Customer Reviews

Especially for You

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Power Pop was never the same after "Especally For You" hit store shelves in 1986 - it instantly changed the rules about how LOUD guitars could be recorded in the genre along with the usual killer melodies, terrific musicianship and great songwriting.

The Who, Hollies, Kinks, Badfinger, The Nazz, Big Star and The Raspberries created the form, and Power Pop was expanded upon by Cheap Trick, Dwight Twilley, The Romantics, Shoes and 20/20 in the Seventies. Unfortunately after the hype of The Knack faded, Power Pop went into a deep recession for a few years, with only Marshall Crenshaw, The SpongeTones, The dB's, The Bongos, and a few others keeping the flame alive.

But these tough but tender Jersey Guys had the heart, talent and guts to really CRANK the guitars into hard rock/metal/punk territory - getting it back in touch with it's British Invasion roots. And by doing this they completely updated and refreshed the genre which was left for dead in the "skinny tie" early 80's. The sounds from this LP still resonate today.

Without this album I don't think the Posies, Matthew Sweet (and glup - Nirvana too) would have had any ideas and the guitar tone for their 90's landmark albums. The Smithereens first CD is great all the way through and still sounds fresh today with no throwaway songs, (including Jim's funny and now classic "White Castle Blues"). Many have become longtime Smithereens fan favorites. Go Get it!

So said the promo sticker adhered to the vinyl version when this album first came out (1986). And it's true. This is some of the most ferocious guitar power-pop you'll ever hear as "Behind the Wall of Sleep" and "Blood and Roses" amply demonstrate. It's also one of the best albums of the 80s. This one's a gem from the perfect opening track, "Strangers When We Meet", to the inclusion of two bonus tracks at the end. Also true: the Smithereens were never quite able to come up with a worthy sequel to this, their masterpiece. Though you might be eyeing that "Best of..." CD to get all their hits, this is really the album of theirs to get - this is their best.

9 times out of 10 it's kind of cringeworthy to revisit the music you loved as a youth... "I actually thought that was GOOD?".... but without a doubt, this album stands the test of time. I appreciate the arrangements more every time I hear it...... Upbeat rhythyms, intelligent lyrics, play it loud and sing your heart out.

Especially For You was the first full-length album by The Smithereens. To my mind, it's still their very best effort. Every song on the album is a keeper; for me, the highlights are Behind The Wall Of Sleep and In A Lonely Place. There are a lot of catchy tunes here, and the band did a good job of mixing moods and tempos.

The engineering by Don Dixon also deserves special mention. I saw the band live during the Especially For You tour; Dixon gets the sound of the band spot-on, not cleaning up their sound like the later albums engineered by Ed Stasium (11, Blow Up).

The vinyl album had only the first 12 tracks. The original CD from Enigma added White Castle Blues, one of the few songs by The Smithereens that is not written and sung by Pat DiNizio; instead, we are treated to a rough but passionate vocal by the drummer, Dennis Diken. The reissue CD adds a cover of Mr Eliminator.

1. Strangers When We Meet
2. Listen to Me Girl
3. Groovy Tuesday
4. Cigarette
5. I Don't Want to Lose You
6. Time and Time Again
7. Behind the Wall of Sleep
8. In a Lonely Place
9. Blood and Roses
10. Crazy Mixed-up Kid
11. Hand of Glory
12. Alone at Midnight
13. White Castle Blues

"She had hair like Jeanie Shrimpton back in 1965"!!! Yes indeed, memories!

A great album, a rock classic."Behind the Wall of Sleep" worship of the archtypical female rock goddess,"Strangers when we Meet", "Blood and Roses", Fresh great production, songs with hooks. The only sad thing is that the Smithereenes would spend the rest of their careers, to date, trying to sound as good as they did on this album.

Don Dixon has an uncanny ability to extract the most from the bands he produces.

Not their best seller, but arguably their best album. Especially For You has the texture and depth of a classic sixties pop LP, made before the Jersey boys turned up the amps to eleven. Derivative as can be - shamelessly so. Which is why it works. No one's playin' footsies here - the Smithereens are out to win your heart. Fun, fun, fun.

IT IS REALLY A CRIME THAT I AM THE FIRST ONE TO WRITE A REVIEW OF A CD THAT HAS BEEN OUT OVER A DECADE. TO ME IT MEANS A WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE ARE MISSING OUT ON A TERRIFIC BAND, ONE WHO CONTINUES TO THRIVE AND SURVIVE AFTER ALL THIS TIME. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST CDS OF THE 80S. THE MUSIC IS GREAT, DON DIXON'S PRODUCTION WORK IS SECOND TO NONE, AND THE SONGS INCLUDE SUCH CLASSICS AS "BEHIND THE WALL OF SLEEP" AND "BLOOD AND ROSES"

Does the world got you down? Feeling alone and blue and tired of living?Sick of playing the game of love? Well so is Pat Dinizio, frontman of the Smithereens. And never before have these tired emotions sounded so darn good. Catchy as anything to emerge from the first british invasion. "Strangers When We Meet" may very well be the most hook-laden pop nugget of the late eighties.

Probably on the dirtiest word to use in the presence of a rock fan is "Pop." Each generation, trying to latch on to some fresh sound, and break all ties with their parents, renames "pop." Ask a 1987 college kid (I mean young adult), who's bouncing around to Especially For You by the Smithereens, what he's listening to, and he'll say "Man, this is "alternative" rock (or some variation). Dress it up in leather, strap on some heavy guitars, and built a 15-piece drum kit. You still get Pop: Beach Boys' multi-part vocal harmonies (Hand Of Glory), the shining and delicate interwoven guitar work of the Byrds (Crazy Mixed-Up Kid), and those Searchers' "can't help myself from singing along" melodies (In A Lonely Place). Pat Dinizio may look like at beatnik (predating the British Invasion), but this guy can write some catchy hooks (check the "woke up" background vocals on `Groovy Tuesday'). In the world of Pop (see, it's not such a nasty word), Especially For You ranks right up there with Marshall Crenshaw's debut and Like This by the dB's.

So what's separates the Smithereens from the Beach Boys/Byrds/Searchers? How about attack and lyrics. "Behind The Wall Of Sleep" bounces around like a Go-Go girl on Shindig, but the band thrashes the song with scathing electric guitars. Byrds' jangle-guitars are all over "I Don't Want To Lose You, but here the drummer shows no mercy. The lyrics are based on the "Boy Meets Girl" Pop doctrine (Listen To Me Girl), but DiNizio gets sullen. The Searchers would never sing "I close my eyes and I see bloody roses" (Bloody and Roses). And certainly the every-mother-loves the Beach Boys would never have touched a filthy cigarette (Cigarette).

I know that it's tough, but say it. Say "I love Pop." See, it wasn't that difficult. Especially For You closes the nineteen-eighties with a Pop masterpiece. I gave copies to my own kids, and told then it was "grunge hip-hop rap rock." They've never spoken to me again.