New nostalgia. In the summer of 2011, I looked forward to album releases from two eighties groups: The Cars' Move Like This and this album. Of the two, I prefer this one because it's a bit more consistent. Getting back together with producer Don Dixon, this is a definite return to form for the band: guitar-crunching, Marshall-amped, Beatleseque power pop songs with lots of hooks. With their immediately recognizable vintage sound, this could only be The Smithereens; I wish this CD had been released 20 years earlier. The band sounds as great as ever and have kept their British Invasion bar band sound that first caught my ear in 1988. And, like most Smithereens albums, it gets better with repeated listenings. It's not a five star album, but it's good enough for this forty-something guy who's not always looking for new tricks from old dogs. Sometimes the old tricks get the job done.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: did not chart
Tracks: 13 tracks in 47 minutes. While there's not one track that reaches out and grabs you from the first listen, top tracks include Sorry, A World Of Our Own, Nobody Lives Forever, Turn It Around, and What Went Wrong. I usually skip Viennese Hangover because it's the only track where the band sounds like it is trying too hard.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None
Previously revisited for the blog:
Blown To Smithereens: Best Of The Smithereens (1995)
Green Thoughts (1988)
Love The Smithereens to pieces.
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