*** Pat DiNizio

SONGS AND SOUNDS

(Velvel)

A listener approaching Songs and Sounds, Pat DiNizio's first solo record, runs across some pretty solid hints that the ex-Smithereens frontman is taking a wide left turn. There's the noirish faux Blue Note graphics, the presence of jazz saxophonist Sonny Fortune, the promise in the facetious liner notes that DiNizio's brave new sound will surprise "a great many people," and DiNizio's own description of the disc as "punk meets pop meets jazz." Then there's the somber, edgy atmospherics of the opening number, "Where I Am Going," a song by film-score composer Bernard Herrmann. Given all this, the real surprise of Songs and Sounds is that it remains so faithful to the moody pop tunefulness that was the Smithereens' stock-in-trade. Although the guitar-heavy crunch of the group's latter-day efforts has given way to a more nuanced sound, "124 MPH," "Everyday World," and "A World Apart" are the kind of tightly constructed melodic gems that made the Smithereens a dependable pleasure. DiNizio hasn't broken any stunning new ground, but he hasn't lost his touch, either.

-- Chris Erikson