaf clovers for a crumbled city of "broken hearts and broken dreams."

Three albums later, Debbie is twenty-two instead of seventeen, yet she still chirps spring-fever tear-jerkers in a fluttery voice as if she's daydreaming during her piano lesson. She also reveals the body and mind we've never seen: "Do You Heve It in Your Heart?" and "Free Me" have her escaping the chains of an empty life, then "Shock Your Mama" samples Mich Ryder, "Losin' Myself" makes its waves, and "How Can This Be?" builds from carbonated gurgles into gospel screeches. Producer Phil Ramone disrupts the bubble-skank of "Tear Down These Walls" with a clanking groove made from industurial power tools. If Debbie is the chaste damsel that Ministry fans heckle, _Body Mind Soul_ is her revenge.

From The Province (March 28, 1993)

Debbie Gibson returns to the music scene with her fourth -- and best -- album, Body Mind Soul. This time out, Gibson covers a wider range of music styles than she has in the past. From ballads like the heart-wrenching Goodbye to the nonsense-pop of Little Birdie and on to the funk-infused jams and breaks of Shock Your Mama, Gibson offers something for everyone.

Unfortunately, many consider Debbie Gibson to still be a harmless teeny-bopper. But she has grown up and, like fine wine, she's improving with age. Fans and nonfans alike should check this album out, if only to hear the best track, the catchy and upbeat Love or Money.

From Who magazine (March 29, 1993)

Body Mind Soul
Debbie Gibson

A child prodigy who landed her first record contract at age 16, Debbie Gibson writes, arranges, produces, sings and plays. Plus, she has that winning smile, a professional attitude and a nice "aw, shucks" demeanour. But Debbie isn't a teenage any more and Body Mid Soul - her fourth album - finds her somewhat awkwardly trying to free herself from the cutesy straitjacket she made for herself. In the CD booklet we see her styled as a cross between a Paula Abdul wannabe and a Prince protegee. The poor thing looks distinctly uncomfortable.

From the opening few songs, there appears to be some re-invention going on in the music, too. Debbie has discovered the whiplash rhythms and loping bass lines of new jack swing, which Janet Jackson has been utilising for the past half decade. She co-opts the new style with slightly more panache than Olivia Newton-John did in her "Physical" phase, but that's about it. On "Shock Your Mama", Gibson coos such lines as "Baby, I'm here to teach you things you've only done in your dreams", but the effect is more amusing than sensuous.

Alas, these turn out to be the most interesting moments on the album, as we soon return to normal programming with the annoyingly chirpy "Little Birdie" and the obligatory schlocky ballad, "Goodbye". When you stack Debbie Gibson up against cardboard cut-out record company creations, you do have to admire the fact that she writes and plays her own material - but that doesn't excuse a lack of soul, spark and inventiveness.

From Smash Hits (April 3, 1993)

DEBBIE GIBSON
Body Mind Soul
Warner

Remember Debs? She was an "Electric Youth" a few years back who got "Lost In Your Eyes" when she was "Out Of The Blue" and, well, anyway she's back! This is her first proper grown-up album (i.e. she's dyed her hair brown, she sings toons that sound like she wants some rumpo urgently and she wears dresses with big splits up the side). There's some super toons on this here, her fourth LP - the moody ballad "Losin' Myself", the disco-ish "Free Me", the boppy "Little Bird" and the wibblesome "Goodbye". If you like your pop fluffy and cute - but all grown-up at the same time - then this one's for you. Quite fab, actually!

From the CSUSLA student newspaper (July 6, 1993)

"Gibson re-takes her 'Body'"

The startling new album "Body Mind Soul" by Debbie Gibson reinstates her as pop's princess.

Debb's "B.M.S." package consists of a variety of styles from pop tunes to enchanting love ballads to urban dance grooves. Once more she collaborates and produces on a few of the tracks.

Debbie trades in innocence charm and vulnerability as she has done in her past records with sophistication, affection, and seduction. The young Olvia Newton-John look alike has a young Barbara Streisand voice on this set. Debb starts off this set with "Love or Money" a fun and joyful track that talks about loyalty in a relationship. "Kisses For One" an innocent love just starting to get off its feet into a whole new world filled with surprises.

This song contains an extraoridinary saxophone accompaniment.

Debb has found her way into attracting more audiences through songs such as "Free Me," her second single from the album. This song talks about being involved in a relationship where you're trapped, not knowing the way out.

The 12" vinyl mixes prepared for this song should easily find themselves on clubs and radio.

On "Do You Have It In Your Heart," Debb really commits to making the song sound empty and heartbroken. She also talks about: "When push and shove comes to mind," the drastic move one would come, after you've forsaken all to keep what's yours.

The song "Tear Down These Walls" is a reminiscent of the electric youth generation that is lead by Debb herself, taking us into a world filled with hope and with a new beginning for lives to come.

This significant song could also be compared to Paula Abdul's number one hit "The Promise of a New Day."

Debb's finale is the heart-rendering "Goodbye," a true gem. She demostrates her fine vocal ability's.

She sings about leaving a place whether it has been a good or bad thing, but what she realizes is that what is in stake here is going away.

She concentrates on the emotions you feel, when you leave a place. She lets us know that most of the time, you can never find the right words to say "Goodbye" to someone special or close to you. We can feel her sould sing through this track.

Debb, year after year, grows to amaze us and bring us into a new avenue. An enduring album by an insirational artist, "Body Mind Soul" triumphs at capturing Debbie Gibson at her best.

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