DEBBIE BONHAM – For You And The Moon [reissue]

DEBORAH ‘DEBBIE’ BONHAM back catalogue has been reissued by her new label Spectra Records. Of special interest for me is Debbie’s debut “For You And The Moon”, never pressed on CD or available digitally before, and unreleased in the United States on any format.

Born in Worcestershire, England, Deborah Bonham was only five years old when her older brother John Bonham joined Led Zeppelin. Inspired by his example, Deborah began writing and recording her own songs (along with John’s son Jason Bonham) at the Old Hyde Farm, her childhood home.

At the age of 17, at Robert Plant’s house in a nearby village, she recorded her first demos. With some encouragement and advice from mentor Plant, Debbie sent out the songs anonymously and soon landed her first record deal with the major European label Carerre Records in 1985, for whom she recorded the critically acclaimed album “For You And The Moon”.
Debbie Bonham had, for sure, a hard act to follow, even after she’d put together this so-assured debut album. Pre-publicity for the October 1985 release dwelled almost morbidly upon her big brother, with full-page ads in the metal press adding to the burden.
Robert Plant helped her get the demos together, you know… all the girl had to do was cover ‘Moby Dick’ and she’d have been set for life.

However, it was obvious from the opening moments of first track “Sanctuary” that Bonham was neither fronting a female Led Zeppelin, nor at all interested in doing so.
True, that same opening cut roars in with a certain sense of drama, but first and foremost, “For You And The Moon” is a very good Rock album, blending classic rock and rock&pop with a mid-eighties sound.

Well-crafted and beautifully performed, with Bonham’s voice as delightful as her songwriting, this debut shook off all preconceptions by emerging one of the most dramatically engaging Rock albums of the ’80s in Britain.

The album reached the top 5 in the NME chart, was DJ Simon Bates record of the week on BBC Radio 1 and sold well all over Europe, being voted ‘Record of the Year’ by Musik Mart magazine, in Germany. But the Carrere label started to face some serious financial troubles, and the album never was released in the US.
A very nice record by this talented singer, quite well presented digitally for the first time.

01 – Sanctuary
02 – It’s Only Love
03 – On The Air
04 – Who Is The Enemy
05 – Hungry Night
06 – For You And The Moon
07 – Fly Away
08 – Lovers And Friends
09 – Never Looking Back

Debbie Bonham – Vocals
Andreas Becker, Graeme Foy, Robbie Musenbichler – Guitar
Volker Barber – Keyboards, Synths
Ken Taylor – Bass
Fritz Matzka – Drums
Mark Aubin, Rainer Pörtner – Backing Vocals

BUY IT !
www.amazon.com/For-You-Moon-Deborah-Bonham/dp/B00ILZ35F8
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