A blast of energetic rock & roll just as psychedelia and progressive rock were beginning their rise to the top,
Tommy James & the Shondells harked back to an earlier era, specifically the late '50s and early '60s, when simple, high-energy rock and pop were twin tickets to the top of the charts. By 1966, however, when they began their chart career, high-energy pop was for kids (
the Monkees,
Paul Revere & the Raiders) and two paths -- heavy studio experimentation or a soft pop sound -- were the ways to get heard by the young music-listening public. Like their compatriots in the pop/rock game (
Revere,
Johnny Rivers, etc.), the group nevertheless kept on plugging with a raft of bright, hooky rockers that charted solidly but never seemed to reach as high as they deserved.
40 Years: The Complete Singles Collection (1966-2006) surveys that great career, hitting every major peak -- from
"Hanky Panky" to
"Mony Mony" to
"I Think We're Alone Now," "Crystal Blue Persuasion" to
"Ball and Chain" to
"Draggin' the Line" -- with a two-disc set that may end up being close to the most
Tommy James & the Shondells ever offered in one package (not that they don't deserve the full box treatment). Produced by
James himself, it's authoritative and includes great remastering as well as the original mono single versions of each early hit. But since this is such an important set, it's a shame that it falls prey to the usual career-spanning foibles, moving through the artist's prime just a little too quickly and spending more than half the set on post-peak material (i.e., the
Tommy James solo years after his 1971 heyday). Also, it's a strict singles compilation, which means that many great songs are bypassed simply because they weren't judged worthy of a single -- and
the Shondells pumped out some excellent B-sides. (So, for instance, this set is lacking a trio of well-known songs:
"Love's Closin' in on Me," "One Two Three and I Fell," and
"Sugar on Sunday.") The solo career of
Tommy James post-
Shondells is well worth investigating for those who focus only on the early material, but spending one-third of the set's running time on the mid-'80s and beyond smacks of hubris. That leaves
Rhino's excellent single-disc
Anthology as the best
Tommy James for the money, with
40 Years: The Complete Singles Collection (1966-2006) being content to open up the career of these hitmakers beyond their '60s prime. ~ John Bush
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