It’s kinda funny…  when I think “The Smithereens” I think of my days at the University of Kentucky.  The New Jersey band’s debut album had come out during my freshman year of college and was in constant rotation on the local rock radio station and occasionally on MTV, which we watched incessantly during those times we had a break from classes or homework.  Their music was certainly the alternative to the heavy stuff I listened to but had enough “crash bang wallop” and melody to appeal to the other side of my tastes.

While “Blood And Roses” was my first exposure and the band’s first hit (which I do love), it’s “Behind The Wall Of Sleep”‘s driving beat and cool lyric that stands out the most to me.  The band doesn’t mess around from the get go, kicking in immediately with a heavy guitar and drum intro before jumping into the first verse as vocalist Pat DiNizio gets descriptive with a fantastic intro lyric about a girl with “hair like Jeannie Shrimpton back in 1965”.  Even if you didn’t know the namechecked 60s model, it visually pulls you in as DiNizio tosses in some other cool references to the girl that he dreams about “behind the wall of sleep”.  With such a strong melody and chorus, the lyric is one that you are easily caught up in  and perfectly fits the overall vibe of the song.

As for the instrumentation the rest of the band is hot, especially the guitar work from Jim Babjak.  The rhythm parts are excellent in how he switches from a couple of Pete Townshend style blasts into more open, chiming chords while his lead on the song fits the song perfectly- Babjak does a sliding two note pattern early before breaking into some subtle, slower bends that makes for a memorable solo.  And the rhythm section of Mike Mesaros on bass and Dennis Dijken on drums is purely smashing here courtesy of the former’s groovy bass runs and the latter’s solid timekeeping, both driving the song along with a heavy thump without going off the rails.

If you’re new to The Smithereens, the debut album has a number of worthy cuts and is a great mix of 60s style rock a la The Kinks and The Who with the melody of The Beatles.  But if you’ve only got a couple o’ bucks for a song or two, make sure you go for “Behind The Wall Of Sleep” to satisfy your tuneful rock jones.