#15
January 30 1985
Donnie Iris
No Muss…No Fuss…
Genre: Power Pop
4 out of 5
Highlights:
Injured in the Game of Love
Follow That Car
Headed for a Breakdown
Oh, man…I didn’t think anyone was gonna ever write guitar rock aimed at roller skate rink Saturday Nights ever again. It’s a truly moribund style at this point and Donnie doesn’t really do much more than write the songs and sing the songs and play the songs.
You know that almost anonymous flat 80s sound that Bleachers mined so well a couple years ago? That’s this record. Iris could be anyone (except that singing is really not his forte) and anyone could’ve sung these songs.
Instead of sounding like his own man, Iris comes across as a John Cafferty wannabe, which means he’s a carbon of Southside Johnny who patterned himself after Springsteen. “Riding Thunder” and “You’re My Serenity” are prime examples of the Springsteenian style. Perfectly fine but it’s not like you wanna fire up the Mustang and take to the roads. You don’t even wanna unplug the EV for Donnie.
Poor Donnie.
It’s when he really lets loose and finds his inner Waybill on “Follow That Car” that the album really rips and it just takes off from there.
Iris is good at what he does, I’m just not sure there is an audience for this, either in 85 or now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlBcpZmkrtw&list=PLYmiWpmQzpNP_DqulLWR1MYnUs941DBkn&index=1
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