Don E. Vie, also known as
Donnie Vie, the former singer of
Enuff Z'nuff, has put together his first solo release. A very strong effort that will surely please all fans of the aforementioned band along with everyone with a soft spot for The Beatles and melodic music in general. The music is very relaxed, laid back Rock with infatuating melodies, unforgetable choruses that swirl around in your head for weeks and the voice of Mr.
Don E. Vie in top shape. Comparing with
Enuff Z'nuff this album is mostly a distant brother to Seven because of it's acoustic touch. The music is not
Enuff Z'nuff and it's easy to hear that this is 100%
Donnie Vie as his little charming influences are found all over the album.
The music is written and played by Donnie and Andrew Rollins. Guest musicians in a few songs include Chip Z'nuff (Bass), Troy Farrel (Drums), Byron Gaither (Keyboards) and Rick Rosas (Bass). Andrew Rollins also mixed and produced the album and unfortunately I don't think he did a very good job. Looking at the album as Donnie's first child, it has a heart of gold, but something went wrong during the birth and it came out misshapen. How sad it is that the album overall has a somewhat incomplete feel to it. Most of the songs are plagued by a very cold computerized drum sound and it feels like a final touch could have made the songs even better and brought them close to perfection. As it is now, parts of the album feel a little rushed (still talking about the production).
In more than half the songs the drums sound like they were programmed on a computer and I really miss the groove a real drummer would have added to the sound. This becomes aparrant when listening to songs like
Jesus in drag and
Forever, which have a much better rythm and tighter feel. The production varies a lot between each song and while most of them are ok, some passages have a have a "just above demo quality" sound to them. While these downfalls are extremely sad, it is not enough to ruin my enjoyment of the album and that says a lot about the quality of the most important element, the songwriting. The album is filled with killer songs that sweep you of your feet and make you momentarily forgive the production and (mostly) non existant drummer.
So, now that I got that out of the way, I'll go on to the songs.
Pretty much every song on the album has hit potential and if this music was played on the radio, I'm certain it would instantly catch the attention of a lot of people.
Spiderweb opens with a sweet melody and is one of the best songs on the album. Too bad that it looses some of its magic due to the monotone computerised drum sound which sucks a lot of warmth out of the song. This is really unfortunate as the song itself is fantastic, and has one of the best choruses of the album. I like to see this song as a cousin to
Enuff Z'nuff's
The Beast which Donnie also wrote.
Better days continues, and this is one song that I think would have benefitted from a better production. It feels a little thin and I could imagine an electric guitar would have made this song more powerful, especially when the song kicks off after the acoustic intro. Also the middle part with just Donnie and the keyboard/synthesizer sounds a bit cheesy. With a better production it could have worked, but not in this state. Ok, enough of the bickering, overall the song is great and and has some very relatable lyrics. A typical
Donnie Vie song that you can't help but like. After a couple of listens I'll bet that you'll be singing along to the chorus...
Forever is a wonderful ballad, sung with so much feeling that it's impossible not to let this song get under your skin. Finally you can hear that a real guy is playing the drums and it gives the whole song a groove that is missing from some of the other songs. The lyrics, and the way Donnie sings them is totally convincing and very emotional.
Jesus in drag opens with a somewhat weird, but definitely
Donnie Vie style, passage, before magically twisting into a genius guitar melody that leads into the real song. The song has a great drive and is one of the most well played on the album. Lyrically we are dealing with a sad religous weirdo. Certainly a highlight.
Wintergreen eyes is another excellent song, where the highlight actually lies in the fantastic verse lines which have Donnie singing like a genius. The song only loses something in the bridge leading to the chorus, where the synthetic drums are too dominating, but once it gets to the chorus the song is back on track. A very nice slide guitar sound works great in this song.
I'll go on has a strong Beatles feel to it. It is a sweet little song that just stays in your head for a while. Especially the way the "chorus" develops each time and finally releases is brilliant.
Did he just sing "Hurly wurly"??? That was my first thought while listening to
Alice in a jam. Anyway,
Alice in a jam has turned out to be one of the most infatuating and catchy song of the album and has been my favourite for a while now. I have been humming that chorus for the past month, and I am now in doubt that it will ever find its way out of my twisted mind. This song oozes of true
Donnie Vie charm all the way through. From the funny lyrics, to the little sound effects, to the psychedelic trance-like spoken middle part, it turns out to be a very special song indeed. A song that is bound to get you in a good mood.
Don't bring me down has a completely overblown sound to the drums. But other than that the song is another cool addition to an already spendid collection of songs.
That's what love is is a slow acoustic piece with a lot of feeling in both music and lyrics. Yes, this is another classic Vie ballad.
My two least favorite songs of the album are
Night of day and
Blowin kisses in the wind.
Night of day is a very simple song, but has a captivating dark feeling due to the way Donnie sings it, and while the sweet, Beatle-esque
Blowin kisses in the wind has a great melody and good rythm the song is also a little simple and reminds me a little too much of Ob-la-di-ob-la-da, especially the bass line in the verse.
The album ends with
Wasting time. Another fantastic ballad that finishes the album on a melancholic note. Starting out with just Donnie and an acoustic guitar, the song is very emotional and builds slowly towards the last minute where the drums unfortunately take up too much of the sound and steal some of the special atmosphere away.
If Donnie felt like he needed to prove that he could write quality songs on his own, then this certainly proves it. Next time I hope that he is also able to give the songs what they deserve; A professional production and people on all the instruments.
This review is based on the digital version that is available for purchase at the
Vie club for 10$. As far as I know it is a copy of the retail version, but I still have a small hope that some things have been bettered. I ordered the UK version from Amazon several weeks ago, but got tired of waiting for it to arrive. So I decided to write this review anyway. If there is any discernable difference between this and the retail version I will naturally update this review.
As you may have noticed I have a major problem with the drums in many songs. It really hurts that this album wasn't done right and of course it reflects on my grade. I know that this probably has its reasons and I would naturally rather have this than nothing at all. So while the album is filled with fantastic songs, passionately performed by an obviously extremely talented musician, it is unfortunately a scarred gem. I can't help wonder why it didn't get that final polish during the production and mixing phase?
These songs deserve to be heard, and similar for them all is that I have been singing them all for the past weeks, non stop. Extremely catchy songs with wonderful melodies and an emotional singer that delivers a brilliant performance. I hope that this is just the first step in the right direction of a long and prosperous career of
Don E. Vie. This is great music.
Written by
Steen Friday, September 19, 2003
Show all reviews by SteenRatingsSteen: 7.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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