Smithereens pay Beatles back in unusual way

The Smithereens went into a studio one afternoon and at 3 p.m., began with “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and performed the entire album in order. Finishing up “Not a Second Time,” DiNizio glanced at the clock on the studio wall. It said 12:15 a.m. Except for a few later overdubs, the project was done.

Even though DiNizio grew up learning how to sing to that album, he called it the most difficult vocal assignment of his career.

“The songs, while seeming simple, are amazingly complex,” he said. “The melody lines are very sophisticated. The chord changes are difficult to master. I had to dig deep because I wanted to give the Beatles the proper reverential respect that they deserve, but at the same time give the Smithereens the respect that they deserve, being true to our vision of what we do musically.”

It’s a difficult line to walk. Lean too much toward one side and the music is no better than what you’d hear from a cover band, the ones who wear Sgt. Pepper suits and are obsessed with making everything sound exactly like the record. Go the other way and it would be like that “Rubber Soul” tribute album from a few years back, where participating bands were so anxious to put their own stamp on songs that the project lost all sense of coherence.

The goal was to be like Van Cliburn covering a classical composer. Nobody confuses the song, but they know instantly it’s Van Cliburn at the piano, he said.

“This is our way of remembering or keeping alive a time or a life that we all knew and no longer exists,” DiNizio said. “Those things are gone. The e-mails that I’ve gotten from people who have bought the album already talk about crying, feeling like they are 6 or 7 years old again.

“It’s that emotional connection that is lacking from the ‘Love’ album, which is technically brilliant, but doesn’t have a lot of soul,” he said. “The soul was in the original recordings.”

Then there was the one-word e-mail that DiNizio received from an anonymous correspondent: “BLASPHEMY!”

You can’t please everyone.

DiNizio said if the project allows some listeners to drift back in time and recapture a memory from childhood, then it was worth it. As for himself, DiNizio can close his eyes and he’s back in the car with his dad one January afternoon, long long ago.

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