[4] For Beauty and Sadness, The Smithereens enlisted producer Alan Betrock and engineer James A.

Betrock had previously worked on early efforts by Blondie and Marshall Crenshaw, while Ball's credits included albums by John Lennon and The Go-Go's.

The band then played gigs to finance the completion of an EP and regrouped in January 1983 to record three more songs.

[4] The Smithereens showed a lot of growth in their sound, thanks to playing around the New Jersey area as well as serving as the backing band for Otis Blackwell.

The Beauty and Sadness EP received a four-star rating from Rolling Stone magazine.