Customer Rating:  
Summary: Coolness revisitied
Comment: It is good to see that there is still enough interest in Donnie Iris hat his first two albums are back in print. His last two of his four albums on LP have yet to even merit a CD issue, so being able to find these is a treat.
Iris burst forth from Pittsburgh PA after a tenure with one-hitters The Jaggerz ("The Rapper") with his solo album "Back on The Streets." This is the Iris album that has "Ah Leah!" on it. Problem is, it was pretty rocky going after that. Iris and partner Marc Avsec played everything on this album, and it comes off a bit stiff. Also, there is too much going on here to make Iris sound like he was doing much else other than chasing styles. Aside from "Agnes" and "I Can't Hear You," there is little here that sounds like an artist defining himself. (Nonsense like "Joking/Shock Treatment" didn't help his case, either.)
After this, Iris put together the Cruisers and cut the far superior "King Cool." Three best songs on "Back On The Streets" are on the 20th Century Masters - Best of Donnie Iris set.
Iris and his new Cruisers launched forth with a semi-concept album for his second effort. "King Cool" was a street bard with love for "Sweet Merilee" and a knack for Buddy Holly pop. In the span of ten songs, King Cool sees his love rise ("Love Is Like a Rock") and ultimately crash ("The Last To Know"). In between, Iris and his band tackle a variety of styles. From Elvis Costello new wave ("Pretender") to Huey Lewis Top 40 hits ("My Girl"), "King Cool" expertly wove an album as solid as the eighties could provide. This was Donnie Iris' best full length album, even though he still turned out some top flight singles on all his albums. The proof of the kind of ecstasy that Iris was able to pry out of his work is best witnessed in "That's The Way Love Ought To Be." As the song nears its climax, Iris/Cool asks Merilee to "come a little closer, a little bit closer, and kiss me" just before leaning in with a perfect rock and roll yelp of "oh oh oh yeaaaaaahhhhhhhh" delight. As poppy as Huey Lewis, but not as threatening as Joe Jackson or Elvis Costello, Iris walked a fine line all the way through "King Cool."
One can now hope that maybe the third and fourth albums ("The High and Mighty" and "Fortune 410") finally see the laser light of day. A full-on retrospective off ALL Iris and Avsec's material - he's still recording and touring - would be cool, as well.
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