Tommy James and the Shondells - The Definitive Pop Collection (2CD) 2006seeders: 12
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Tommy James and the Shondells - The Definitive Pop Collection (2CD) 2006 (Size: 195.25 MB)
Description Tommy James and the Shondells are an American rock and roll group whose period of greatest success came in the late 1960s. They had two No. 1 singles in the U.S. — "Hanky Panky" (1966) and "Crimson and Clover" (196 — and also charted twelve other Top 40 hits, including five in the top ten: "I Think We're Alone Now", "Mirage", "Mony Mony", "Sweet Cherry Wine", and "Crystal Blue Persuasion". The band formed in 1959 in Niles, Michigan, first as the Echoes, then under the name Tom and the Tornadoes, with Tommy James (then known as Tommy Jackson), then only 12, as lead singer. In 1964 James renamed the band The Shondells because the name "sounded good." At this time, the Shondells were composed of Tommy James (vocals and guitar), Larry Coverdale (lead guitar), Larry Wright (bass), Craig Villeneuve (keyboards) and Jim Payne (drums). Later that year, the band recorded the Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich song "Hanky Panky" (originally a B-side by The Raindrops). Released by a local label, Snap Records, James's version sold respectably in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, but Snap Records had no national distribution. Although the band toured the eastern Midwest, no other market took to the song. The single failed to chart nationally, and The Shondells disbanded in 1965 after graduating from high school. At first, Tommy James and His Shondells played straightforward rock and roll, but soon became involved in the budding bubblegum music movement. Songwriter Ritchie Cordell gave them the No. 4 hit "I Think We're Alone Now" and the No. 10 hit "Mirage" in 1967. In 1968, James had a No. 3 hit with "Mony Mony". Co-written by James, Cordell, Cordell's writing partner Bo Gentry, and Bobby Bloom, "Mony Mony" reached No. 3 in the US and was a British No. 1 in 1968. The title was inspired by a sign for Mutual Of New York that hung outside James' apartment window. He followed it with the song "Do Something to Me". However, James was labeled as a bubble-gum rock artist, which he hated. Therefore, he changed his style to psychedelic rock. From 1968, the group began writing their own songs, with James and Lucia penning the psychedelic classic "Crimson and Clover". The song was recorded and mixed by Bruce Staple, with James tackling vocal duties and playing all instruments, and featured the then unusual use of electronic gadgetry such as vocoders and phasers. Later in 1968, the group toured with Vice President Hubert Humphrey during his presidential campaign. Humphrey showed his appreciation by writing the liner notes for the Crimson and Clover album. Further hits included "Sweet Cherry Wine", "Crystal Blue Persuasion", and "Ball of Fire", all from 1969. They also produced "Sugar on Sunday", later covered by The Clique. As the band embraced the sounds of psychedelia, they were invited to perform at the Woodstock concert but declined. The group continued until 1970, and were commercially successful with six million-selling gold records: "Hanky Panky", "I Think We're Alone Now", "Mony Mony", "Crimson and Clover", "Sweet Cherry Wine", and "Crystal Blue Persuasion". At a concert in Birmingham, Alabama in March of that year, an exhausted James collapsed after coming off stage from a reaction to drugs and was actually pronounced dead. He recovered and decided to move to the country to recuperate. His four band-mates carried on for a short while under the name of "Hog Heaven" but disbanded soon afterwards. In a 1970 side project, James wrote and produced the No. 7 hit single "Tighter, Tighter" for the group Alive N Kickin'. James launched a solo career in 1971 that yielded two notable hits over a 10-year span, "Draggin' the Line" (1971) and "Three Times in Love" (1980). This collection includes 27 songs from the band (1966-1970) and 3 songs from Tommy James (1971 and 1976). Tracklist: CD1 01. Hanky Panky (1966) (Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich) - 2:51 02. Say I Am (What I Am) (1966) (Bob Mack/Tommy James) - 2:29 03. It's Only Love (1966) (Ritchie Cordell/Sal Trimachi/Morris Levy) - 2:14 04. I Think We're Alone Now (1967) (Ritchie Cordell) - 2:08 05. I Like The Way (1967) (Ritchie Cordell) - 2:40 06. Mirage (1967) (Ritchie Cordell) - 2:36 07. (Baby, Baby) I Can't Take It No More (1967) (Ritchie Cordell/Tommy James) - 2:22 08. Run, Run, Baby, Run (1967) (Ritchie Cordell) - 2:18 09. Gettin' Together (1967) (Ritchie Cordell) - 2:13 10. Real Girl (1967) (Darla Landan/Darlene Landan) - 2:16 11. Out Of The Blue (1967) (Ritchie Cordell/Bo Gentry) - 2:22 12. Love's Closin' In On Me (1967) (Tommy James/Mike Vale/Ritchie Cordell/Bo Gentry) - 2:12 13. Get Out Now (196 (Bo Gentry/Ritchie Cordell) - 2:10 14. One Two Three And I Fell (196 (James Calvert/Ritchie Cordell/Bo Gentry) - 2:17 15. (I'm) Taken (196 (Peter Anders/Tommy James) - 2:24 CD2 01. Mony Mony (196 (Bobby Bloom/Ritchie Cordell/Bo Gentry/Tommy James) - 2:52 02. Somebody Cares (196 (Harvey Weisenfeld/Bo Gentry/Ritchie Cordell) - 2:39 03. Do Something To Me (196 (James Calvert/Paul Naumann/Norman Marzano) - 2:28 04. Crimson And Clover (196 (Tommy James/Peter Lucia) - 3:27 05. Sugar On Sunday (1969) (Tommy James/Mike Vale) - 3:25 06. Sweet Cherry Wine (1969) (Tommy James/Richard Grasso) - 4:24 07. Crystal Blue Persuasion (1969) (Tommy James/Mike Vale/Eddie Gray) - 4:01 08. Ball Of Fire (1969) (Tommy James/Mike Vale/Bruce Sudano/Woody Wilson/Paul Naumann) - 3:04 09. She (1969) (Tommy James/Mike Vale/Jeff Katz/Jerry Kasenetz/Ritchie Cordell) - 2:00 10. Loved One (1969) (Tommy James/Mike Vale) - 3:38 11. Gotta Get Back To You (1970) (Tommy James/Bob King) - 3:02 12. Come To Me (1970) (Tommy James/Bob King) - 3:11 13. Tommy James - Draggin' The Line (1971) (Tommy James/Bob King) - 2:43 14. Tommy James - Nothing To Hide (1971) (Tommy James/Bob King) - 2:39 15. Tommy James - Tighter, Tighter (1976) (Tommy James/Bob King) - 3:56 Personnel: - Tommy James - vocals, guitar, keyboards - Eddie Gray - guitar - Joseph Kessler - guitar - Ron Rosman - keyboards - Kenny Laguna - keyboards - Mike Vale - bass - Vinnie Pietropaoli - drums, percussion - Peter Lucia - drums, percussion - Bobby Gregg - drums, percussion and others... Media Info: Bitrate: 320 kbps Channels: stereo Samplerate: 44100 Encoder: LAME 3.93 MPEG-1 layer 3 Sharing Widget |
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