Album review: DONNIE IRIS AND THE CRUISERS – Remasters

Rock Candy Records [release date 30.07.21]

Back On The Streets (1980)
King Cool (1981)
High And Mighty (1982)
Fortune 410 (1983)

Donnie Iris’s first 4 albums have at last been nailed down by Rock Candy Records. The pursuit has been relentless, but here they now are, fully remastered, each kitted out with at least one bonus track.
And these reissues show us just why 60% of CD sales are back catalogue.

Iris had served a lengthy apprenticeship with Jaggerz and Wild Cherry through the sixties and seventies, notching up the occasional one hit wonder. He met up with kindred spirit, producer/ keyboard player/ songwriter, Mark Avsec, in the late seventies. The duo formed Donnie Iris And The Cruisers.

Squeezing out a sound somewhere between The Cars and Foreigner, the outstanding tracks on the debut album, Back On The Streets (1980) are unquestionably ‘Ah Leah’ and ‘I Can’t Hear You’. These were originally on the LP’s second side, but Rock Candy have repositioned them, quite rightly, as the CD’s first two tracks.
Avsec’s riffs had the elemental punch and simplicity of Elliott Easton circa Shake It Up. And though Iris may have lacked Lou Gramm’s soulful delivery, his cool, mannered vocals added a pop flavoured coating to this and other songs on the album.
The remastering adds clarity and detail, giving the layered vocals depth and polish, bringing up exotic touches, like the calliope styled keyboards to the front of the mix.
The bittersweet title track is framed, very compellingly, as a mini operetta, with
a more lively vocal from Iris.
They spend the rest of the album criss crossing the points at which New Wave, Pop and AOR meet up to compare notes. ****

King Cool came a year later. This title was immediately adopted by fans as their nickname for Iris. It follows him to this day.
The album is a box of delights. Avsec and Iris were truly now totally in sync, confidently displaying their powerpop skills on ‘Sweet Merrillee” and ‘Last To Know’, both sounding like the Wondermints meeting the Police in Brian Wilson’s backyard.
The gleaming, pure pop immediacy of ‘The Promise’ and the supercool, leaning back, ‘My Girl’… a Billboard Top Forty hit, are obvious picks, but the standard doesn’t drop.
King Cool, the album, is peak Donnie Iris. ****1/2

The band’s rock steady, carefully crafted powerpop maintained a massive presence with 1982′s High And Mighty. But it was a relative commercial failure, and this despite favourable contemporary reviews. Discerning critics got it, recognising the irresistible familiarity of the hooky ‘I Wanna Tell Her’ and the ambition of post modern permutations, ‘Parallel Time’ and ‘Tough World’.
Once again, the remastering brings out subtleties lost in the vinyl grooves of the original pressings. Some of these harmonies … 10cc eat your heart out. ***1/2

By 1983′s Fortune 410, the band was still intact. Iris, Avsec, Marty Lee, Albritton McLean and Kevin (Kiss/Shadowking) Valentine were a self evidently tight, collusive combination. ‘Human Evolution’ and ‘Stagedoor Johnny’ are rich in content, each exploring lyrical themes not usually found in “pop” songs.
Though McLean and Lee especially made significant contributions, it’s the closing track ‘Do You Compute’, written by Iris and Avsec, that stands out head and shoulders above the rest. The song’s fusion of hard rock and layered melodies, buoyed by Avsec’s imaginative arrangement, hit the US charts a glancing blow. We are left to ponder just why it wasn’t a huge hit all over the world. ****

Review by Brian McGowan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)