Tommy James and the Shondelles C or D

i finished the book today. wow. that was crazy. im a bit sad it is so short, less than 300 pages and only really covers through the 60s (his post-60s career is a few paragraphs). "One helluva ride" it promises and damn it certainly is that.

it is crazy how his career intersected with these mob wars in New England in the late 60's/early 70's. his manager/label boss/etc Morris Levy was this legendary gangster label boss who never paid anybody but ran like a million rackets, from bootlegging records to inventing cutouts/Greatest Hits with one new song vinyl. there was payola, there was accounting fraud, he knew people in the mob, people that The Godfather and The Sopranos are based on. Fat Tony would hang out at his place. it was the Sopranos running a record label.

Tommy James was basically living week-to-week, every time he had a hit the question was "where's the next song?" it was a single-based strategy. Bo Gentry and Ritchie Cordell (who wrote "I Think We're Alone Now") were his writers (Tommy James kind of being abusive towards them in parts but he is pretty honest in him being a horrible person at times fwiw) the book has some cool stories of them making up songs in their place at 888 Eighth. the Cowsills were friends and would stay there, apparently the father was an alcoholic so Tommy's would be a place they could hang out to escape alcoholic abuse. Tommy did pills and pot and stuff but stayed away from acid and the heavier stuff. he ends up going to rehab, the famous Betty Ford Clinic, and staying sober and productive, finally finding success with a third marriage. then Billy Idol, Tiffany, and Joan Jett find success (1987 is a great 30th anniversary). unfortunately his longtime frenemy Morris Levy gets caught killing a record retailer during an FBI investigation of MCA.

i love reading about them making "Mony Mony", it sounds like a tape editing Frankenstein's monster of a recording, them putting on all these layers and different instruments and copying loops. then they are writing lyrics and looking for something like Bonie Marony or Woolly Bully or Sloopy and go up on the roof for a smoke and they look out and see a neon sign MONY MONY MONY (with the $ in the O) on the Mutual of New York building. he says it was a sign from God.

the long version of "Crimson & Clover" was actually edited together from a first shorter version of it, and part of the song is played at a different speed, and it has always bugged him, cos they were in the middle of mixing and he brought the tape to a radio station, had let them play it, and they ended up taping it and playing it, letting it out into the world early. it seems like he had to deal with that kind of stuff constantly, just no control. one time his label boss had to disappear for 6 months due to mob wars and Tommy James took his lawyer to all the printers they had used for record labels. as in, the labels themselves. all the accountants a the label, all the record plant people, were bought off, and would not divulge any information. they found out he owed them $40 million dollars. i don't think he ever got this but i am not sure. it is definitely an interesting relationship, the guy was clearly using him, yet he also helped him out, he made him a star, got him on tv, promoted the heck out of him, and also been a friend in many ways. at one point he reminds Tommy that his records would be worth more if he was dead, and it's somehow a touching moment. after "Mony Mony" comes out his draft card comes in and Levy gets him out of that, which is like, he just saved his life.

amazing book! i want to get all of the records now.

one of the highlights was a party they were having to celebrate Levy's return from that 6 months of hiding out. it was right when "Crystal Blue Persuasion" came out, and Tito Puente (also on Roulette) was covering the song at this crazy party.

Lots of people worked with that guy. I seem to recall some story of the Basie band recounting a water pistol fight with that guy whilst on tour, hiding behind the buses.

Some of the Latin labels were started by George Goldner but then when he had a bad day at the track he had to sell them to Levy.

There's some good stuff in the Seymour Stein book about Goldner and Levy. The Red Bird label was also handed over by Goldner (after Leiber & Stoller relinquished their interest) to Levy, which effectively ended the label. As Stein was a Red Bird employee, this is essentially what led to Stein forming the Sire label.

an interesting side story they get into was that Levy was the guy who owned the Chuck Berry copyright who sued John Lennon over "Come Together" and when he won made John cover other songs he owned on the "Rock n Roll" record. and then he printed his own bootleg version of the record called "Roots". LOL this guy was an epic hustler.

I met somebody about once who I knew was involved in Red Bird and so I mentioned the name of the label and he said “You want to know about THAT?” and that was the end of that line of questioning.

