Tommy James

A very cosmic/psychedelic album cover has seven black-and-white Tommy James heads coasting over what looks like an acid trip, rainbow behind him, colors dripping upwards. It's the opposite of the black-and-white psychedelic look of the Cellophane Symphony album and the first of James' three final albums for Roulette. If we are to take the discs as three chapters, this one is Tommy James and Bob King proving that Tommy James was the Shondells. "Ball and Chain" is poppy and intense, the Velvet Underground gone bubblegum. Clearly, drugs had some influence on Tommy James' work, and where his ex-bandmates took a stab at the third Velvet Underground album with their Hog Heaven track "Come Away," "Ball and Chain" from the first Tommy James solo album sounds like it is an outtake from the Velvet Underground's Loaded CD…

A very cosmic/psychedelic album cover has seven black-and-white Tommy James heads coasting over what looks like an acid trip, rainbow behind him, colors dripping upwards. It's the opposite of the black-and-white psychedelic look of the Cellophane Symphony album and the first of James' three final albums for Roulette. If we are to take the discs as three chapters, this one is Tommy James and Bob King proving that Tommy James was the Shondells. "Ball and Chain" is poppy and intense, the Velvet Underground gone bubblegum. Clearly, drugs had some influence on Tommy James' work, and where his ex-bandmates took a stab at the third Velvet Underground album with their Hog Heaven track "Come Away," "Ball and Chain" from the first Tommy James solo album sounds like it is an outtake from the Velvet Underground's Loaded CD…

Another great example of what Rhino does so well, Anthology brings together no less than 27 of Tommy James and the Shondells' nuggets on one disc. Along with good liner notes from Parke Puterbaugh, who interviewed James extensively (James himself contributes a slew of fun and informative anecdotes about many of the songs) and the usual skilled remastering job, it makes for one heck of a collection. James himself sums up his own appeal best of all: "We were really having fun, and you can hear it in the grooves." "Hanky Panky" understandably kicks things off, but the collection really doesn't take off until the just-plain-irresistible "I Think We're Alone Now," notably (and some would argue memorably) covered by Tiffany in the late '80s…

Another great example of what Rhino does so well, Anthology brings together no less than 27 of Tommy James and the Shondells' nuggets on one disc. Along with good liner notes from Parke Puterbaugh, who interviewed James extensively (James himself contributes a slew of fun and informative anecdotes about many of the songs) and the usual skilled remastering job, it makes for one heck of a collection. James himself sums up his own appeal best of all: "We were really having fun, and you can hear it in the grooves." "Hanky Panky" understandably kicks things off, but the collection really doesn't take off until the just-plain-irresistible "I Think We're Alone Now," notably (and some would argue memorably) covered by Tiffany in the late '80s…

Roulette's Hanky Panky/It's Only Love combines Tommy James & the Shondells' first two albums on one CD. Although the singles remains the best songs on these records, each has some album tracks and covers that are worth investigating by serious James fans, and if you want to hear them, this is the best way to acquire the albums. Tommy James & the Shondells – the very mention of their name, even to someone who doesn't really know their music, evokes images of dances and the kind of fun that rock & roll represented before it redefined itself on more serious terms. And between 1966 and 1969, the group enjoyed 14 Top 40 hits, most of which remain among the most eminently listenable (if not always respected) examples of pop/rock.