| Cover:
5 Soap Shavings out of 10
The cover is a swirl of colors with a picture of John Lennon in the
center. Oh wait, that's not Lennon, it's Donnie Vie! It's psychedelic
and 60's looking, but completely avoids using the played-out peace sign,
which is a definite bonus.
Booklet:
2 Pieces of Chalk out of 10
It's really not much. Very simple, just some credits and thanks, and
a picture under the CD tray of Donnie holding up his cat. That must
be the famous "Dinah V." Donnie seems to be very fond of his
pussy. Nothing wrong with that. Anyhow, by reading the credits, we learn
that all the disc's artwork is done by Don E. Vie. Looks like someone
got Donnie a cracked copy of Photoshop and taught him how to use effects
and filters. His artwork looks basically like you'd expect it to...
like someone finger painting on acid. But probably not as messy.
Songs: 7
Toenails out of 10
Donnie's solo CD pretty much sounds like Enuff Z'Nuff. Surprised? Neither
are we. There's some rockers, some ballads, nothing too heavy or experimental.
He does break out of the Z'Nuff mold a little bit here and there, but
you won't hear him doing any rap or death metal or anything. The first
5 or so songs sound like classic Donnie in his EZN heyday, followed
by more middle-of-the-road Beatlesque stuff. But after that, he lightens
up a bit with some semi-happy pop songs. Well, his lyrics may not be
the happiest, but the songs sure sound happy. Check out "Don't
Bring Me Down" and "Maddaline," probably the most un-characteristic
Donnie Vie songs on this whole disc. Yet they still manage to sound
like Enuff Z'Nuff. There are some decent acoustic tunes and a bonus
track, a Beatles' cover re-titled "yes-ter-Day." Some songs
sound like they're using a drum machine instead of the real thing, but
other than that, the musicians all play good. Chip Z'Nuff even plays
bass on a few of the tracks. The songs we hate are "Blowin' Kisses
In The Wind," which sounds like something really bad Paul McCartney
& Wings shit out in the seventies, and "Alice In A Jam,"
for no other reason than we just don't like it. But the songs we like
most are "Spider Web," "Wintergreen Eyes," and especially
"Jesus In Drag" (Dana's favorite of all on Just Enuff).
Comments: In April 2004, Don
E. Vie put out another CD called This & That, which is
really just a few new songs and a whole bunch of demos he had laying
around. We haven't heard it yet, but if someone in Donnie's camp wants
to set us up, we might even write a nice review just like this one!
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