The Smithereens' masterwork '2011' album set for first-time release on vinyl on March 14, 2025

THE SMITHEREENS’ LAST ALBUM WITH ORIGINAL SINGER PAT DiNIZIO, 2011 RELEASED ON VINYL FOR FIRST TIME EVER & CD FOR FIRST TIME IN 10 YEARS ON MARCH 14, 2025

 

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- On March 14, Sunset Blvd. Records re-releases The Smithereens’ critically lauded 2011 album on limited-edition clear vinyl – its first-ever release on LP – and on compact disc for the first time in a decade. 

 

The seminal New Jersey power pop quartet’s first all-original album in twelve years upon its original 2011 release was widely hailed as a return to their 1980s hit-making form and was their last with original vocalist Pat DiNizio, who passed in 2017. The darkly sparkling 13-track collection was produced by Don Dixon (REM, Gin Blossoms, Marshall Crenshaw etc.)

 

“Wholly satisfying blast of classic Smithereens songcraft and melodicism, colored with Pat DiNizio’s impassioned vocals,” Goldmine enthused at the time. “The entire collection sounds like a return to the Smithereens’ mid-to-late ‘80s glory years, both song and performance-wise.”

 

The Smithereens in 2011.

Best known for hits like “Only a Memory,” “A Girl Like You”  and “Too Much Passion,” The Smithereens’ unique marriage of East Coast roots rock and 1960s British Invasion pop is fully evident on 2011, along with their signature haunting hooks and DiNizio’s morosely frank lyricism. To this day one of the hardest working bands treading the boards, all that’s great about The Smithereens is captured on 2011.

 

“Everything in Smithereens’ world is like a film noir shot in psychedelic colors,” said NPR’s Ken Tucker of 2011. “But this New Jersey band has a talent for creating fresh variations that prevent dust or mist from clouding their music.”

 

Sunset Blvd Records’ 2011 re-release comprises a limited run of just 1,000 copies on clear vinyl plus the album’s first compact disc release in ten years. Sunset Blvd. Records is a boutique independent label known for releases by iconic artists including Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Everclear and The Dandy Warhols.