Features LA KROQ's "Rodney on the Roq's" # 1 song "I Love My Cat's Meow" and nine previously unreleased tracks. Check out the remake of "I Think We're Alone Now" and the haunting melodies of "Can't you See The World Through My Eyes". Good stuff.

11 MP3 Songs
POP: 80's Pop, ROCK: Rockabilly



Details:
Donnie Barren played lead guitar for the Los Angeles rock band "City Lights" in the late 1970's and early 1980's, writing songs for the group's single ("Action/Back Off Babe") and EP ("Blackout"), and performing alongside groups like Dokken, Ratt, Oingo Boingo, X and Quiet Riot. Donnie ventured out on his own in 1982, releasing the single "I Love My Cat's Meow/Falling In Love" in March 1983 (acting as musician, songwriter, producer and promo-man).

The tune was well received, being played on over 15 Southern California radio stations during its 1st month and garnering college radio coverage across the USA and in Germany. "Cat's Meow" hit # 1 on LA's KXLU & KRCL, and then entered KROQ's "Rodney on the Roq's" Top 10 in April (at # 7), and moved to # 1 for all of May and June.

At the time, KROQ (FM 106.7 in Pasadena, CA) was the # 1 Album Oriented Rock (AOR) station in LA and was regarded as the new music trend-setter across the US. For perspective, Nena's "99 Balloons" (CBS Records) held the #1 position on "Rodney on the Roq's" Top 10 the following month, July of 1983. This was long before other AOR stations added the German song to their play lists, ultimately making "99 Balloons" a national Top 40 Hit.

Unfortunately, just as Cat's Meow was climbing the charts, Donnie's distribution partner (Faulty Products, a division of IRS/A&M Records) ran out of money and stopped promoting its stable of artists (groups like the Bangles, Dead Kennedys & DOA). Looking back, it's ironic that Donnie signed up with a label called "Faulty Products", but they were considered one of the best "new music" distributors at the time. If they had put some promotion support behind the single, the song could have had a strong national showing.

Donnie went back into the studio and recorded nine other tracks, planning to create an album to accompany the Cat's Meow single. While he was shopping this 11-song package to record companies, he became even more intrigued with the business side of the music industry and opted to take a break to finish his education. Donnie ended up earning an MBA from Harvard and then diving into the business world (albeit not the music biz), working for Procter & Gamble and Microsoft.

As a result, these songs have been sitting on a shelf for more than two decades. Now that his kids are old enough to understand a bit about music, we've decided to re-release "Cat's Meow/Falling In Love" as well as the nine previously unreleased tunes with the hope that this CD will spur a musical interest his two children. If nothing else, maybe he'll have two new fans for a while.

We hope you like these.

"dB" Productions
c/o www.donniebarren.com