The Album Review Club - Week #191 (page 1286) - Harlequin Dream - Boy & Bear

RobMCFC said:
Congratulations to @Black&White&BlueMoon Town

The Album Review Club

11 – The Smithereens (1989)

Selected by RobMCFC

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Much like The Smithereens music, I’m going to keep this write-up simple.

Singer Pat Dinizio once described himself thus:

“A Buddy Holly/Beatles-influenced three-chord pop singer/songwriter who happened to be standing on the right corner at the right moment and got lucky with his band.”

That 50s/60s influence of Holly and the Beatles is a pretty good description of the band’s music, but I would say that their guitar sound is also heavily influenced by British invasion bands such as The Kinks.

This album is yet another I was introduced to by the Stereo Sequence on Radio One - the single “A Girl Like You” was played at the backend of 1989, and over the years, I would say that it’s grown to be one of my favourite singles from that decade.

The album is full of heavy guitar-based songs like this one but there are more subtle moments like “Blue Period”, which features a nice harpsichord piece and backing vocals from Belinda Carlilse, and the jaunty accordion-laced “Maria Elena”, a tribute to Buddy Holly’s widow. Jim Babjak has some superb guitar parts, and Dennis Diken (drums) and Mike Mesaros (bass) give the songs plenty of bottom end, the whole thing being done and dusted in less than 35 minutes.

Dinizio had a wonderful vocal style, and I think you can spot traces of Elvis Costello and Evan Dando in there. The latter was something that I noticed when reviewing The Lemonheads album a few weeks ago, a fact that Black&White&BlueMoon Town also latched onto. I kept quiet because I’d already made the decision to select this album a few months ago so didn’t want to give any advanced clues as to what I was selecting.
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Never heard of these guys. Were they big and I didn't notice?
 
mrbelfry said:
Never heard of these guys. Were they big and I didn't notice?
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They weren't Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen New Jersey big, but they started out on college FM radio in the mid-1980s (hey to my younger self), and this was kind of their breakout album to the mainstream rock from more of the college or alternative brand.

I loved their first album when I heard them debut on college radio, but you'll have to mosey on over to the Rock Evolution thread when covered a few years or so from where we are now in 1980 to hear more about that. ;-)
 
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They were good clues Rob. Enough there to be obvious once you know, but requires a but of thought and scratching bekow the surface. Always fin when clues stack to cover multiple albums too.
 
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Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
They weren't Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen New Jersey big, but they started out on college FM radio in the mid-1980s (hey to my younger self), and this was kind of their breakout album to the mainstream rock from more of the college or alternative brand.

I loved their first album when I heard them debut on college radio, but you'll have to mosey on over to the Rock Evolution thread when covered a few years or so from where we are now in 1980 to hear more about that. ;-)
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The really funny thing is that these guys were a one-album band for me. Not that they might not have had earlier excellent albums, but at the time I bought 11, loved it, yet curiously didn't delve further.

I had a listen to their first two albums earlier this summer. Especially For You is excellent and Green Thoughts has some decent songs as well. Reading some of the reviews, it seems that some critics thought that this wasn't quite up to their previous level but I'm not having that - it's easily better than Green Thoughts.

I thought it was apt when you made the comment about Evan Sando sounding like The Smithereens because I had had that thought too.

Cue @FogBlueInSanFran saying I've picked the wrong album :)

mrbelfry said:
I'm mainly excited to see its half the length of Speak Now.
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I thought some might be happy with that.
 
Coatigan said:
They were good clues Rob. Enough there to be obvious once you know, but requires a but of thought and scratching bekow the surface. Always fin when clues stack to cover multiple albums too.
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“All right now ya wise guy … Dance!”

The clues were fine, but they weren't Wile E Coyote knock you over the head obvious that were going to be a slam dunk...

