Tommy James and the Shondells

Thomas Gregory Jackson (n. 1947, USA), originario di Dayton, Ohio, inizia a suonare la chitarra intorno al 1956 eall'inizio dei '60 forma per la prima volta il gruppo dei Shondells. Verso il 1963 il gruppo registra Hanky Panky (Un brano originariamente cantato dai Raindrops), per la piccola etichetta Snap, ma la cosa non ha seguito.
Verso il 1966 un dj di Pittsburgh riscopre il disco e comincia a programmarlo. Il successo che riscuote fa sì che venga ripubblicato su etichetta Roulette, diventi un million seller e salga al primo posto in classifica, nel giugno dello stesso anno James riforma allora i Shondells con Joseph Kessler alla chitarra, Ronald Rosman (n.1945, USA) alla tastiera, Michael Vale (n.1949,USA) al basso, Vincent Pietropaoli alla batteria e George Magura al sax e organo. L'anno successivo Magura se ne va e Kessler e Pietropaoli vengono sostituiti, rispettivamente da Eddie Gray (n.1948,USA) e Peter Lucia (n.1947,USA). E' con questa formazione definitiva che il gruppo procede fino al 1970.
Tommy James & the Shondells vengono solitamente catalogati, anche a demerito, come uno dei più tipici esempi di bubblegum music, musica molto immediata e commerciale diretta a un pubblico di teen agers.
Comunque sia, la popolarità di cui godono fra il 1967 ed il 1969 è testimoniata da notevoli successi come I Think We're Alone Now, Mirage e Getting Together (1967), Mony Mony e Crimson And Clover (1968), Sweet Cherry Wine e Crystal Blue Persuasion (1969).
L'indirizzo verso un genere di musica più complessa, vagamente psichedelica, già espresso in Crimson And Clover, viene confermato da CELLOPHANE SYMPHONY (Roulette 1969 USA) e TRAVELIN' (Roulette 1970 USA); ormai però il gruppo è giunto al termine della sua strada. Gli Shondells scompaiono dopo aver inciso HOG HEAVEN (Roulette 1971 USA), con il nuovo nome di Hog Heaven, mentre Tommy James inizia una carriera da solista sena lode e senza infamia: riapparirà fugacemente in classifica nel giugno 1971 con Draggin' The Line e nel febbraio 1980 con Three Times In Love.

Tommy James and the Shondells are an American rock band, formed in Niles, Michigan in 1964. They had two No. 1 singles in the U.S., "Hanky Panky" (July 1966, their only RIAA Certified Gold record) and "Crimson and Clover" (February 1969), and also charted twelve other Top 40 hits, including five in the Hot 100's top ten: "I Think We're Alone Now", "Mirage", "Mony Mony", "Sweet Cherry Wine", and "Crystal Blue Persuasion".

History

The band The Echoes formed in 1960 in Niles, Michigan, then evolved into Tom and the Tornadoes, with 12-year-old Tommy James (then known as Tommy Jackson) as lead singer. The group released its first single, "Long Pony Tail", in 1962. In 1964 James renamed the band the Shondells because the name "sounded good" and in honor of singer Troy Shondell, famous for his 1961 release "This Time." At this time, the band included Tommy James (vocals and guitar), Larry Coverdale (lead guitar), Larry Wright (bass), Craig Villeneuve (keyboards) and Jim Payne (drums). In February 1964 the band recorded the Jeff Barry–Ellie Greenwich song "Hanky Panky" (originally a B-side by the Raindrops). Released by Snap Records, a local label, James's version sold respectably in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, but Snap Records had no national distribution. The band toured the eastern Midwest, but no other market took to the song. The single failed to chart nationally, and the Shondells disbanded in 1965 after its members graduated from high school.
After first considering taking a job outside of music, James decided to form a new band, the Koachmen, with Shondells guitarist Larry Coverdale and members of a rival group called the Spinners (not the hit-making group from Detroit). The Koachmen played a circuit of clubs in the Midwest through the summer and fall of 1965 but returned to Niles in February 1966, after the gigs dried up, to plot their next move.
Meanwhile, in 1965, Pittsburgh dance promoter Bob Mack unearthed the forgotten single "Hanky Panky", playing it at various dance parties, and radio stations there touted it as an "exclusive". Listener response encouraged regular play, and demand soared. Bootleggers responded by printing 80,000 black market copies of the recording, which were sold in Pennsylvania stores.
James first learned of all this activity in April 1966 after getting a telephone call from Pittsburgh disc jockey "Mad Mike" Metro to come and perform the song. James attempted to contact other members of the Shondells, but they had all moved away, joined the service or gotten married and left the music business altogether.
In April 1966, James went by himself to make promotional appearances for the Pittsburgh radio station in nightclubs and on local television. He recruited a quintet from Latrobe, Pennsylvania, at the Thunderbird Lounge in Greensburg called the Raconteurs – Joe Kessler (guitar), Ron Rosman (keyboards), George Magura (saxophone), Mike Vale (bass), and Vinnie Pietropaoli (drums) – as the new Shondells. "I had no group, and I had to put one together really fast," recalled James. "I was in a Greensburg, P.A. club one night, and I walked up to a group that was playing that I thought was pretty good and asked them if they wanted to be the Shondells. They said yes, and off we went."^{[citation needed]}

