(A review of the DATE album from a Boston writer/Smithereens fan. Many thanks to Brett for allowing us to present his work here.)
"It's a pretty creepy record, isn't it?", asks lead singer/ rhythm guitarist/songwriter Pat DiNizio on the phone from his New York home. "Then we achieved what we set out to do, and, man, that's the best. Quite frankly, we don't give a shit anymore. We have nothing to lose at this point, so we made the album we wanted to make.
'So why's it so dark? Well, I'm not a particularly happy person these days, and I do feel that society's going to hell in a handbag. You can hear that in the first song ['War for My Mind"]: 'Guess what, there's a black cloud inside of my head, don't mess around with me or you'll find yourself dead.' If you live in New York City, you can feel that way, like everyone around you is a walking time bomb."
Although there ain't a happy song on it, Date may be the most enjoyable of the Smithereens' five mostly solid albums (even Blow Up, the least of the lot, had a killer single in "Top of the Pops." Behind their image as classic pop revivalists, there's always been a well-oiled bar band trying to kick their way out: on this record they finally break through. For the first time-they haven't used any keyboards, strings, or back-up singers. Those three elements are replaced respectively by guitars, guitars, and more guitars. And the new approach extends to the one guest star: whereas their other albums had the likes of Belinda Carlisle, Carlene Carter, and Marshall Crenshaw, this one has Lou Reed. DiNizio continues to write infectious hooks by the truckload, but instead of emoting about lost love, he's spewing about being sick of Seattle, wanting to attack strangers on the street, and springing John Gotti out of prison. Good dirty fun.
The band originally planned to have an album out more than a year ago; as it turned out they were too busy getting dropped by Capitol. Although Blow Up scared a lot of fans away, it also produced their biggest hit single in 'Too Much Passion"—not a fair tradeoff as far as the band are concerned. (It's telling that the song wasn't played during their concert-length set at the new Strawberries earlier this month.) DiNizio explains, "I think people viewed it as a middle-of-the-road record and figured we'd gone soft, but I don't think it was that. Everything has its season, so maybe it was our turn to get knocked."
The plan still called for a more aggressive sound on the follow-up, and it fell into place when Butch Vig said he wanted to produce it. "At the time we didn't know who the guy was. I didn't give a rat's ass about Nirvana, though I like them now [our conversation took place before Kurt Cobain's death]. We planned to start recording in December of '92, then he called us and said he couldn't start until February because the Smashing Pumpkins record was turning into some kind of psychodrama.
"Capitol was still insisting we work with this guy, so we were sitting around waiting for this big shot. Come July he dumped the project, and I think that sent a message to the label, so we got tossed into the 'garbage.' They almost got revenge by calling their RCA debut Gersh (after Gary Gersh, the new president of Capitol, who made their shit list), but they settled for bringing in their original producer,Don Dixon, who gives lead guitarist him Babjak a mighty sound that rivals that on many of Vig's fabled productions.
It's doubtful that Date will reestablish the Smithereens' cutting-edge credentials but it will likely prove that some familiar sounds deserve to stick around. The album's catchiest (and therefore best) track is also its most retro: "Can't Go Home Anymore, " a Beatles -at -Cavern -Club homage complete with blaring harmonica. The chorus of "You can't stay here, but you can't go home anymore" sums up the way DiNizio and company are evidently feeling these days, but what you hear is something a lot more uplifting: the sound of all that frustration being stomped into the ground. Precisely the stuff of which timeless pop is made.