I thought Leiber and Stoller relinquished only after it was already effectively a done deal.

Don't know the details but it sounds like it was it was all done as one big deal simultaneously. Leiber & Stoller accepted a symbolic $1 to get out of it.

Think the most detailed version of the story I read was in Josh Alan Friedman’s Tell the Truth Until They Bleed but I don’t have a copy. It’s also discussed in Leiber and Stoller’s Hound Dog.

At some point there was a merger floated between Atlantic and Red Bird by the two Jerrys Leiber and Wexler but this made Ahmet Ertegun a little suspicious and Goldner as well as Red Bird’s lawyer, Lee Eastman, put the kibosh on it.

Thought the eventual new partner in Red Bird was someone like Morris Levy but wasn’t actually him.

Or maybe he came along a little later, after Jerry and Mike were already gone.

Ah, I see the story is recounted in a bit more detail in Ken Emerson's Always Magic in the Air. Jerry and Mike had started to get nervous about possible leverage mobsters might have over Goldner and the chance that some unknown mobsters might suddenly become partners in Red Bird through him. They took the initiative and sold out to Goldner for a buck (announced in Billboard
April 1966). Doesn't say what happened after Goldner gained total control, just that "Goldner made short work of Red Bird, which quickly collapsed."

The would-be Atlantic merger you mention was basically Jerry and Mike's attempt to "drive out" or "control" Goldner, whom they didn't trust.

Yes. In Hound Dog Jerry says he was called into a surprise meeting in a deli on Broadway with one of George’s friends ( who is named in that Josh Alan Friedman book) and then discussed the situation with his father-in-law and one of his father-in-law’s friends, a Rothschild, who both hinted that he should sell.

Sorry to be such a nerd about this. The most detailed version is truly frightening, partly by its nature partly because Jerry Leiber is such a good storyteller.

lord knows i'm a lazy, unfocused poster, with many unfinished projects and half-assed, un-submitted ballots

but this would be a great discography for a listening thread imo

YES, I would be so down for that. They're one of those "holy shit, they did THAT song too??" bands, like the Isley Brothers or...Manfred Mann comes to mind, but I know there are many better examples out there. But it's definitely worth digging deep beyond the singles for TJ & Shondells

otm

Dragging the Liiiiiiiiine

in xpost Hound Dog, the Lieber & Stoller joint autobio, they came to treasure Goldner as they realized that he had "the musical taste of a 14-year-old girl," and could always tell them just what a song needed a little more or less of--and if he liked it right away, with no changes needed---! He was a shy, studious-looking fellow, yet always beautifully tailored, like the financial genius with a modest office in an august firm, City of London more than Wall Street. But they also came to realize that he was a zombie gambler in a bottomless pit---realizing it when pulled into that little xpost meeting, and also when they heard two goodfellas moving furniture around in the next room, talkin' 'bout how it would be a nice place for meetin's. So yeah, sold him Redbird for a dollar, got the hell out.

Getting past the most obvious choices, here's Celebration: Complete Roulette Recordings 1966-1973. Don't know this label, Grapefruit, or how it might sound, but 40 bucks for a 6-CD import, so hey George Goldner might we;; be right about a chance worth taking, in this instance:
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71+0Cd-C--L._SL1200_.jpg