Plus, Rob was assuming a lot of Looney Tunes episode watching. It's clear in one case that it has been a hot minute since that. ;-)

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RobMCFC said:
The really funny thing is that these guys were a one-album band for me. Not that they might not have had earlier excellent albums, but at the time I bought 11, loved it, yet curiously didn't delve further.

I had a listen to their first two albums earlier this summer. Especially For You is excellent and Green Thoughts has some decent songs as well. Reading some of the reviews, it seems that some critics thought that this wasn't quite up to their previous level but I'm not having that - it's easily better than Green Thoughts.
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I'll give you that on their 2nd, but I'm still partial to Especially For You where it all started, but I remember this too.
RobMCFC said:
I thought it was apt when you made the comment about Evan Sando sounding like The Smithereens because I had had that thought too.
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And I skimmed right past that again on my hunt for that rare nugget. SMH...

Ya gots me good, ya long eared, fur bearin’ flat-footed varmint! ;-)
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
“All right now ya wise guy … Dance!”

The clues were fine, but they weren't Wile E Coyote knock you over the head obvious that were going to be a slam dunk...

Plus, Rob was assuming a lot of Looney Tunes episode watching. It's clear in one case that it has been a hot minute since that. ;-)

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Frustrating that if you look on The Smithereens Wiki page, it makes direct reference to them getting their name from one of Yosomite Sam's favourite phrases :)

FogBlueInSanFran said:
I honestly never knew they did more than one album!
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Given you knew the single, I assume it's the album we're reviewing?
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
I honestly never knew they did more than one album!
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This surprises me more than the whole selection reveal today, and that is saying something.

I'll be shocked if you hadn't heard songs from their first two albums before this, but then again, I'm not as familiar with the college radio scene at your university.

I would often hear The Smithereens and The Screaming Blue Messiahs off of your prior selection have songs often played back to back on my college radio station, so both were hard to miss from my vantage point back in 1986-87.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
This surprises me more than the whole selection reveal today, and that is saying something.

I'll be shocked if you hadn't heard songs from their first two albums before this, but then again, I'm not as familiar with the college radio scene at your university.

I would often hear The Smithereens and The Screaming Blue Messiahs off of your prior selection have songs often played back to back on my college radio station, so both were hard to miss from my vantage point back in 1986-87.
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When I listened to Especially For You earlier this year, "Blood & Roses" was the standout, closely followed by "Behind The Wall of Sleep". It's not surprising that these were both singles.
 
RobMCFC said:
When I listened to Especially For You earlier this year, "Blood & Roses" was the standout, closely followed by "Behind The Wall of Sleep". It's not surprising that these were both singles.
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I can assure you that those year's tracks were already locked in prior to your note above, but it's always nice to get the advanced feedback. ;-)
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
This surprises me more than the whole selection reveal today, and that is saying something.

I'll be shocked if you hadn't heard songs from their first two albums before this, but then again, I'm not as familiar with the college radio scene at your university.

I would often hear The Smithereens and The Screaming Blue Messiahs off of your prior selection have songs often played back to back on my college radio station, so both were hard to miss from my vantage point back in 1986-87.
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I know I've heard more than AGLY but I just assumed they were all from the same record. Kind of like The Presidents Of The United States of America. Are "Lump" and "Peaches" on the same record? I don't know; I just assumed they were.
 
RobMCFC said:
When I listened to Especially For You earlier this year, "Blood & Roses" was the standout, closely followed by "Behind The Wall of Sleep". It's not surprising that these were both singles.
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Oh yeah -- Blood and Roses was a hit here too. Again, just assumed it was the same record.

As you can tell, I thought these guys were always fine but they never really made much of an impression on me.

I'm also realizing(s)ing that I recall commenting to a friend that B&R and AGLY were the exact same song with different lyrics which may be why I stopped paying attention.
 
Somewhere there's beena conversation about Maria Elena from this album. Haven't looked but if it's not on the playlist thread I might be getting confused with another forum!
 
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