Whatever you want to call it–a psychedelic revival, a garage-rock resurrection–the current rush back to mid-Sixties musical roots is producing some of the best songwriting in the country. A lot of people are put off by revivalism of any sort, but when it can inspire a smashing, five-star song like the title tune of the debut record by New Jersey's Smithereens, revivalist reservations seem irrelevant. Animated by a lurching, "Ticket to Ride"-style guitar riff that instantly summons up images of black-clad Beatles schussing through the Alpine snows, "Beauty and Sadness" is a perfectly detailed period piece: walloping drums, shimmering cymbal washes, a plaintive, prehippie vocal and a rich, yearning melody that carries you right away. In short, a hit.

Of the four remaining cuts, two are almost equally neat: "Tracy's World," a folk-rocker whose melody seems to partake, quite engagingly, of late-period Shangri-Las, and "Some Other Guy," a high-harmony number with an instantly winning chorus. Only "Much Too Much," an out-of-place rockabilly item, seems ill-advised, and the unadorned instrumental version of "Beauty and Sadness" cries out for full, backward-guitar psychedelic ornamentation. But three out of five ain't bad–and "Beauty and Sadness" deserves a nationwide hearing. (RS 407)

KURT LODER