A Date With The Smithereens by The Smithereens

A Date with the Smithereens, the fifth album from the New Jersey band, landed on RCA in 1994 with Don Dixon producing, and it splits the difference between the band's two personalities. There's the melodic pop craft of their earliest records, and there's the heavier, beefed-up rock punch of the albums that sold the most.

Pat DiNizio sings in that low, moody croon of his and plays guitar alongside Jim Babjak, while Mike Mesaros on bass and Dennis Diken on drums keep everything tight and chunky. "Miles From Nowhere" shows the formula working, a brooding melody wrapped in crunchy guitars. Their run of hits stretched into the mid-'90s, and this is the sound of four guys from Carteret who still knew exactly what a great rock single should feel like.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.