Pat DiNizio

Album Review

Pat DiNizio's first two solo albums showed him moving away from the sound and style he established in his work with the Smithereens to explore different musical textures, especially 2006's jazz-influenced This Is Pat DiNizio, so there's a certain irony in the fact his third long player, simply called Pat DiNizio, is the one that most clearly recalls his work with his group. Most of the tunes on Pat DiNizio follow the Smithereens' classic template of '60s-style pop with big guitars, and as it happens two other members of the Smithereens back up DiNizio on these sessions, Jim Babjak on guitar and Severo "The Thrilla" Jornacion on bass. DiNizio does offer a few change-ups from the prototypical Smithereens approach with some spare, acoustic based numbers (such as "Night Without Sleep" and "Love"), but "Any Other Day" and "Don't Look Now" are his old band in all but name, and while the gloomy "Sometimes" and "Since You Went Away" attempt to take his pop inclinations into a new direction, the results just don't stretch as far from established territory as they need to have an identity of their own — not to mention the fact DiNizio has written better songs in the past. Pat DiNizio finds the star of this show in typically fine voice, and at less than thirty minutes it doesn't get the chance to wear out its welcome, but this sounds less like a solo effort than a slightly misbegotten Smithereens disc, and DiNizio's back catalog demonstrates he can do better than this.