Necessary Evil (Deborah Harry album)

Necessary Evil
Studio album by Deborah Harry
Released	September 17, 2007
Recorded	2007
Genre	Pop rock rock
Length	48:29
Label	Eleven Seven
Producer	Barb Morrison Charles Nieland Chris Stein Bill Ware
Deborah Harry chronology
Most of All: The Best of Deborah Harry (1999) Necessary Evil (2007)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	50/100 [1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Digital Spy	[3]
Robert Christgau	[4]
Rolling Stone

Necessary Evil, is the fifth solo album by the American singer Deborah Harry. Released in September 2007, it was her first solo album in fourteen years, and the first since the reformation of Blondie in the late 1990s. To date, it is her last solo album.

Background

In several interviews, Harry said the album was recorded slowly. At first, the project was just a handful of songs from over a few years that she had never intended to develop into a full album. Eventually, she found herself working with Barb Morrison and Charles Nieland of production team Super Buddha and signed to the Eleven Seven Music record label.^{[ citation needed ]}

Release and Promotion

The album was preceded by the single "Two Times Blue", released on the iTunes Store on June 6, 2007.

Harry promoted the album on Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour 2007, performing a number of songs from the album. Upon its release in the UK, it debuted at No. 86. In the US, it debuted at No. 37 on the Independent Chart.

On January 18, 2008, an official music video for "If I Had You" was released. The video starred, then unknown, pop star Austin Riva. ^[5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Debbie Harry, Barbara Jean Morrison, Charles W. Nieland, exceptions were noted.

Necessary Evil track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Two Times Blue"		3:56
2.	"School for Scandal"		3:09
3.	"If I Had You"	Morrison, Nieland	3:18
4.	"Deep End"		3:11
5.	"Love with a Vengeance"		4:41
6.	"Necessary Evil"		3:31
7.	"Charm Redux"		1:15
8.	"You're Too Hot"		3:41
9.	"Dirty and Deep"	Harry, Morrison, Nieland, Sean Travis Dempsey	3:16
10.	"What Is Love?"		4:32
11.	"Whiteout"		4:30
12.	"Needless to Say"		4:15
13.	"Heat of the Moment"		4:09
14.	"Charm Alarm"	Harry, Morrison, Nieland, Guy Furrow	5:02
Total length:			48:29

Necessary Evil US bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
15.	"Jen Jen"	Chris Stein	Chris Stein	5:15
16.	"Naked Eye"	Harry, Stein	Stein	4:28
17.	"Paradise"	Roy Nathanson, Bill Ware	Bill Ware	6:20
Total length:				64:22

Personnel

• Deborah Harry – vocals, guitar (track 8), percussion (track 10)

With

• Tracks 1–14
  • Super Buddha – all instruments, except as noted
  • Mark Marone – drums (tracks 2–4, 14)
  • Sean Travis Dempsey – keyboards and drum programming (track 9)
  • Miss Guy – additional vocals (track 14)
• Tracks 15–16
  • Chris Stein – all instruments
• Track 17
  • Roy Nathanson – saxophone
  • Bill Ware – all other instruments

Charts

Chart performance for Necessary Evil

Chart (2007)	Peak position
UK Albums (OCC) [6]	86
US Independent Albums (Billboard) [7]	37

Release history

Release history and formats for Necessary Evil

Region	Date
United Kingdom	September 17, 2007
United States	October 9, 2007
Germany	October 26, 2007

References

1. Metacritic
2. Allmusic review
3. Digital spy review
4. Robert Christgau review
5. Debbie Harry – If I Had You – Free Music Videos on ARTISTdirect Network
6. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
7. "Debbie Harry Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved September 1, 2023.