Sharing the thrill of the Beatles’ arrival in the U.S.

Though no one could ever capture the visceral thrill of first hearing Meet the Beatles, the Smithereens have waxed a record that shares the feeling U.S. fans get every time they crank up the fab four’s Capitol debut. The songs, vocals, harmonies and guitars all resound with the wave of energy brought to U.S. shores in 1964, and though Meet the Beatles was neither the Beatles first album (the UK Please Please Me holds that distinction), it was very much the record that introduced the Beatles to the U.S. The album isn’t even an album in the conventional sense of having been produced in a single, related set of recording sessions. Instead, Capitol manufactured Meet the Beatles by trimming away cover versions, collecting originals from the Beatles second album (the UK With the Beatles) and adding U.S. singles sides. In doing so they squeezed the essence of the Beatles originality into twelve tracks.

The Smithereens’ recreate the album’s original twelve track running with faithful cover versions. Pat DiNizio’s voice is thicker than McCartney’s and Lennon’s, and it keeps him from breaking free with the youthful exuberance that could elicit deafening shrieks from 15-year-old girls. On the more wounded numbers, such as “This Boy,” “All I’ve Got To Do,” “Not a Second Time,” and George Harrison’s “Don’t Bother Me,” he finds a fit. Paul McCartney’s obsession with music hall tunes rears its head with “Till There Was You,” and though the fifty-something Pat DiNizio isn’t as starry-eyed as the 20-something McCartney, it still hurts. There’s no denying the love and craft in this tribute, but with the original so readily available, this is mostly the province of Smithereens loyalists. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]