Sunday, July 19, 2009

Donnie Iris - Fortune 410 (1983, MCA)

As much of an appreciation I have for Donnie Iris today, I think I'd doubly enjoy his music had I not discovered it two decades after the fact. Nevertheless, I'm still pretty enamored with his first couple of solo LPs, Back on the Streets and King of Cool, both brimming with fevered energy and the whip-smart acumen of such singer/songwriter forebearers as Todd Rundgren. For his fourth album, Fortune 410, (never issued on CD to my knowledge) Donnie takes far greater advantage of synthesizers and programed accoutrement's than ever before - hardly a surprise for it's era. Right down to the sleeve art, this is an album decidedly tailored for the digital age - fun, savvy, even a bit robotic, but for all it's innovative modernity, Fortune's glossier chimerical inclinations make for a less organic listening experience, and worst of all, hardly furthered the man's visibility. Nevertheless, this is still worth a spin if Donnie Iris is in general your thing, of if you merely want to indulge in a healthy dose of gratuitous '8os synth rock.

01. Human Evolution
02. Stage Door Johnny
03. Cry If You Want To
04. Tell Me What You Want
05. I Belong
06. She's So European
07. I'm a User
08. Never Did I
09. Somebody
10. Do You Compute?

Back in print!

4 comments:

panzan said...

this is too much! i live in pittsburgh, where the classic rock station still plays donnie's early 80s hits every day. seriously. every single day, multiple times, multiple songs.

if you could post "king cool" and "back on the streets" that would be awesome... although i am almost certainly the only one of your readers who will care - let alone enjoy - those records.

geekroick said...

any interest in a cassette rip of "The High And The Mighty" for the blog?

Fabianesi said...

Could you reupload it, please? There is nothing in that link. Thanks.

Navaioh said...

Hey Could you repost Donnie Iris please? thx in advance.

Bye

Flax