Donnie Iris - The Best of Donnie Iris: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection

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Music reviews of The Best of Donnie Iris: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection

Music Review: Buy it if you like "Ah Leah!" - the rest is good too!
Rating: 3 Stars

That said, Iris' sound was definitely new-wave-inspired, but that influence was usually buried under a wall of excellent radio-friendly hard rock. "Ah Leah!" remains one of the greatest songs of the 80's, a tune that kind of came and went during its initial chart run, but still creeps into classic rock playlists just often enough that you never get sick of it. The metallic four-chord guitar progression is anchored by a pulsating bass, catchy verse and chorus, punchy synthesizers, and Iris' multi-tracked vocals that make it one of the ultimate singalong tunes of the decade.

"Love Is Like A Rock" gets less recognition these days, but it is equally fun, replete with another crunching guitar riff that alternates with a more funky guitar part on the chorus while tribal percussion plays throughout. And of course, those catchy multi-tracked gang vocals. "My Girl", Iris' third and final Top 40 hit, was actually his biggest single but is probably his least-remembered. It's kind of a throwback to the doo-wop sound of the 50's. "Sweet Merilee" starts out like an jazzy version of a Police song awash in keyboards, then goes into another killer chorus.

"Do You Compute" was a gimmicky song designed to show off a few electronic sound effects, but was a pretty decent song nonetheless. It failed to ignite much interest, missing the Top 40 by a good 25 places or so. There are some other decent songs on the collection including "The Rapper", a live remake of his big 70's hit with the Jaggerz, and some dumb ones ("Agnes" is a pretty bad ripoff of the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'"). Beyond the 3 or 4 more well-known tunes here, it's mostly a hit-and-miss collection of songs that only diehard Iris fans would know (I doubt any of them received much if any airplay), but still do their part to recreate the early 80's rock vibe, a time after the progressive art-rock of the 70's but before the cheesy hair metal groups, a time when bands like Journey, Foreigner, Van Halen, Tom Petty, Rush, Styx, REO Speedwagon, and Sammy Hagar defined rock music for the day. And because you've never heard most of these tunes, you aren't burned out on them like you might be some of those other groups. Listen to this, and for a few spins, it'll be like the era never ended!

Description of The Best of Donnie Iris: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection

Alternative Rock CDs

• Music > Styles
• Classic Rock
• Classical
• Pop
• Rock