The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 09, 1981, Page Page 9, Image 9
' Donnie Iri
By MIKE ROMATOWSKI
Entertainment Editor
Donnie Iris has a new album out. Who is
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Holly, add a smidgen of Roy Orbison, a
small dose of Elvis Costello, a portion of
Frankie Vallee and add sizeable helpings of
Bruce Springsteen, the Beatles and Meat
k Loaf and you'll get a taste of what Donnie
Iris is all about.
In other words, Iris is the rock 'n' roller
from Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania who
sounds a lot like a whole bunch of othpr rnrk
'n' rollers. His latest MCA Record's release,
King Cool, is a montage of slick, danceable
tunes that at times comes close to being
great rock, but ultimately falls just a little
bit short.
Rock fans from the 1960s may remember
Iris for his number one single with a group
called the Jaggerz. The song was called
| "The Rapper," and earned Iris a gold
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royalties from that record, bought two
gerbils, watched them multiply, then tripled
Donnie Iris and the Cruisers: Marty Le
and Mark Avsec.
,
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his money by marketing a chic line of gerbil
clothing).
WHEN A flood destroyed his basement
and wiped out all his animals in 1974 (this is
not a joke), Iris returned to the rock 'n' roll
wars. He performed for a while with a group
called Wild Cherry ("play that funky music,
white boy..."), and last year recorded a solo
album called Back On the Streets.
Now Iris is back with King Cool, and while
the album is definitely "cool", it will also
definitely not make him into the king of rock
4n' roll.
Iris and his band, the Cruisers, utilize a
hard-driving vet melodic stvle that should
get listeners on their feet and dancing, yet
there is something about the album's
production that gives an impression of
restraint, as if the band is holding back ever
so slightly. Most of the songs make too much
use of synthesizers instead of a straightforward
guitar-bass-drums attack that
would make this great music instead of
merely good music.
Iris seems to borrow lihprallv frnm nthpr
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groups and songwriters: one song, "Broken
n
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For Rock Si
Promises," features Beatles-like chord
progressions, then breaks into a Bo Diddleystyle
drum solo before finishing in a whining
vocal echo a la Elvis Costello.
ANOTHER TUNE, "The Promise," is
straight out of the Bruce Springsteen school
of songwriting, complete with majestic
string arrangement and toueh-vet-hoDeful
lyrics:
Past the endless souls who could not reach
And those who would not dare
Oh the promise is still waiting for you there
Among the other songs which evoke other
artists are "Color Me Blue," which is based
on Roy-Orbison-like piano triplets, "Love is
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Like a Hock," which has a god-awful chorus
remindful of Queen circa "We Are the
Champions," and "The Last to Know,"
which sounds like a Jim Steinman/Meat
Loaf collaboration. Several tunes,
"Pretender," for example, even borrow
from groups like the B-52s.
Thus Iris has produced a record which
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something keeps it from greatness,
although just what that something is is hard
to pin down. Iris has the potential, however,
to someday write that one truly phenomenal
song that will catapult him to legendary
status. He and the Cruisers need only to "let
loose" a little more and Iris could find
himself a place at the top of the rock world.
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