Debbie Gibson

This 2006 Collectables two-fer combines the two Debbie Gibson albums for Atlantic that everybody forgets: 1990's Anything Is Possible and 1993's Body Mind Soul, the two records that followed the blockbusters Out of the Blue (1987) and Electric Youth (1989). This is where Gibson's career ran out of momentum, and you can hear it come crashing to a halt on these two gilded, graceless records. Try as she may -- primarily by grafting Prince beats onto her cheerful music -- she can't really make this work, and it's a bit painful to hear because she has lost the two things that made the hits: her irrepressible good nature and her knack for bright, sunny melodies. Without those, Gibson's music is brittle dance-pop, and these two stilted albums are as brittle and bad as she ever got. She did a lot better before, and she would do a lot better later -- but for diehards, this compilation is an interesting way to explore her nadir. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide