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The Smithereens

Live in Concert!

Greatest Hits and More

(Koch Records; US: 8 May 2008; UK: 2 Jun 2008)

The Smithereens are a great power-pop bar band. That may read like an oxymoron, but it’s the truth. Vocalist Pat DiNizio might sing the lost-my-girl-blues with songs like “Only a Memory” and “Drown in My Own Tears”, but his fellow band mates—guitarist Jim Babjak, drummer Dennis Diken, and bassist Severo Jornacion—also help him work up a powerful head of steam. Sure, you can pick up these songs on a greatest hits collection. But it’s far better when DiNizio sings his great line, “She stood just like Bill Wyman”, in front of a sweaty, beer-soaked audience. Many of these songs are a few decades old now, but you wouldn’t gather that from this live date. It still sounds like there are a few open wounds left. Better still, in addition to the group’s high-powered musical pain formula, there’s also a cover of the Batman theme tacked on at the end.

Rating:

Dan MacIntosh is a freelance writer from Bellflower, California, “The friendly city”. He’s married with two children, two cats, one dog, one bunny, and one bird. He earned his B.A. degree in Communications (emphasis Public Relations) from California State University, Fullerton in 1986. By day, he works for a software company (Ah, but doesn’t everybody these days?), and in the evenings he works at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts where he is hardly recognizable in a suit and tie. He also dearly loves his church, Calvary Baptist Church, Bellflower, where he is a deacon, a praise choir member, and a small group leader. He also plays guitar, but mainly in the privacy of his home.


Tagged as: the smithereens
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