It’s not often I write a review “flying blind.” I usually have a
\nbasic knowledge of the artist, either from just listening to them
\nfor years, reading the liner notes or finding information on other
\nareas of the Internet.<\/p>\n
But Donnie Iris is a different story. Had it not been for my
\nfriend Diane and her husband giving me a whole mess of albums, I
\nnever would have heard of Iris. And once I decided to review his
\n1980 effort
\nBack On The Streets<\/i> (which I had a bitch of a time finding
\nat my local used record store), I hit two more brick walls. The
\ncassette has no liner notes, and there is damned little about him
\nin any of the books I consult on a daily basis. The Web? No help to
\nme in this instance.<\/p>\n
So, we’re left with what really is a “forgotten” artist and a
\nforgotten classic. Were it not for the minor hit “Ah! Leah!” off
\nthis one, Iris would have slipped through the cracks of rock
\nhistory. But a few listens to
\nBack On The Streets<\/i> shows that Iris is an artist who might
\nbe due a rediscovery.<\/p>\n
“Ah! Leah!” is the leadoff track on this album, and what a song
\nto be remembered for… well, remembered in a sense. The guitar
\nwork and keyboards complement each other so well, and the vocal
\nharmonies are captivating. This is a song I honestly can’t get
\nenough of, and has rightfully made it onto several “500 best” lists
\nfrom classic rock stations. (There is a promo-only live album from
\naround this time which has “Ah! Leah!” on it – I haven’t had a
\nchance to dust off the copy Diane and John gave me.)<\/p>\n
But Iris quickly shows his talents went beyond one song. At
\ntimes, his work reminds me a bit of Huey Lewis & The News for
\nthe doo-wop sounds and vocal harmonies, though Iris was more
\ninterested in making music for 1980 and not revisiting old ghosts.
\n“You’re Only Dreaming” and the title track are two prime examples
\nof how good of a songwriter and musician he was for that time
\nperiod.<\/p>\n
In fact, maybe it was the doo-wop that hurt Iris in 1980. While
\nAmerica was embracing groups like Pink Floyd and artists like Bob
\nSeger, others like Iris, who were trying to merge yesterday’s rich
\nhistory with the electronics of that day were forgotten. (One
\nwonders what would have happened if this album had been released
\njust one year later, with MTV coming on the scene.)<\/p>\n
The second side of
\nBack On The Streets<\/i> is a tad weaker – one song, “Too Young
\nTo Love,” almost sounds like a leftover from “The Rocky Horror
\nPicture Show”. Others, like “She’s So Wild,” are killer tracks that
\nkeep your foot tapping, while still others lile “Daddy Don’t Live
\nHere Anymore” fail to ignite. Still, the misfires are few and far
\nbetween.<\/p>\n
In fact, the biggest weakness I heard on this one was in the
\ndrum tracks – they often do not sound like acoustic drums. I could
\nbe absolutely wrong on this, but I’d venture to guess the majority
\nof the drum work was synthesized, a complaint I have had with
\ncertain Huey Lewis songs. The album has aged a bit – you can tell
\nfrom the keyboard work that this wasn’t stuff banged out last week
\n– but still remains somewhat fresh… kind of like the jar of
\nstewed tomatoes that lingers in almost everyone’s food
\ncabinets.<\/p>\n
So why bother to talk about this album if almost no one has
\nheard of it? Simple: warts and all, it’s a decent enough effort
\nwith a few excellent tracks. It shows the talent of Iris quite well
\n– and it makes me mad that books like
\nThe New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia Of Rock & Roll<\/i> don’t
\neven reserve one fucking sentence for him. Something is messed up
\nhere, kids. There is a reason some people still remember “Ah!
\nLeah!” One listen to that song – and the rest of
\nBack On The Streets<\/i> – and you’ll understand why.<\/p>\n
It’s only a matter of time before Iris and his body of work is
\nre-discovered and recognized for what it is. My thought is that
\nit’s been neglected for far too long. You don’t believe me? Call
\nyour local classic rock station and request “Ah! Leah!” and tell
\nthem that I asked you to. Discover in three minutes what I did
\ncourtesy of a gift. Nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5817],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-35718","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-donnie-iris","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35718"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35718"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}