etween 1966 and 1973, Tommy James issued thirteen albums on Roulette either as a solo performer or with The Roulettes. All of these recordings now appear on this definitive 6-CD set. This includes "Greatest Hits" or "Best Of" albums which of course duplicated tracks from regular albums. These tracks have been left in their respective original albums. Although these albums have all appeared on CD reissues at various times over the years, this is the first box set to gather together all of the recordings in one set. In addition, there is the bonus of all of the recordings that never featured on the original LPs. Some of these tracks are making their CD debut within this collection. The 141-track box set features 16 tracks that were only ever released on 45s or were previously unissued until earlier compilations were released on CD. Produced by Bob Fisher whose detailed essay covers the entire history of the group with quotes by Tommy James from his biography and the notes to previous reissues. The booklet includes details of all of their chart achievements in the USA and the UK along with numerous reproductions of advertisements, reviews and news stories from music industry magazines. Designed by Michael Robson and mastered by Simon Murphy this is the definitive collection of Tommy James & the Shondells tracing their career from garage and bubblegum pop band through career defining psychedelic albums into Tommy James solo years as an introspective singer/songwriter. Disc One contains the first two albums "Hanky Panky" and "It's Only Love" plus the non- album B-side of the 'Hanky Panky' 45 and six titles previously unissued which made their first and only appearance on a long deleted 1997 CD set. Disc Two contains the albums "I Think We're Alone Now", "Something Special" and "Getting Together". Disc Three features 'Mony, Mony'. Their first and only UK No 1 single and the album titled after that hit alongside their classic psychedelic album, "Crimson & Clover" and the 45 version of the title track. Disc Four presents their second career defining psychedelic album "Cellophane Symphony" including the long version of the title track and a track from the album sessions, 'Contact', only previously released on the aforementioned 1997 compilation. Disc four also features the one track on the album "The Best of Tommy James & The Shondells" that hadn't been on an album before, 'Ball of Fire' and the first seven titles on "Travellin'" the last Tommy James & The Shondells album. Disc Five opens with the continuation of the "Travellin'" album with it's last three tracks before moving on to the first Tommy James solo albums "Tommy James" and "Christian Of the World" which features his last major hit single, 'Draggin' the Line'. Disc Six concludes the box with his last album for Roulette, 1971's "My Head, My Bed and My Red Guitar" his country -rock album co-produced in Nashville with Pete Drake and featuring such legendary country sidemen as Scotty Moore, D. J. Fontana, Charlie McCoy, Buddy Spicer and others.

Seems like Tommy and the ex-Shondells went in pretty much the same musical directions, judging by quotes from Mike Vale and others here---also has YouTube links:

In 1971 the mega-hit group, Tommy James and The Shondells disbanded. The Shondells went on to form Hog Heaven This pg is a tribute to them and their music.

this is still hilarious

and turning down Woodstock before burning out mightily in '70.

To be fair, this is how Woodstock was presented to him:

We were in Hawaii, and my secretary called and said, ‘Yeah, listen, there’s this pig farmer in upstate New York that wants you to play in his field.’ That’ s how it was put to me. So we passed.”

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Saturday, June 23, 2018 12:33 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyQiJKY7NpM

^Immortal masterpiece, perfect 60s primetime psychedelic visuals in that clip. Though as much as I love "Crimson and Clover", "Crystal Blue Persuasion" will always be my #1 TJ song; that main chord progression (Amaj9, Bm7, repeat) is so beautiful, gives me chills. It's the kind of chord progression you hear in soul music of the era way more often than in rock. And since it's just back-and-forth between two chords, it exudes a calm, elegant simplicity.

Also I'm currently hearing TJ's wacky 1995 concept album A Night In Big City (An Audio Movie) for the first time. The liner notes on his official website sum it up better than I can:

Talk about a concept album...Tommy pulled out all the stops on this one - a blend of music and theater reminiscent of an earlier time when the music business had a lot more imagination and fun. On this make believe trip through "Big City" (New York), Tommy and his group, along with the listener, are given the key to the city, a private limousine, and a voluptuous female driver who takes them on the ride of their life.

The album, produced by Tommy and long time friend and arranger Jimmy Wisner, contains 11 great new tracks including sparkling remakes of "I Think We're Alone Now" and "Tighter, Tighter" interspersed with dialogue and sound effects and a comic book style, story guide to help follow the action.

This is Tommy James at his creative best. From "Give It All", a hard, up-tempo alternative rocker, to the dreamy "Who Do You Love" to "Megamation Man", a chilling glimpse into the demonic New World Order.

One would have to go back to the CELLOPHANE SYMPHONY album or perhaps TRAVELIN' to find anything remotely as daring or progressive.

First impression is that the between-song dialogue is extremely cringe (maybe approaching so-bad-it's-good territory), but at least a couple of the songs are improbably good--"Baby Tonight" is a legit new jack swing song with a banging chorus, and "Give It All" is some decent power pop/heartland rock. "Megamation Man" is some Styx-tier dystopian cheese. There's also an unnecessary Mellencampified remake of "I Think We're Alone Now". Mostly I'm just appreciating that he conceived and executed such a bizarre and ambitious project in the mid 90s, even if it's deeply flawed.