Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1986…
#8 – Especially For You – The Smithereens
I didn’t hear The Smithereens’ debut studio album until several years later when the band played a free concert during my freshman year at the University of Florida. I liked what I heard at that show so much I picked up this CD the next day.
Especially For You is an alternative pop rock masterpiece, featuring one absolute banger after another. Lead singer/songwriter Pat DiNizio called the album “a greatest hits collection from a band nobody’s heard of” because they’d been writing and playing for five years before recording the album.
That seasoning is evident in this collection of muscular rock, off-kilter ballads, and sweet power pop. Lead single ‘Blood and Roses’ had the most success, but everything here is worthy of hit status.
One standout is the sultry bossa nova ‘In a Lonely Place,’ featuring Suzanne Vega, a song my sister fell in love with when I included it on a mix tape. Another is the Buddy Holly rockabilly of ‘Crazy Mixed-Up Kid.’ But pick a track and random and you’ll be rewarded.
She had hair like Jeannie Shrimpton, back in 1965
She had legs that never ended
I was halfway paralyzed
She was tall and cool and pretty
And she dressed as black as coal
If she’d ask me to, I’d murder
I would gladly lose my soul
[Chorus]
Now I lie in bed and think of her
Sometimes I even weep
Then I dream of her, behind the wall of sleep
[Verse 2]
Well she held a bass guitar and
She was playing in a band
And she stood just like Bill Wyman
Now I am her biggest fan
Now I know I’m one of many who
Would like to be your friend
And I’ve got to find a way
To let you know I’m not like them
[Chorus]
Now I lie in bed and think of her
Sometimes I even weep
Then I dream of her, behind the wall of sleep
[Chorus]
Now I lie in bed and think of her
Sometimes I even weep
Then I dream of her, behind the wall of sleep
[Verse 3]
Got your number from a friend of mine
Who lives in your hometown
Called you up to have a drink
Your roommate said you weren’t around
Now I know I’m one of many
Who would like to be your friend
And I’ve got to find a way to
Let you know I’m not like them
[Chorus]
Now I lie in bed and think of her
Sometimes I even weep
Then I dream of her, behind the wall of sleep
[Outro]
Behind the wall of sleep
Behind the wall of sleep
Behind the wall of Sleep
Meet Me In Montauk 
I never got on the Smithereens train, although I do like the song you put on Amy’s mix tape. Maybe if I had gone with you to that concert at UF…