Iris Donnie

Fully Remastered Audio / Donnie & The Cruisers grow in stature for album #3 / Produced by Mark Avsec / Includes 'I Wanna Tell Her', 'Tough World' & 'Parallel Time', plus Bonus Live Track / 12 page full-color booklet, 2,500 word essay with new band interviews & enhanced artwork - DESPITE CHALKING up a bona Fide hit single with 'Ah Leah!', and an exceptional debut album, Donnie Iris And The Cruisers career had not exactly exploded to superstar status. <br/><br/>This despite a distinctly excellent follow-up album, 'King Cool', rammed with potential hit singles that were presented in a luscious style with hints of classic old school rock but blessed with a smooth AOR sheen. Not shrinking from their duty, MCA gave Donnie And The Cruisers their blessing to advance to a third album, the aptly titled 'The High And The Mighty' a record that brought Donnie and the band's music more into focus than ever. Recorded, once again, at a local studio in Pennsylvania, the album continued to mine their musical path with ease. <br/><br/>But it wasn't without hiccups as at one point they noticed that the master tape was beginning to shred in the tape machine. This was due to a manufacturing fault so confronted by the horror of losing their recorded work the band moved to a New York studio with the technology to fix the problem. Thankfully, all was not lost and the record was completed without further issue. Unfortunately, 'The High And The Mighty' failed to resuscitate their career to the heights of their debut album. Despite a concerted effort, with another batch of stellar songs including 'I Wanna Tell Her', 'Tough World', 'Parallel Time' and 'Love Is Magic', there was no breakthrough single and the album stalled at the lower end of the Billboard chart. The bottom line was that the music and songwriting had not suffered. Indeed, the album remains another essential brick in the Cruisers wall of excellence.

Fully Remastered Audio / Donnie's '81 sophomore establishes his magisterial command for the rich, crisp refrain / Produced by Mark Avsec / Includes 'King Cool', 'Sweet Merilee' & 'That's The Way Love Ought To Be', plus Bonus Live Track / 12 page full-color booklet, 2,500 word essay & enhanced artwork.<br/><br/>SECOND ALBUM from Donnie Iris (And The Cruisers) picking up momentum where his debut album left off. The surprise hit single of 'Ah! Leah!' from the previous year's 'Back On The Streets' album positioned Donnie as a name to watch and, true to form, he did not fail to deliver on his promise. Once again the compositions are brilliantly executed allowing him and partner in crime Mark Avsec to craft a selection of unique and melodically stunning tracks which set the Cruisers apart from the competition. Once again, the trademark sound of lush multi-layered vocals permeates all of the songs evoking comparisons to (but not copying) the glorious doo-wop and blue-eyed soul with close harmonies and arrangements that truly catapult the tracks into the stratosphere.<br/><br/>Of course, Donnie's lead vocals are fabulously addictive, leaving no stone unturned in crafting exquisite detail and courting accolades from every corner of the musical spectrum (including Huey Lewis & The News). All this was conceived during and after a particularly harrowing plagiarism lawsuit firmly dismissed without merit but dragging on for months in the courts. Despite the aggravation and disturbance of the court action Donnie and the band, concocted a terrific collection of songs including the brilliant title track (complete with heavy power chord support), 'That's The Way Love Ought To Be' (again blessed with huge guitar support) and 'Broken Promises'. Each track is sprinkled with oodles of overdubbed vocal harmonies further defining Donnie's trademark sound at a time when uniformity was busily dumbing down the scene.

Fully Remastered Audio / Donnie & his Cruisers enter the digital realm for album #4 / Produced by Mark Avsec / Includes 'Stagedoor Johnny', 'Do You Compute?' & 'Cry If You Want To', plus Bonus Live Track / 12 page full-color booklet, 2,000 word essay & enhanced artwork - WITH THREE albums under his belt Donnie Iris and the band were feeling pressure to deliver a knockout punch. <br/><br/>MCA had stood by him through thick and thin and let's face it most of it was pretty thin, but there was a belief that he was just one song away from making a major breakthrough. Of course, musically the band had never been more on top of their game, crafting songs that in another time and place really ought to have propelled them to bigger success. For 'Fortune 410' it was decided to move from their local studio in Pennsylvania to record in Cleveland, Ohio, closer to the home of main songwriter/keyboard player Mark Avsec who, it must be said, was feeling the pressure of carrying on more than the rest of the band. Mark had been particular unsettled by a plagiarism lawsuit regarding the hit single 'Ah Leah! Which, although successfully won by him and Donnie, had embroiled them for months on end sucking the pleasure out of their music and working relationship. But, amazingly, listening to this album you'd be hard pressed to detect an undertow of desperation or discontent and many argue that 'Fortune 410' is their most concise and enjoyable album.<br/><br/>It was also a record that saw the band embrace computer technology but not in a wacky experimental way. The sound became more processed but still retained an edge of perfect pure pop, with some of their most expressive vocals and songs, like 'Stagedoor Johnny', 'I'm A User', 'Do You Compute' and the insanely catchy 'Cry (If you Want To)', paving the way for a tidal wave of praise from fans. And the album title? Well, that was the style of Donnie's black horn-rimmed glasses... The same, in fact, as Buddy Holly's!"

Special Limited Deluxe Collector's Edition / Fully Remastered Audio / Iris hits cruise control on his first solo venture from '80 / Produced by Mark Avsec / Includes 'Ah! Leah!', 'Too Young To Love' & 'Joking' plus 2 Bonus Tracks / 12 page full-color booklet, 3,000 word essay & enhanced artwork - DON't BE FOOLED by his look.<br/><br/>Funny how rock music can hand success to a musician virtually overnight whilst other times it can take an eternity to achieve the same results. Of course there are plenty of examples either way but for Donnie Iris it was a case of taking the long way, years spent paying dues under a number of guises but in 1980 Donnie's ship came sailing home with his debut solo album 'Back On The Streets' and in particular the hit single 'Ah! Leah!'. It was a classic song very much the sound of an era being somewhat pop but also resolutely rough and tough rock. It was also notice-able for it's huge wall of multilayered vocals consisting, some say, of approximately seventy overdubs giving it an instantly recognizable sound. Although Iris had been around the block a few times (The Jaggerz & Wild Cherry), the Cruisers were a project conceived to merge perfectly written and performed power pop with a classic early eighties sound. Teaming up with partner Mark Avsec, the duo were co-conspir-ators of a sound that struck an immediate chord with radio and live audiences helping to position Donnie as a bright young thing amongst an exciting wave of new performers such as Loverboy, The Cars, and The Knack.<br/><br/>Donnie's vocal style and the songs are surprisingly evocative of classic doo-wop set against a tougher 80s hard rock backdrop with stinging guitars and a powerful rhythm section blasting it into a new dimension. Of Course, 'Ah! Leah!' is the track that punches above it's weight but do not under any circumstances miss out on 'Too Young To Love', 'Joking' and the brilliantly arranged 'You're Only Dreaming' with it's layers of multi part harmonies and a brilliantly affected vocal from Donnie. This is indeed an album that just keeps on giving with every repeated spin.