With a touring group to promote the single, James went to New York City, where he sold the master of "Hanky Panky" to Roulette Records, at which time he changed his last name to James. With national promotion, the single became a No. 1 hit in July 1966. Before long, Kessler and Pietropaoli were forced to leave after a dispute when planned monies were not paid to them by Roulette. They were replaced by Eddie Gray (guitar) and Peter Lucia (drums); Magura departed as well.
At first, Tommy James and His Shondells played straightforward rock and roll, but soon became involved in the budding bubblegum music movement. In early 1967 songwriter Ritchie Cordell gave them the No. 4 hit "I Think We're Alone Now" and the No. 10 hit "Mirage". 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 flashing sign for Mutual Of New York visible from James's apartment balcony in New York. He followed it with the song "Do Something to Me". However, James was labeled as a bubblegum pop artist, which he hated. Therefore, he changed his style to psychedelic rock.
From late 1968, the group began writing their own songs, with James and Lucia penning the psychedelic tinged classic "Crimson and Clover". The song was recorded and mixed by Bruce Staple, with James tackling vocal duties and playing many of the instruments himself, and featured the creative use of studio effects such as delay and tremolo. The group had 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. 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 rest and recuperate, and left the band. His four bandmates carried on for a short while under the name of "Hog Heaven", releasing two albums, 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 1970 that yielded two notable hits over a 10-year span, "Draggin' the Line" (1971) and "Three Times in Love" (1980).
During the 1980s, the group's songbook produced major hits for three other artists: Joan Jett & The Blackhearts' version of "Crimson And Clover" (No. 7 in 1982), Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now" and Billy Idol's "Mony Mony" (back-to-back No. 1 singles in November 1987). Other Shondells covers have been performed by acts as disparate as psychobilly ravers the Cramps, new wave singer Lene Lovich, country music veteran Dolly Parton and the Boston Pops orchestra.
In the mid-1980s Tommy James began touring in oldies packages with other acts from the 1960s sometimes billed as Tommy James & the Shondells, although he is the group's only original member. A Greenwich Village nightclub appearance was filmed and released as Tommy James & the Shondells: Live! At The Bitter End. On January 6, 1987, original drummer Peter P. Lucia Jr. died of a heart attack while playing golf at the age of 39.
In 2009 James and the surviving Shondells, Gray, Vale and Rosman, reunited to record music for a soundtrack of a proposed film based on James' autobiography, Me, the Mob, and the Music, released in February 2010. The group still gets together from time to time for special video/TV events and nostalgia shows.
In March 2011 the Tommy James song "I'm Alive" (co-written with Peter Lucia) became a top 20 hit in the Netherlands for UK singer Don Fardon after his version had been used in a Vodafone commercial. The song originally appeared on the Crimson and Clover LP.
In 2012 "Crystal Blue Persuasion" was used in the eighth episode of the fifth season of Breaking Bad, "Gliding Over All", during a montage depicting the process involved to bring main character Walter White's methamphetamine operation and its signature blue crystal meth to an international level.
In 2015 Gray, Vale and Rosman decided to reunite and form their new group, The Crystal Blue Band. They recruited their longtime friend and drummer Mike Wilps to replace the late Peter Lucia.

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Billboard 200	Record Label
1966	Hanky Panky	46	Roulette Records
1967	It's Only Love	–
	I Think We're Alone Now	74
	Gettin' Together	–
1968	Mony Mony	193
1969	Crimson & Clover	8
1969	Cellophane Symphony	141
1970	Travelin'	91

Compilation Albums

Year	Album	Billboard 200	Record Label
1967	Something Special! The Best of Tommy James and The Shondells	174	Roulette Records
1969	The Best of Tommy James and The Shondells	21	Roulette Records
1989	Anthology	–	Rhino Records
1993	The Very Best of Tommy James and the Shondells	–
2002	The Essentials	–
2008	40 Years: The Complete Singles Collection (1966-2006)	–	Aura Records

Singles

Tom and the Tornadoes

Year	Title	Peak chart positions				Record Label	B-side
Year	Title	US	AC	R&B	UK	Record Label	B-side
1962	"Long Pony Tail"	–	–	–	–	Northway Sound Records	"Judy"

The Shondells

Year	Title	Peak chart positions				Record Label	B-side
Year	Title	US	AC	R&B	UK	Record Label	B-side
1964	"Hanky Panky"	–	–	–	–	Snap Records	"Thunderbolt"
1966	"Hanky Panky"	–	–	–	–	Red Fox Records	"Thunderbolt"

