Conventional wisdom says that had the Smithereens hit today rather than the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, they might be riding high on the current garage juggernaut – after all, their best tunes, like “Behind The Wall of Sleep,” “A Girl Like You,” “Only A Memory,” and “Blues Before and After” mine the same Nuggets-y power-pop vein as the current class of black-leather rockers, though with a distinctly crunchy, blue-collar vibe (befitting their Jersey roots). I dunno about that – mainstream rock success usually depends less on what you’re playing and more on how you look while you’re doing it, and the Smithereens only had one member with (semi) pin-up looks (bassist Mike Mesaros); the rest of ‘em (frontman and chief songwriter Pat DiNizio, guitarist Jim Babjak, and drummer Dennis Diken, who contributes this collection’s excellent liner notes) looked like they worked at a deli counter, so chances are had they broke in ’05, they’d be exactly where they’ve been for the last two decades – a well-respected cult band with impeccable influences and a decent fistful of hits.

Said fistful is present and accounted for on this double-disc collection – in addition to the aforementioned songs, there’s also the gorgeously gloomy “Blood and Roses” (the band’s breakout hit, culled from a crap-o Cannon movie called Dangerously Close), stompers “Drown In My Own Tears” and “House That We Used To Live In,” and the band’s spot-on swirls through R&B and ’64 Britpop (“Too Much Passion,” “Baby Be Good,” “Top of the Pops,” “Yesterday Girl”). There’s also a passel of unreleased stuff, natch, best of which is a boozy rip through the stoopid (read: brilliant) “White Castle Blues,” and a gorgeous, creamy-smooth take on “Cut Flowers” (from 11) with backing vocals by The Honeys, the ‘60s girl group that featured Brian Wilson’s ex-wife and sister-in-law.