The Broken Hearts

REVIEWS OF WANT ONE?

THE BROKEN HEARTS
Want One?
(The Paisley Pop Label; 2003)
Take one nerdy-looking guy (think Paul Atkinson, Tom McGuinness, Freddie Garrity and the like ... NO OFFENSE INTENTED!!!), representing the inteligent-pop side of things, a cool, garagey type (think dark-haired Brian Jones / Michael Clark lookalike) and a not-so-cool-looking-supertight rhythm section, and what you get is the perfect mid sixteez beat combo ... It's just that everything is happening in the mid '80s, seen through the paisley-paterned slide of four Hartford based moptops. When I first heard about The Broken Hearts, I thought of them only as Michael Mazzarella's pre-Rooks outfit, where he's learned his craft. I can't tell you how wrong I was ... This is up there with The Rooks' best efforts! Besides Michael, who delivers the usual FABulous mid'60s Lennonisms like "While You Were Having Fun" or "When I See You Looking My Way", guitarist/vocalist Tom Bittel and bassist/vocalist Jamie Beckett also contribute such jangly pop jewels like "Better Start Now" and "Just Love Ya" (Bittel) or the sped-up-78rpm-Merseybeat treatment of an unknown Motown track "You Won't Find Me" (Beckett/Mazzaralla) and another piece of blue-eyed soul called "Play That Song Again", which you surely will, after being attached to it's "cheap tricks". Along with the original '85 album, there's also no less than 11 (!) bonus tracks, featuring early demo versions of The Rooks' "Circle Of Fools" and "Always You And Me" (showing that Michael had already had an idea about his future band's sound, 7-8 years before they were even formed). Though of varying sound quality, more than worth the mention are also the Arthur Alexander inspired "Do Or Say" (Bittel), as well as a couple more of those that are sure to "break a heart" or two like "Stephanie" (Beckett), "Want To Be Sure" (Mazzarella) or "That Kind Of Girl" (Beckett/Mazzarella), all of which could have not only find their place in the released album, but could have been among it's highlights.

"Want One" ?!?! .... I want every single one of them!!! .......

Over and over again !!!
-Goran Obradovic / POPISM radio show; Serbia & Montenegro

THE BROKEN HEARTS
Want One?
(Paisley Pop)
A few years before founding underground power pop heroes The Rooks, songwriter Michael Mazzarella led The Broken Hearts, a clean-cut combo that personified the sparkling water jangle that permeated the underground in the 80s. This reissue adds a pile of outtakes, live cuts and demos to the group's lone album. Like most power poppers, The Broken Hearts had a couple of super tunes ("While You Were Having Fun," "Tuesday Evening Girl") which would have made a great 45 hidden amongst a flock of pleasant but undistinguished trifles. Power pop fanatics will love it, though.
- Michael Toland, High Bias

In 1985, a number of years before Mike Mazzarella started The Rooks, he formed a nice little power pop unit called the Broken Hearts. Along with guitarist Tom Bittel, bassist Jamie Beckett, and drummer Pat Yourell, this spunky quartet recorded Want One? in December/January '84/85 and released it-as was then the fashion-on vinyl. Reissued on Paisley Pop in 2003 on CD, the original nine songs have been augmented with 11 extras. Perhaps the first thing that calls attention to itself on Want One? is how non-pretentious and fun these songs are. Pieces like "You Won't Find Me" and "Play That Song Again" will remind the listener of the best of '60s pop, bouncing happily along for two or three minutes to the jangle of electric guitars, a steady backbeat, and an ever-present bass. The odds and ends that make up the extras help to fill the album out a bit. The energy level-raw and hyped up-on songs like "Circle of Fools" and "How About That" burns even brighter than the studio cuts. There's also a longer version-a prototype-of "Just Love Ya'" that includes an extended, surreal jam in the middle. The last two tracks ("Not Really in Love" and "Fool for Love") were recorded in 1986 and steer, interestingly enough, toward country-rock. Want One? provides a nice portrait of four young men finding their muse, and will be of interest to Rooks' fans and anyone who loves good, energetic pop music.
- Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., All Music Guide

