*FOR SONG DETAILS, click on the title of each track*

TAKEN DIRECTLY FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER TAPE



THE BROKEN HEARTS
Michael Mazzarella - Rhythm guitar, lead/background vocals

"I think at that time, I just wanted to be Rockpile."
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Jamie Beckett - Bass guitar, lead/background vocals

"I wanted to have the opportunity to play with talented, creative people who would push me to do my best. It’s easy to punk out and live an average life, with average results. I always had the attitude that I would drive myself to do things that threatened me. To some degree, I think we satisfied those goals within the first few months of the band."
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Tom Bittel - Lead/rhythm guitars, lead/background vocals

"I really wanted to find a situation where there was original music being made, and where I could develop my songwriting in a group setting."
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Patrick Yourell - Drums, background vocals

"I just wanted to play, to tour and put out good quality music."
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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.
- All Music Guide -


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Everything is happening in the mid-80s, seen through the paisley-patterned slide of four Hartford, CT based moptops. When I first heard about The Broken Hearts, I thought of them only as Michael Mazzarella’s pre-Rooks outfit, where he learned his craft. I can’t tell you how wrong I was. WANT ONE? 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 YOU WON'T FIND ME (Beckett/Mazzarella) and another piece of blue-eyed soul called PLAY THAT SONG AGAIN (Beckett).

Want One?!?! I want every single one of them over and over again!!!
- Pop Diggers -


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Originally released in 1985 on the sparsely distributed Scarlette label, this fine album of power-pop has been something of a well-kept secret (and vinyl rarity) for decades. The Broken Hearts play pop that matches the work of L.A. bands like 20/20, The Plimsouls and The Beat, East Coast outfits like The Neighborhoods and The Smithereens, and, of course, with ancestral connections to The Flamin' Groovies and Mersey-era bands like The Beatles.

And much like The Fab Four, The Broken Hearts sported three singer/songwriters, each taking turns at lead and backing vocals. Their lyrics fall into the earnest can't-quite-find-love camp traditional to power-pop, backed by harmonies that bring to mind The Hollies, The Searchers and other British Invasion harmony groups. The twin guitars spin insanely catchy riffs, and the drumming has a terrifically punchy DIY sound.

This album is a proverbial tackle box full of hooks. The opener's chiming guitars, urgent drumbeats and pop-soul vocals are the epitome of power-pop perfection. BETTER START NOW and WHILE YOU WERE HAVING FUN bring to mind The Nerves, and the harmonies and melody of PLAY THAT SONG AGAIN provide an appropriately nostalgic underline to the song's wistful lyric. WHEN I SEE YOU LOOKING MY WAY could be a long-lost Gary Lewis & The Playboys song, if Gary played uptempo and put a bit more sock into his drumming. And the twangy TUESDAY EVENING GIRL brings to mind the best Beatle-esque qualities of The Knack.
- Hyperbolium -


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The Broken Hearts were one of those bands who took up the mantle of Merseybeat during the mid-80s, producing wonderful artifacts such as the reissued WANT ONE?. The Broken Hearts offer an interpretation of the original sound augmented with an American garage rock sensibility.

So, why buy this CD? Because it represents musicians practicing their 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 can dance to it. Drop a dime in the record machine and let the Broken Hearts provide the soundtrack.
- Ken King/Junkmedia -

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