LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- On March 14, Sunset Blvd. Records re-releases The Smithereens’ critically lauded 2011 album on limited-edition clear vinyl – its first-ever release on LP – and on compact disc for the first time in over a decade.
The seminal New Jersey power pop quartet’s original 2011 release was widely hailed as a return to their 1980s hit-making form and was a pure collaboration in every sense, musically and lyrically. Founding members Jim Babjak, Dennis Diken, and the late Pat DiNizio, who passed in 2017, shared songwriting credits on all 13 songs, including the lead-off single, “Sorry,” as well as Babjak’s “One Look at You” and Diken’s “Turn It Around.”
The sparkling 13-track collection features DiNizio on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Babjak on lead guitar, and Diken on drums, along with bassist Severo Jornacion. It was produced by longtime friend Don Dixon, whose credits include REM, Gin Blossoms, and Marshall Crenshaw.
“Wholly satisfying blast of classic Smithereens’ songcraft and melodicism, colored with Pat DiNizio’s impassioned vocals,” Goldmine enthused at the time. “The entire collection sounds like a return to The Smithereens’ mid-to-late ‘80s glory years, both song and performance-wise.”
Best known for hits like “Blood and Roses,” “Only a Memory,” “A Girl Like You,” and “Behind the Wall of Sleep,” The Smithereens’ unique marriage of East Coast rock and 1960s British Invasion is fully evident on 2011, along with their signature haunting hooks and frank lyricism. To this day, one of the hardest working bands treading the boards, all that’s great about The Smithereens is captured on 2011.
“Everything in Smithereens’ world is like a film noir shot in psychedelic colors,” said NPR’s Ken Tucker of 2011. “But this New Jersey band has a talent for creating fresh variations that prevent dust or mist from clouding their music.”
It's worth noting that 2025 marks The Smithereens' 45th anniversary and 45th continuous year as a band. They continue to tour with guest vocalists Marshall Crenshaw, Robin Wilson (Gin Blossoms,) and John Cowsill (The Cowsill/The Beach Boys,) and have an album of all new material coming out later this year. For more info:
2011 Track Listing
1. Sorry
2. One Look at You
3. A World of Our Own
4. Keep on Running
5. Rings on Her Fingers
6. As Long as You are Near Me
7. Bring Back the One I Love
8. Nobody Lives Forever
9. Goodnight Goodbye
10. All the Same
11. Viennese Hangover
12. Turn it Around
13. What Went Wrong
Sunset Blvd Records’ 2011 re-release comprises a limited run of just 1,000 copies on clear vinyl plus the album’s first compact disc release in fourteen years. Sunset Blvd. Records is a boutique independent label known for releases by iconic artists including Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Everclear, and The Dandy Warhols.
You can pre-order 2011 on vinyl or CD here: https://tinyurl.com/mr2hmb8n
On March 14, it will be available via Amazon and later this spring on www.officialsmithereens.com.