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''Meet The Smithereens!'' is the seventh studio
album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by
Carteret, New Jersey Carteret is a borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough's population was 25,326. History Carteret was originally created as the borough of Roosevelt on April 11, 1906, from portion ...
-based
rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...
The Smithereens The Smithereens are an American rock band from Carteret, New Jersey, United States. The group formed in 1980 with members Pat DiNizio (vocals & guitar), Jim Babjak (guitar & vocals), Mike Mesaros (bass guitar & vocals), and Dennis Diken (drums & ...
, released in stores on January 16, 2007. The album features the band covering
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
' 1964 American album, ''
Meet the Beatles! ''Meet the Beatles!'' is a studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released as their second album in the United States. It was the group's first American album to be issued by Capitol Records, on 20 January 1964 in both mono and ste ...
''. It is the first Smithereens album to feature Severo "The Thrilla" Jornacion, who replaced original bassist Mike Mesaros in 2006.


Background

In 2006, The Smithereens hadn't released an album in seven years since 1999's '' God Save The Smithereens''. "There was simply no demand from record companies for a new Smithereens album", lead singer
Pat DiNizio Patrick Michael DiNizio (October 12, 1955 – December 12, 2017) was the lead singer, songwriter, and founding member of the band The Smithereens, which he formed in 1980 with Jim Babjak, Dennis Diken, and Mike Mesaros, from Carteret, New Jersey ...
explained. The band still performed live, and in May 2005 they were invited to perform at
Abbey Road on the River Abbey Road on the River (AROTR) is a five-day, multi-staged music festival which was initially created to honor the music and spirit of the Beatles. The festival took place in Louisville, Kentucky over Memorial Day weekend but moved across the Ohi ...
, a Beatles music festival in
Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
. The band had often performed Beatles songs as encores and were asked to do a whole set of covers at the festival. During the set the audience called out for Smithereens songs and the band realized that there was some crossover between die-hard Beatles fans and Smithereens fans. Soon after, DiNizio began to receive e-mails from fans who had attended the concert suggesting the band record an album of Beatles songs. The band was intrigued and decided to record an album of all-Beatles material as a way to reintroduce The Smithereens to their old audience. “I realized that to attempt to record songs from every phase of the Beatles’ career and have any sense of continuity would be almost impossible", DiNizio said. The idea of a song-by-song cover of ''Meet The Beatles!'' took shape when DiNizio came across an article in the October 2006 issue of ''
American Heritage American Heritage may refer to: * ''American Heritage'' (magazine) * ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' * American Heritage Rivers * American Heritage School (disambiguation) See also *National Register of Historic Place ...
'' magazine titled "1964 - When a New Age Was Born". It talked about the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, America dealing with the
assassination of John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle with ...
, the
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
but also about
Beatlemania Beatlemania was the fanaticism surrounding the English rock band the Beatles in the 1960s. The group's popularity grew in the United Kingdom throughout 1963, propelled by the singles "Please Please Me", "From Me to You" and "She Loves You". By ...
. "I believe ''Meet the Beatles'' is historically the most important rock-and-roll album ever released in America", DiNizio said. "It just started a cultural revolution that hasn't stopped". DiNizio contacted Bob Frank, president at the band's last record label,
Koch Records MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch", formerly known as Koch Records and eOne Music) is a New York City-based independent record label and music management company. It was formed in 2009 from the music assets of Koch Entertainment, which had b ...
, and presented him the idea of "The Smithereens versus The Beatles". Frank loved the idea and signed the band to a new record deal. According to DiNizio, the band immersed themselves in 1964 ephemera in preparation for recording, with objects like magazines, posters and the
bobblehead A bobblehead, also known by common silly nicknames such as nodder, wobbler, or wacky wobbler, is a type of small collectible action figure. Its head is often oversized compared to its body. Instead of a solid connection, its head is connected to ...
s that made the cover.Crawdaddy! ''Crawdaddy'' was an American rock music magazine launched in 1966. It was created by Paul Williams, a Swarthmore College student at the time, in response to the increasing sophistication and cultural influence of popular music. The magazine ...
"> With Kurt Reil of The Grip Weeds co-producing, the album was recorded in five days in November 2006 at The Grip Weeds' House of Vibes studio in
Highland Park, New Jersey Highland Park is a borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States in the New York City metropolitan area. The borough is located on the northern banks of the Raritan River, in the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2020 United States Cens ...
. "It was really successful", DiNizio said of the album in 2013, "it broke download records on
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
– and it put us on the front page of the
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
leisure section on Sunday, so och Recordslet us do a Christmas album, another Beatles tribute and the live album".