The Broken Hearts
Want One?
Paisley Pop, 2003

The pleasures of Merseybeat (Beatles--pre Beatles For Sale, Gerry and The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas, The Searchers, et al.) has long provided a foundation for bands that promote the essence of rocking pop music. Whether changing the musical world (The Beatles), providing the foundation for folk rock (The Searchers with "Needles And Pins") or simply providing pleasant musical diversions with their versions of unrecorded Lennon-McCartney numbers (Billy J. Kramer's version of "Bad to Me"), Merseybeat had a beat and not only could you dance to it, but you can also sing along with the chorus as well.

The Broken Hearts were one of those bands who took of the mantle of Merseybeat during the middle 1980s, producing wonderful artifacts such as the recently reissued Want One? CD. Celebrating its return to print are eleven tracks joining the nine on the original issue.

Recorded 20 years after the ascent of the Mersey's first musical incarnation, The Broken Hearts more of an interpretation of the original sound, with an American garage rock sensibility present. For comparison, the high church of modern Merseybeat is usually considered in the context of the Spongetones. Where the Spongetones created wonderfully upbeat and catchy early-60's inspired pop rock, their commitment to capturing the sound reduced them at times to slavish imitators. The Broken Hearts, however, used the era of the 2:30 pop rock single from the UK as a source of inspiration.

This inspiration--along with the urgent garage-rock feel is particularly noticeable in the eleven bonus tracks that accompany the original nine songs. "Circle of Fools," for instance, offers a broader reinterpretation of mid-1960s radio-influenced pop, with a rhythm guitar line that brings to mind the Bobby Fuller Four's "I Fought the Law." Many of the bonus tracks were recorded in rehearsal spaces, apartments, or live in various studios in the northeast during the middle 1980s. Given their commitment to classic pop music forms, one can almost sense their urgencey and near desperation as they race through these numbers in preparation for a gig at one local dive or another--after all, what were you listening to in 1985? Remember that three of the biggest radio hits of '85 were "Like a Virgin," "I Want to Know What Love Is," and "Wake Me Up, Before you Go Go." Sounding like the Beatles was not in vogue, as even the developing indie rock underground was in the throes of devoting themselves to postpunk irony, beer, and tiny tour vans.

So--why buy this CD? It represents musicians practicing their art/craft at a time when doing something so unconventionally unconventional represented the epitome of punk. Besides, the melodies are good, the playing is tight, and you could dance to it. Drop a dime in the record machine, and let the Broken Hearts provide the soundtrack.

- Ken King, junkmedia.org

The Broken Hearts
Want One?
The Paisley Pop Label

We were lucky enough to include a Broken Hearts song on our BoB#60 CD. If you liked that song then you'll want this CD. Recorded back in 1984/85 it is the original album plus 11 bonus tracks.

The Broken Hearts played Beatles-styled, skinny-tied power pop - and judging by the songs and the great period photos, were probably a knock 'em dead live act. It was the band that Michael Mazzarella was in prior to forming The Rooks. He shares the vocal and guitar duties with one Tom Bittel, while Jamie Beckett is the bassist, and drums are handled by Pat Yourell, who also went on to The Rooks. Mazzarella has writing credits on four of the nine songs from the original record, plus four of the bonus tracks, which include a version of "Circle Of Fools" from June 1985. The CD booklet contains some great pictures and details of the recordings, but sadly no background on the band.

In all fairness it's not the greatest album you'll ever hear, but it is both a whole lot of fun and an intriguing slice of pop history, and as such is something to be treasured.

