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AUGUST 19,
2020 ROCKWiRED REWiND: THE SMiTHEREENS
- 11 (1989)
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I have no specific memory of when I first heard A GIRL LIKE YOU from THE SMITHEREENS on the radio, but I do remember the tough yet earnest rock anthem standing out by a mile from much of what mainstream rock had to offer back in 1989. The no nonsense opening metal riff of the song grabs your attention immediately and sustains itself for the course of much of the song without growing tiresome. Doubtless, it is the hook that draws you in but the voice of front man PAT DiNIZIO is what keeps you engaged and it was something you didn't hear too much of in the crop of rock guys back then. His voice was a warm baritone with an everyman quality without screaming or histrionics – an intimate quality for sure. It should be mentioned that DiNIZIO shares the vocals on A GIRL LIKE YOU with pop singer MARIA VIDAL harmonizing on the chorus and the final verse and outro. In the age of anthems like PARADISE CITY, the earnestness of A GIRL LIKE YOU was quite a feat. It was all about winning a girl's love and not him telling her to pour sugar on him. THE MUSiC ViDEO FOR A GiRL LiKE YOU!!! In the months after A GIRL LIKE YOU was taken out of rotation I made a trip to my local library to check out some books for a term paper I had to write. When I examined the music section, I came across THE SMITHEREENS' album 11 on cassette featuring the song that captured my ears months ago. I wondered what a relatively recent album was doing in library available for check out. I remember being grounded around that time for my inattention to school and low grades so I checked out the cassette of 11 and camouflaged it among my books on FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT and my love of the pop rock stylings of THE SMITHEREENS began and had me wondering where this New Jersey band had been all of my life. Well, for nine of my then fourteen years at that point, THE SMITHEREENS made a name for themselves with a catalog of punchy power pop tunes with a decided sixties influence. In the early eighties the band made their presence known with a couple of EPs GIRLS ABOUT TOWN (1980) and BEAUTY AND SADNESS (1983) but it was their 1986 LP ESPECIALLY FOR YOU (ENIGMA) where the band broke through with the single BLOOD AND ROSES – a moody, clapping rocker with the most bad ass opening bass lick brought to you by MIKE MESAROS and the positively slamming BEHIND THE WALL OF SLEEP about a bass playing chick who stands like BILL WYMAN and has hair like JEANIE SHRIMPTON back in 1965. Their debut LP reached #51 on the BILLBOARD ALBUM 200 an was certified platinum with over a million copies in US sales. In 1988, after non stop touring, the band released their follow up LP GREEN THOUGHTS powered by the driving power pop of ONLY A MEMORY. By the time I took notice of the band in 1989, I had no idea that they were in the midst of a shake up in their sound. Having worked with producer DON DIXON on their first two albums, THE SMITHEREENS, now signed to CAPITOL RECORDS, decided to take their sixties sounding power pop and crank it up to eleven, hence the title of the album which cleverly references both SPINAL TAP and the film OCEAN'S ELEVEN with FRANK SINATRA. To achieve this upgrade into mainstream rock radio acceptance, the band worked with producer ED STASIUM who had become renowned in the business for his work with THE RAMONES, TALKING HEADS, and more recently LIVING COLOUR's 1988 breakthrough album VIVID. The power pop smarts of DiNIZIO and company combined with the studio wizardry of STASIUM made for an album that upped the ante for THE SMITHEREENS. 11 is a punchy collection of pop rock tunes both rough and sweet. The enthusiasm for the bigger sound provided by STASIUM and the RECORD PLANT studios can be felt in the performances. Even when DiNIZIO sings of being blue as he does on the songs THE BLUES BEFORE AND AFTER and the BELINDA CARLISLE duet BLUE PERIOD, there is a zeal that can't be contained despite the melancholy of the lyrics. Yes, 11 was a cassette that found its place on my cassette shelf between my copies of THE BEATLES' HELP and AC/DC's HIGHWAY TO HELL. BLUES BEFORE AND AFTER
BLUE PERIOD BABY BE GOOD
YESTERDAY GIRL
WILLIAM
WILSON
***
Despite my sense
that music was changing, THE SMITHEREENS came back again in 1991 with
BLOW UP, an album that saw them expanding on their pop music vocabulary
with ED STASIUM again behind the recording console and teaming up
up with songwriters JULIAN LENNON and hitmaker DIANNE WARREN on a
couple of tracks. There is so much that I want to say about that album
so I think another article is on the way about BLOW UP. Released the
week that NIRVANA released NEVERMIND and changed the course of rock
music forever, BLOW UP disappeared and my hopes for a guitar driven pop
world were gone. In 1994 PAT DiNIZIO wrote about these changes on the
bitter A DATE WITH THE SMITHEREENS released on RCA. His song SICK OF
SEATTLE matched my sentiments exactly. After being dropped
by RCA THE SMITHEREENS continued to be commited pros, continually
touring and release albums. They've even managed to do so after the
death of PAT DiNIZIO on December 12, 2017. DiNIZIO's passing signaled
the loss of a unique voice in rock and left me wondering if we would
ever hear tuneful, guitar driven music that doesn't bow to trends or to
what a coffee house full of hipsters think is hip. After the loss of
DiNIZIO, the surviving band member, guitarist JIM BABJAK, drummer
DENNIS DIKEN and bassist MIKE MESAROS, have chosen to soldier on as THE
SMITHEREENS with the lead singer role being provided by a rotation of
singers such as MARSHALL CRENSHAW, ROBIN WILSON of THE GIN BLOSSOMS,
TED LEO and SUSAN COWSILL of THE COWSILLS. 2020 is year marked
by a virus, social unrest and political divisiveness but it also marks
the 40th anniversary of the band that dared to make rock n roll
snappy, fun and inspired again. There hasn't been a better time to put
on a SMITHEREENS album and crank up the volume and forget about
masks, politics and Karens. 11 got me through over thirty years ago and
it's doing the same for me today. Yes, THE SMITHEREENS are a gift! ![]() ![]() ![]() CONTACT BRiAN
LUSH AT: djlush@rockwired.com
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