Blown to Smithereens: Best of the Smithereens
Smithereens
Suzanne Vega, Marshall Crenshaw, Belinda Carlisle
Producer: Cheryl Pawelski
Capitol/EMI Records, 1995
1 CD
Catalogue #: 31481
EAN: 0724383148127
UPC: 724383148127
You save: 20%
The Smithereens: Pat DiNizio, Jim Babjak, Mike Mesaros, Dennis Diken.
Additional personnel: Suzanne Vega, Belinda Carlisle (vocals); Marshall Crenshaw (organ).
Recorded between October 1982 and August 1994. Includes liner notes by Brett Milano.
Tracklist
Smithereens
The Smithereens filtered their '60s British Invasion pop/rock roots through an '80s alt-rock sensibility. Pat DiNizio's deep, moody vocals and Jim Babjak's thick, heavy guitar riffs added darkness and modernity to the classic pop structures of the group's songs. They broke big in the mid-'80s, and kept on chugging for quite a while, but, by the end of the '90s, DiNizio shifted his focus elsewhere, working as a solo act and running for political office in New Jersey. The outfit reunited in the late-'00s.
Suzanne Vega
In between the eras of Joni Mitchell and Alanis Morrisette, Suzanne Vega was the most important influence on blooming female singer-songwriters. Her cool, vibrato-less vocal style was decidedly forward-looking, and her lyrics owed more to modern poetry than singer-songwriter cliches. In the '80s, she helped rescue troubadourism from the clutches of sentimentality with her artful, intellectual work.
Marshall Crenshaw
It is entirely fitting that Marshall Crenshaw made his first big splash playing John Lennon in BEATLEMANIA. Although the affable singer-songwriter resembles Buddy Holly more than Lennon, his music harks back to the glory years of rock & roll, when all that rock required was good hooks and a beat you could dance to. His debut record in 1982 teemed with great melodies and simple-yet-sharp lyrics, and spawned "Someday Someway," a big hit for Robert Gordon. Since then, Crenshaw has seen his songs covered by a wide range of artists, from the Nitty Gritty Dirt band to Bette Midler, and he has continued to make high-quality records on his own terms.