Tommy James and the Shondells

Year	Title	Peak chart positions				Record Label	B-side From same album as A-side except where indicated	Album
Year	Title	US	AC	R&B	UK	Record Label	B-side From same album as A-side except where indicated	Album
1966	"Hanky Panky"	1	–	39	38	Roulette Records	"Thunderbolt" (Non-LP track)	Hanky Panky
	"Say I Am (What I Am)"	21	–	–	–		"Lots of Pretty Girls"	Hanky Panky
	"It's Only Love"	31	–	–	–		"Ya! Ya!"	It's Only Love
	"It's Only Love"	–	–	–	–		"Don't Let My Love Pass You By"	It's Only Love
1967	"I Think We're Alone Now"	4	–	–	–		"Gone, Gone, Gone"	I Think We're Alone Now
	"Mirage"	10	–	–	–		"Run, Run, Baby, Run"
	"I Like the Way"	25	–	–	–		"(Baby, Baby) I Can't Take It No More"
	"Gettin' Together"	18	–	–	–		"Real Girl" (from Something Special! The Best Of Tommy James & The Shondells)	Gettin' Together
	"Out of the Blue"	43	–	–	–		"Love's Closin' in on Me"	Something Special! The Best Of Tommy James & The Shondells
1968	"Get Out Now"	48	–	–	–		"Wish It Were You" (Non-LP track)	Mony Mony
	"Mony Mony"	3	–	–	1		"One Two Three and I Fell"
	"Somebody Cares"	53	–	–	–		"Do Unto Me"
	"Do Something to Me"	38	–	–	–		"Gingerbread Man" (from Mony Mony)	Crimson & Clover
	"Crimson and Clover"	1	–	–	–		"Some Kind of Love" (from Mony Mony)	Crimson & Clover
1969	"Sweet Cherry Wine"	7	–	–	–		"Breakaway" (from Crimson and Clover)	Cellophane Symphony
	"Crystal Blue Persuasion"	2	27	–	–		"I'm Alive"	Crimson & Clover
	"Ball of Fire"	19	–	–	–		"Makin' Good Time" (from Cellophane Symphony)	The Best of Tommy James and The Shondells
	"She"	23	–	–	–		"Loved One" (from Cellophane Symphony)	Travelin'
1970	"Gotta Get Back to You"	45	–	–	–		"Red Rover"	Travelin'
1970	"Come to Me"	47	–	–	–		"Talkin' and Signifyin'" (from Travelin')	Tommy James

Tommy James & The Shondells - Hanky Panky 1966 - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsgKZb9jQ1s

Testo

My baby does the hanky panky

I saw her walking on down the line,
you know I saw her for the very first time,
a pretty little girl standing all alone,
hey, pretty baby, can I take you home
I never saw her, never ever saw her.

My baby does the hanky panky

Compositori: Jeff Barry / Ellie Greenwich

Testo di Hanky Panky © Carlin Music Corp

I Think We`re Alone Now - Tommy James & The Shondells - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkMFLUXTEwM

Tommy James & The Shondells - Mirage - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTUkBSY_AL4

Mony Mony by Tommy James & The Shondells - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkMgs3lFwkQ

Testo

Here she come down, say Mony Mony
Well, shoot 'em down, turn around come home, honey
Hey, she gimme love an' I feel alright now
Everybody! You got me tossin' turnin' in the night
Make me feel alright

I say yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)
Yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah), yeah

Well you make me feel Mony, Mony
So Mony, Mony
Good Mony, Mony
Yeah, Mony, Mony
So good, Mony, Mony
Oh, yeah, Mony, Mony
Come on, Mony, Mony
All right, baby Mony, Mony
Say yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)
Yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah) , yeah (yeah), yeah

Break 'dis, shake 'dis, Mony, Mony
Shot gun, get it done, come on, honey
Don't stop cookin', it feels so good, yeah
Hey! well don't stop now, hey, come on Mony,
Well come on, Mony

I say yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)
Yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)

Well you make me feel Mony, Mony
So Mony, Mony
Good Mony, Mony
Yeah, Mony, Mony
Oh, yeah, Mony, Mony
Come on, Mony, Mony
So good, Mony, Mony
All right, Mony, Mony

I say yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)
Yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)

Oh, I love your Mony, moan, moan, Mony (so good)
Oh, I love your Mony, moan, moan, Mony (so fun)
Oh, I love your Mony, moan, moan, Mony
Oh, I love your Mony, moan, moan, Mony

Yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)
Yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah), yeah, (yeah)

Come on! Mony, Mony
Come on! Mony, Mony
Come on! Mony, Mony
Everybody, Mony, Mony
All right, Mony, Mony
Mony, Mony
Mony, Mony

Compositori: Bo Gentry / Bobby Bloom / Ritchie Cordell / Tommy James

Crimson and Clover - Tommy James & T

Oh
Now I don't hardly know her
But I think I could love her
Crimson and clover

Ah
I wish she'd come walking over
Now I've been waiting to show her
Crimson and clover
Over and over

{Instrumental}

Yes (da-da, da-da, da-da)
My my, such a sweet thing (da-da, da-da, da-da)
I want to do everything (da-da, da-da, da-da)
What a beautiful feeling (da-da, da-da, da-da)
Crimson and clover (da-da, da-da, da-da)
Over and over

{Instrumental - Long}

Crimson and clover, over and over
Crimson and clover, over and over
Crimson and clover, over and over
Crimson and clover, over and over
Crimson and clover, over and over
Crimson and clover, over and over