Customer Reviews

Ellwood City

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A pile of new songs - obviously Mark Avsec's pool of creativity has not dried up. This album is like nothing the Cruisers have done before, but then you could say the same about Poletown - but I like this better. I won't go into a song by song review; suffice it to say that this album is new and fresh and modern but yet the Donnie Iris and the Cruisers we know and love shine through. Catch this cat in concert - he's well into his 60's but still gets the screams out (get "Live at Nick's Fat City" if you don't have it), at least he did when I saw him in Cleveland in Sep '06. I feel Donnie (with the help of Mark and the guys) is honestly one of the BEST performers in all of rock and roll, popularity notwithstanding. I would crawl a mile over broken glass to hear him belt out his songlist, or at least drive across Ohio anyways. His rendition of Soul Man rocks live, and the new stuff on this album - Little Black Dress, You Never Love Me With the Lights On, River of Love, Let's Go Tango, Ellwood City...nothing on this album is not worth listening to. Buy it, support DI&TCs. THEY WILL ROCK YOU! or That's the way rock oughta be! or, well, you get the idea. Finally, in the words of Donnie: "Man, I hope this is a good bag."

Another good recording by this under-rated band. I have liked them from Dot. Unlike the other review I think this is another Donnie Iris album. That is, it has a lot of the D.I. elements of their other recordings. A lot of good songs. I wish they would expand their touring territory out west(coast). If you like King Cool, Fortune 410 or Poletown you will like this album..

Anything from Donnie Iris is a treasure, his music comes from years of refinement but never loses its basic garage band sound in the same vein as the Houserockers, Norm Nardine and other Western PA root-rockers. I am bias since I grew up in Ellwood City listening to Donnie play Beatles covers at his Uncles Bar but he still rocks.

As a former resident of Ellwood City and long time Donnie Iris fan, I admit, reluctantly, that I was not quite satisfied with the album.

One of the contenstants in this year's American Idol elected to revisit a Wild Cherry (Donnie Iris) tune in Disco week. I was shocked the next day at the water cooler when I heard fans of the show arguing about the origins of the song. I provided links to the amazon site samples of 'Ah Leah' and 'Do You Compute' to offer a flavor of Iris.

Everyone seemed to agree that there was real rock power in both recordings.

Ellwood City generally lacked the production quality, the anger, and in some ways the uninhibited emotion of earlier efforts. It's still growing on me. Iris has some qualities missing from today's music landscape and I really hope he and the band will have things to say and INSIST on finding ways to say them.

The next record should have at least a track dedicated to The Hot Dog Shop!

Despite what was mentioned on Donnie Iris's Home Page a few years ago about working on a new album which was supposed to be more like the 'King Cool' album (easily Donnie's best and most successfull album) this falls way short. It does in my opinion, offer perhaps his best song ever 'Love me with the light on' which is completely amazing, but nothing else realy
excited me. After nearly 10 years since his last album I realy expected much more, although it was better then his last album and perhaps his last 3 or 4 but thats not saying much.