This Is Pat DiNizio

I have always loved the Smithereens. They refuse to compromise; they're a working class band from New Jersey and they don't try to hide it. But their most appealing element is the repeated theme unrequited love and the paralyzing pain of a broken heart. No band expressed these emotions as raw as the 'Reens with Pat channeling. So it was with great enthusiasm that I started to sample these covers, expecting that same pain and passion. Alas, as a previous reviewer summed it, Pat can't cut it on his on. He desperately needs some backing, and the garage-band sound of the Smithereens was perfect. This album is beyond awful, it's painful, very sad to say. Pat should bring the boys together and re-record some of these songs, this is just way too ambitious.

Is this some kind of insider joke we are not in on? Playing Moon River & Surfer Girl could clear out a party faster than pulling a fire alarm. Pat's voice needs a driving guitar behind it, not isolated in an empty bathroom.

Smithereens: Very good rock band with hooky riffs. This is borderline unlistenable. Low, moaning voice with no tone or melody -- sounds like he's singing in the shower. Pitchy all over the place. Studio engineer must've had a gun to his head. The spacey piano and overall desolate mood makes this seem more like the soundtrack to a suicide. Wow is this bad. Listen (if you dare) to him laboring through "Moon RIver" -- all of the lilting melody and romance is completely sucked out of this song, thus proving that he is well out of his league. This might go down as one of the worst albums of all time. Dude, stick to the rock.