- Clint Thigh, Bucketfull Of Brains
Issue #64, Summer 2003

Eric Sorensen: Further Observations From a Boomer Music Fan

While I’m on the subject of saluting indie labels, a double round of applause is due to Jim Huie’s plucky Portland-based Paisley Pop label. The new Tim Lee solo disc, Under The House, and an 80s nugget, Want One? - by the Broken Hearts, were both just released on Paisley Pop...Want One? is a nifty slice of pop from Michael Mazzarella’s pre-Rooks days. There’s some great period pop tunes on this disc, plenty of bonus tracks, and enough chiming Rickenbacker riffs to keep me satisfied. Long may you run, Sir Michael! And hats off to Jim Huie for continuing to mine and release primo pop on his Paisley Pop (www.paisleypop.com) label.

- Fufkin.com, February 2003

The Broken Hearts
Want One?
The Paisley Pop Label

The Broken Hearts were an East Coast foursome who originally released their sole album, Want One?, in 1985. The original LP became a hot property among collectors, mainly due to the fact that half of The Broken Hearts - guitarist/vocalist Michael Mazzarella and drummer Pat Yourell - became mainstays in the fabulous Rooks, one of the finest pop-rock combos of the past decade or so

Paisley Pop has reissued the pleasant Want One? in digital format, adding 11 rare bonus tracks to the mix. The original nine cuts show The Broken Hearts to have a workmanlike approach to their somewhat antiseptic brand of rock, with Tom Bittel and Jamie Beckett both sharing the songwriting load with Mazzarella.

Mazzarella's songs are the clear standouts and include the head-bobbing, Beatles-y "When I See You Looking My Way" and the chirpy "Tuesday Evening Girl," which may be the snazziest tune ever written about phone sex. Otherwise, many of these songs are simply "power pop by numbers"; not bad, certainly, but nothing to really savor.

The real prizes here are the bonus cuts, which include previously unheard demo versions of a few songs that Mazzarella would later record with The Rooks on their 1993 debut album; The Broken Hearts' version of "Circle Of Fools" is strikingly similar to The Rooks' take (right down to the backing vocals), while "Always You And Me" is presented in a somewhat rawer fashion. Bittel's hip-shaking "Somebody For Me" recalls the poppier side of early Graham Parker And The Rumour, while Beckett's "How About That" is a Nick Lowe-soundalike (according to Mazzarella, Lowe was slated to produce The Broken Hearts' never-recorded follow-up.

Rooks fans will also be interested in "Want To Be Sure," another Mazzarella composition, and one that has never seen the light of day until now. Mazzarella also shares lead vocals with Beckett on their co-composition, the Rubber Soul-influenced "That Kind Of Girl." Things wind up with Bittel's good-timey rocker, "Fool For Love," which sounds like a 1978-era Dave Edmunds outtake.

Want One? is not groundbreaking stuff by any means, but it's always listenable and most definitely interesting from an archeological perspective.

- John M. Borack
Goldmine, Issue #603, September 5, 2003

THE BROKEN HEARTS
Want One? (Paisley Pop)
Reviewed by Erick Mertz

The Broken Hearts album Want One? falls into the proverbial "tale of two albums" quandary that often emerges when bonus tracks are stacked on top of original material. The first nine songs are post punk with a 50's pop twang, comparable to Elton John's "Benny and the Jets" or the Stray Cats. The jingle-jangle pop rock song writing of Mike Mazzarella is the back bone of the Broken Hearts and it isn't all that bad. For the first nine songs it's cheeky and simplistic, without the underlying sophistication of Elvis Costello who seemed to always be singing about more than just Alison.

The second half, consisting of eleven bonus songs, is wildly different in tone and structure from the boy meets girl first half. Amped up and raw, they are garage punk rock at its absolute coolest. Just when you're ready to tell Mike to just give up and stop calling her, he emerges with a basket of songs from the Buzzcocks stable of sneering, bile tasting grins.

The two halves of the album cannot help but split listeners; even if they like both, they would almost have to for divergent reasons. In this reviewer's opinion, the Broken Hearts are worth it on the muscular merits of the second half.

- Erick Mertz
Cosmik Debris, October, 2003