Track listing


Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. ;The Smithereens *
Pat DiNizio Patrick Michael DiNizio (October 12, 1955 – December 12, 2017) was the lead singer, songwriter, and founding member of the band The Smithereens, which he formed in 1980 with Jim Babjak, Dennis Diken, and Mike Mesaros, from Carteret, New Jersey ...
 – vocals, guitar, production *
Jim Babjak Jim Babjak (born November 17, 1957) is an American guitarist and ex-banker. He is the lead guitar player and co-founder of The Smithereens. Babjak has written and sung several songs for the band. He also is the leader of the band ''Buzzed Meg''. ...
 – guitar, vocals (lead vocals on "Don't Bother Me"), production *Severo "The Thrilla" Jornacion – bass *
Dennis Diken Dennis Diken (born February 25, 1957) is an American drummer, DJ, author, music historian, and founding member of the band the Smithereens, which he formed in 1980 with Pat DiNizio, Jim Babjak, and Mike Mesaros in Carteret, New Jersey. Besides ...
 – drums, percussion, vocals (lead vocals on "I Wanna Be Your Man"), production, liner notes ;Additional personnel *
John Hawken John Christopher Hawken is an English keyboard player, best known as a member of The Nashville Teens, Renaissance, and the Strawbs. He also played in Spooky Tooth, Third World War, Vinegar Joe, Illusion, as well as being a session musician. ...
 – piano on "Little Child" and "Not a Second Time" *
Dave Amels Dave Amels (born 1960) co-founded music technology companies Voce musical instruments and Bomb Factory. Both companies are known for detailed and realistic mathematical models of complex physical systems. Amels also plays organ in The Reigning S ...
 – organ on "I Wanna Be Your Man" * Kurt Reil – vocals, production, recording, mixing *Kristin Reil – percussion on "Don't Bother Me" *Dennis Drake – mastering *Paul Grosso – creative direction *Andrew Kelley – art direction, package design *Todd Sinclair – CD cover design *
Bruce Spizer David "Bruce" Spizer (born July 2, 1955) is a tax attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana, who is also recognized as an expert on the Beatles. He has published thirteen books, and is frequently quoted as an authority on the history of the band and ...
 – liner notes *
Dennis Mitchell Dennis Allen Mitchell (born February 20, 1966) is an American former college and international track and field Athletics (sport), athlete, who was a member of the gold medal-winning team in the 4 x 100 met ...
 – liner notes *
Lenny Kaye Lenny Kaye (''né'' Kusikoff; born December 27, 1946) is an American guitarist, composer, and writer who is best known as a member of the Patti Smith Group. Early life Kaye was born to Jewish parents in the Washington Heights area of upper Ma ...
 – liner notes * Sid Bernstein – liner notes *
Andy Babiuk Andy Babiuk ( ; born November 27, 1963) is an American musician, author, consultant, and owner of Andy Babiuk's Fab Gear in Fairport, New York. He is a founding member and bassist of the supergroup The Empty Hearts and was also a member of The C ...
 – liner notes *Dave Connolly – liner notes


References


External links

* ''
Crawdaddy! ''Crawdaddy'' was an American rock music magazine launched in 1966. It was created by Paul Williams, a Swarthmore College student at the time, in response to the increasing sophistication and cultural influence of popular music. The magazine ...
''
Meet the Smithereens... Again!
*
NY Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Interpreting the Beatles Without Copying
{{Authority control 2007 albums The Beatles tribute albums The Smithereens albums