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A Date with The Smithereens

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A Date with the Smithereens is the fifth album by the New Jersey rock band The Smithereens, released in 1994. It is seen as a stylistically consistent with the melodic pop sensibilities of their earliest albums, along with the more rock-driven sound and production of their most commercially successful releases.[2]

A Date with The Smithereens
Studio album by
The Smithereens
Released26 April 1994 (1994-04-26)
Recorded1993–1994
StudioMagic Shop, New York City[1]
GenreRock, alternative rock, hard rock
Length48:28
LabelRCA
ProducerDon Dixon
The Smithereens
Lou Giordano
The Smithereens chronology
Blow Up
(1991) 		A Date with The Smithereens
(1994) 		God Save The Smithereens
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Entertainment WeeklyB[5]
Los Angeles Times[4]
Rolling Stone[3]

Details

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Producer Butch Vig left the project prior to the recording of the album, which may have inspired some of the "bitterness"[6] expressed in this album.

The album was originally planned to be released about a year before it actually was, but Capitol Records was near dropping The Smithereens. The reason for this was a change in leadership at the label. In the post-Nirvana climate of grunge music, the pop rock sound of their previous album Blow Up was considered old hat, despite the album including the band's second Top 40 hit single, "Too Much Passion". Butch Vig's departure from the project convinced Capitol's new leadership to drop The Smithereens from the label.

The Smithereens planned to start recording on the album in December 1992, but the recording was postponed to February 1993, because of the prioritization of The Smashing Pumpkins album Vig was working on. In July, Butch Vig gave up on the Smithereens, and shortly after, Capitol Records dropped them.

Only two weeks after The Smithereens were dropped by Capitol, they were signed to RCA Records. RCA wanted to establish a presence in the rock genre, and prioritized promotion of both the band and the album.[7] The Smithereens decided to work with Don Dixon again, who had previously produced their first two albums.

Artwork and title

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The album title may be based on the 1959 album A Date with Elvis and the cover may be based on a picture of four thugs standing on a street in New York featured in a book Dennis Diken owned. The font used for the title may have been based on the sleeve of a soundtrack album called "The theme from Ben Casey."[citation needed] As another reference to older albums, the cover includes the RCA Victor logo with Nipper the dog on it and it also included a logo saying "Living Stereo." The album came out on cassette, CD, and a box set of four seven-inch vinyl records. On the cassette and CD covers, the background color is red, but on the cover of the box set of records, the background color is light blue.

Reception

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The album received mixed reviews. Rolling Stone gave it four stars, calling the band's sound "distinctive and accessible", and complimenting Pat DiNizio's songcraft, which now included more driving, electrified guitar, humor, and socially conscious lyrics than on previous efforts.[3] Entertainment Weekly rated the album a B, noting that the melodic, "guitar-driven power pop" had moments of humor.[5] The review from Allmusic was more negative, however: the reviewer felt that the songs were poorly written, the sound of the album was "tired" and "worn out", and that the good songs only made the rest of the record more "dispiriting",[2] with a "weird undercurrent of bitterness".[8] This opinion was shared by Trouser Press, who felt that the album was inconsistent, weighed down by negativity even when trying to express more poetic, pop sentiment.[9] The Los Angeles Times gave the album 2½ stars out of 4, calling it a "solid, enjoyable effort". The reviewer felt that the band was "too rockin' and pop-savvy to make a bad album", but after 11 years as a recording band lacked "the expansiveness of style and imagination to make a great one".[4]

The mixed reception was reflected in the album's sales, which were among the lowest in the band's catalog. The album entered the Billboard 200 at #133, and remained on the chart for only two weeks. The first lead single, "Miles From Nowhere," only reached #17 on the Mainstream Rock chart. RCA dropped them after that album, leaving them without a record label for the next five years.[10]

Track listing

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Sources: Discogs,[11] Allmusic,[2] 45cat[12]

All tracks are written by Pat DiNizio, except where noted

No.TitleLength
1."War for My Mind"4:06
2."Everything I Have Is Blue"4:27
3."Miles from Nowhere"4:18
4."Afternoon Tea"3:55
5."Point of No Return" (Babjak)4:05
6."Sleep the Night Away"4:16
7."Love is Gone" (Babjak)3:40
8."Long Way Back Again"4:06
9."Gotti"4:51
10."Sick of Seattle"3:03
11."Can't Go Home Anymore"4:07
12."Life Is So Beautiful"3:25

Box set vinyl edition: The box set vinyl edition of the album also contained the additional tracks "I'm Sexy", "Keep Me Running" (Demo) and "Everything I Have Is Blue" (Demo). The order of the tracks is slightly different, and the mixes and track timings differ -- sometimes quite significantly -- from the CD/cassette mixes.

Personnel

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Adapted from the album's liner notes.[13]

The Smithereens

With:

  • Lou Reed – guitar solos on "Point of No Return" and "Long Way Back Again"
Technical
  • Don Dixon – producer
  • The Smithereens – producer, art direction
  • Lou Giordano – associate producer, engineer
  • Joe Warda – assistant engineer
  • Mark Avnet – digital editing
  • Greg Calbi – mastering
  • Jackie Murphy – art direction
  • Sean Smith – design
  • Michael Halsband – photography

Charts

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Chart (1994) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[14] 133

Singles

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Song US Mainstream Rock
"Miles from Nowhere" 17

References

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  1. ^ Verna, Paul (4 September 1999). "Studio Monitor". Billboard. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d "A Date with the Smithereens". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  3. ^ a b Odintz, Andrea (19 May 1994). "A Date with the Smithereens". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Archived from the original on 12 May 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  4. ^ a b Boehm, Mike (17 July 1994). "In Brief - A Date with The Smithereens". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  5. ^ a b Cannon, Bob (29 April 1994). "A Date with the Smithereens". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  6. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "God Save The Smithereens". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 21 December 2017. They were at that point with 1994's A Date With the Smithereens, but that record was hurt by a weird undercurrent of bitterness and Pat DiNizio's songwriting slump.
  7. ^ Haring, Bruce (29 June 1994). "The Smithereens". Variety.com. Retrieved 22 December 2017. RCA Records, still looking to establish itself on the rock front, has made the Smithereens a priority following the band's departure from Capitol Records.
  8. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "God Save The Smithereens". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 22 December 2017. They were at that point with 1994's A Date With the Smithereens, but that record was hurt by a weird undercurrent of bitterness and Pat DiNizio's songwriting slump.
  9. ^ Robbins, Ira. "The Smithereens". Trouser Press. Retrieved 22 December 2017. A Date With the Smithereens has its moments, but carries way too much baggage for it to be a fun time.
  10. ^ Morris, Chris (25 September 1999). "Die-Hard Band Releases 1st Set in 5 Years After Label Upheaval". Billboard. p. 15. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  11. ^ "A Date with the Smithereens". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2 April 2011.
  12. ^ "A Date with the Smithereens". 45cat.com. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  13. ^ A Date with The Smithereens (CD liner notes). The Smithereens. RCA. 1994.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  14. ^ "The Smithereens - Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
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