For power pop fans, singer songwriter Donnie Vie will need no introduction. With Enuff Z’Nuff, he lent his vocal and songwriting chops to a string of great albums, released at a time when a blend of Cheap Trick obsessions crossed with a 60s inspired, flower power cool was decidedly uncool. Their first three albums (‘Enuff Z’Nuff’, ‘Strength’ and ‘Animals With Human Intelligence’) are cast iron classics which still play brilliantly, decades after the fact. During the second half of the nineties and beyond, the band’s tendency to take a cut ‘n’ paste approach to making albums could be frustrating, but for the more patient fan, there was always a little more gold to be mined, and an on-form Vie continued to show his very natural melodic gifts on tracks like ‘There Goes My Heart’, ‘Believe In Love’ and ‘What Can I Do?’
In relation to those early EZ’N records, Vie’s solo output has been overlooked. In the case of ‘Beautiful Things’, somewhat unfairly. The album, originally released in Japan in 2019, is easily his best work since those “glory daze”, a fact that hasn’t escaped the folks at Wicked Cool Records who gave the album a long overdue US release in 2026. The material sometimes adopts more of a 60s vibe, but at its best, the best tracks on ‘Beautiful Things’ outshine almost everything a Vie-less E’ZN could muster from 2020 onwards, and most of the stuff a solo Vie has shared over the years.
One of the record’s immediate highlights, ‘Plain Jane’ taps into Vie’s late 60s obsessions with the strongest tones, and from there, a very confident sounding tune falls into place. Against the dominant guitar lines, a bass pumps a strident rhythm, and Vie uses a solid backdrop to share a see-sawing vocal melody that taps firmly into his retro pop manifesto, and with a delivery that’s absolutely unmistakeable. By the time the simple chorus hits, contrasting Donnie’s slightly gravelly tones with some really bright pop harmonies, this sounds like something that could’ve formed the basis of a classic, early Enuff Z’Nuff number – it only really lacks a distinctive guitar part from the much-missed Derek Frigo. This, naturally, ends up sounding like something Vie’s devoted fans will feel like has been a part of their record collections forever – but in this case, that’s certainly a good thing.
Pretty much as strong, ‘I Could Save The World’ leans heavily on multi-tracked vocals and 60s melodies, with Donnie wanting to “bring the good shit back” and wanting everything to feel fun again. With huge echoes of Badfinger throughout, he cares not for fashion, but he sounds superb over blankets of keys serving up an orchestrated style, alongside a wall of chiming guitars and, latterly, his beloved carnival-like ascending and descending melodies. With tales of summer nights, listening to AC/DC, the Stones and making friends with strangers, the singer could easily be accused of looking to the past with a heavy rose tint, but frankly, easy nostalgia rarely sounded this good, even in Donnie’s clearly capable hands. Adopting slightly more of an organic feel at first, ‘I’ll Surrender’ takes a mid tempo stance, occasionally hinting at an influence from Jeff Lynne circa ‘Armchair Theatre’. Predictably, it grows into something much bigger with its use of layered vocals, shameless harmonies and massive leap into a chorus that carries more than faint echo of Fotomaker’s ‘Where Have You Been All My Life’ crossed with The Raspberries. As always, you could spend an eternity playing “spot the influence”, but Donnie recycles everything with such a great love, it’s almost impossible not to be impressed.
The far more reflective ‘Flyway’ sees Donnie in solo piano mode, delivering a very 70s inspired vocal melody over a riff that sounds like something that might’ve been inspired by an 80s movie ballad or two. Naturally, this has none of the immediacy of a couple of the album’s big power pop tracks, but in time, a strong melody wins out, and the quieter tones allow his songwriting to shine without too many post-production distractions. A second piano based number, ‘Back From The Blue’ is a pure tribute 70s AM radio, sharing easy melodies and a buoyant rhythm, mixing the melancholy and the hopeful with a dose of Beatle-ish charm and an infectious round of “la la la”s. Measured against the musical barometer at the time of the album’s US reissue, this is pure easy listening, but so well handled, which has the effect of making the Kinks-eque ‘Whatever’ feel a little…whatever…with its more throwaway style. Situated in the middle of the record, this sticks out half a mile with its more flippant tone, but on its own merits, it’s fine enough. Despite being the weak link on ‘Beautiful Things’, those who’ve fallen in love with Vie’s distinctive vocals over the decades will still find much to enjoy, and some of the sharp rhythm guitar work is pitched perfectly for the retro style in hand.
If you’re really familiar with Donnie’s style, the main thing you’d hope for is something that draws heavily from peak Enuff Z’Nuff circa ‘Strength’. The title cut from ‘Beautiful Things’ delivers that in spades…though not immediately. The busy lead guitar runs that fill the intro initially suggest something with more of a melodic metal energy. It’s a real ear-opener. Pretty quickly, though, Don reverts to a huge comfort blanket, and the number settles into a melody that borrows heavily from a 1967 Beatles vintage, topped with slide guitar sounds weaving in and out of a huge pop melody. You’ll have heard this sort of thing from Vie time and again, but the combination of melodic guitar work, layered harmonies straight from classic EZ’N and a distinctive lead vocal results in something fans will genuinely adore.
Providing extra value, the US edition of ‘Beautiful Things’ offers a pair of bonus tracks. The semi-acoustic ‘All My Favorite Things’, as good as it is, actually plays like a leftover in relation to some of the better album cuts. However, armed with a melody that falls somewhere between Nilsson in crooning mode and The Verve, Vie sounds suitably calm and collected, and the lead guitar work creeping through, providing a vague nod to Faces ballads like ‘Glad & Sorry’, is a nice touch. The second bonus will be familiar to almost all. Donnie pays tribute to one of his heroes via a cover of John Lennon’s ‘Instant Karma!’ It’s fair to say that Vie doesn’t really bother putting his own stamp on the track. His love for Beatles related fare is well known, so to meddle with things might seem somewhat sacrilegious. What fans get, of course, is a great take on a great track (one of about eight genuinely decent solo Lennon efforts…) where Vie appears to be in his element working through a familiar melody where stabbed piano chords mesh with power pop infused vocals, and a rousing hook suits his voice brilliantly. For the dyed in the wool fan, as predictable as this recording might seem, it’s still a treat.
Although he’ll always likely be best loved for those early Enuff Z’Nuff releases, Donnie has a rather curious solo catalogue, ranging from the good (‘Wrapped Around My Middle Finger’), to the bad (the demo quality ‘Just Enough!’, which frankly wasn’t enough), to the interesting but likely for fans only (‘The White Album’). At its best, ‘Beautiful Things’ beats the lot; it’s far and away Vie’s best Chip-less work, a collection of songs that doesn’t just celebrate his gifts for retro melodies – it manages to do so with hook after hook, and in a way that makes it all seem so effortless.
July 2026