Customer Reviews

Blown to Smithereens: Best of

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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The Smithereens may not have had too many "radio hits", and that was a loss for radio. But who needs radio muzak anyhow? This CD just sizzles with great songs. Great party tunes, and one killer car-cruising CD here. People who say the 1980's were a wasteland for pop music probably spent too much time listening to the stuff that came out and got too much attention in that decade. This CD suggests that the 1980's were a time full of great music, but not in the usual places.

Outstanding cuts: Only A Memory, A girl Like You, Blood and Roses, Houser We Used to Live In, Time Won't Let Me. The rest of the songs are very good also.

It's incredible that so many people have never heard of The Smithereens. These guys are so much better than several other bands in the rock & roll genre that get noticed. I first heard about The Smithereens about a year ago: my dad was getting rid of some old CDs at a garage sale, and among those CDs was "Blown To Smithereens". I had never heard of them before, so I decided to play it on my CD player. I was completely blown away! Why would anyone ever want to sell this? So I bought it for $3 from my dad, and it's been one of my favorite albums ever since.

"Blown To Smithereens" is one of the only CDs in my collection that I can listen to from start to finish and not skip past anything. I used to dislike "Blue Period," but it's started to grow on me. "Time Won't Let Me" is an odd selection for a greatest hits CD, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. My favorite tracks are "Blood and Roses," "House We Used To Live In," "A Girl Like You," "Blues Before and After," and "Miles From Nowhere". But every track is wonderful, and different in its own way.

If you are a Beatles fan (like I am), you won't be disappointed. These guys are like the Beatles of today (in fact, if you listen to the harpsicord part in "Blue Period," it is almost identical to the harpsicord part in The Beatles' song "In My Life"). The Smithereens are probably the only band that was both ahead of its time as well as after, using the old rock & roll sound to create new music. Let this CD take you away. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

-Matt, age 16

"Blown to Smithereens" is a decent anthology album that collects all of the band's music that the casual fan will ever need to hear. It is also fairly conventional, collecting three songs or so from each of the band's original studio albums. Fortunately, it manages to hit the highlights without leaving out anything truly essential. The best songs include "Blood & Roses," "A Girl Like You," "Only a Memory" and "Yesterday Girl." Each are three and a half minute blasts of pure guitar pop pleasure. The Smithereens' music is nothing fancy. The guitars are straight forward, the vocals are solid and the lyrics focus on love both won and lost.

Overall, this is a fine collection of their singles and should satisfy all but the most ardent fans.

This is a superb CD by a group that is not that well known but certainly should be. Most CD's that I buy I usually end up ripping the one or two good songs on the disc to my hard drive or compilation CD and filing the others away in a storage cabinet, but I play this one from beginning to end.....there isn't a bad song on the disc. "Blood and Roses", "In a Lonely Place" and "Girl Like You" are my favorites, "Blue Period" is a beautiful song (including vocals by Belinda Carlisle) and I even like their remake of "Time Won't Let Me", the Outsiders classic from the sixties.....and one of my favorite songs. American pop/rock at it's best, I just wish more people were familiar with The Smithereens and their music. They are proof that some really fine music was created in the 80's.

Whenever I think of The Smithereens, I think of great simple rock n' roll. No gimmicks, no categorizing, just straight-up rock. Nothing here is really that heavy though, and sure you can call it pop-rock, but it's still catchy as hell. And this really does play through like their ultimate album. Who doesn't know "Blood And Roses", "Only A Memory", or "Blues Before & After"? Of course "Girl Like You" is on here also, with one of the best opening riffs ever. If you only know a few songs here, know that they're all as good as the hits are, roughly. I had "11" for many years and didn't think I needed this, but once I got it I truly was "Blown To Smithereens".

These guys play straight out rock & roll, no gadgets or gimmicks. If you only need one Smithereens cd, get this one. Highly recommended.

This is the one to have if you only want their hits and don't want to buy all their other albums. This shows how good these guys really are a making tuneful rock; sixteen tracks on here and all of them memorable, not one wasted note.

I have to admit, I originaly looked for this album just to get "A Girl Like You", a radio chestnut my local rock station keeps playing. I therefore fully expected one of those "best of" disks with a bunch of mediocre tunes surrounding a single great song. What I got was a CD with NO bad songs, one or two middle-of-the-road songs (which are actually growing on me more and more) and a few other hits I never realized were the Smithereens. For me, this is an impressive introduction to what I now realize is a truly great rock and roll band, and I feel like I've been missing something all these years! If you appreciate driving guitars, bouncy rhythms and thoughtful lyrics, but you're sick of the whole "emo" thing, try this on for size. It's a treat!

A tragically ignored pop-rock group with a classic pop sensibility and rock chops, The Smithereens here prove they SHOULD be a band on the tip of most pop fans'
tongues.
Song after song on this compilation offers sterling pop hooks, killer power chords, nifty harmonies...this is just flat-out great music. They're timeless...their sound is ageless.
The catchy verse-chorus-verse of "Only A Memory", "Too Much Passion" and "A Girl Like You" will enable you to sing along after a single listen.
"Blue Period" is a swaying ballad with a sweet string section and beautiful back-up vocals by Belinda Carlisle.
"Yesterday Girl" sounds terrific coming from your car stereo on a summer day with the convertible top down. It's "sunny".
The "weak" songs, like the cover of "Time Won't Let Me", are only so in comparison. On any other artists' album, they'd be highlights. The quality here is most impressive.
I have yet to play this record for anyone who has not immediately asked me where they could get a copy.
I could not recommend this more.

A terrific collection of the band's best stuff. The Smithereens are in the tradition of the very best American rock n' roll. Fender guitars, solid melodies and performed without any pretense whatsoever. You can't listen to their music and not smile. It is still bewildering why this band never became more commercially successful than it did. But, for those of us who really enjoy their music, it's probably a good thing - they just kept doing what they do best.

By the way, if you get a chance to see the Smithereens live, go for it. They put on a great show. Even after 25 years, they still make sure the audience has a great time.