 Tommy James & The Shondells
(Independent Artists Company)
There are few songs in the history of rock that are immediately recognizable to the entire world. The Beatles and Elvis did a fair share of these, but there is another artist whose name must be mentioned in that company, who is responsible for some of the biggest megahits ever to hit the Top 40. Crimson and Clover, Mony Mony, Hanky Panky, I Think We're Alone Now, Crystal Blue Persuasion, Draggin the Line...
Tommy James is one of the true icons of the great Hit Parade, and his music lives on, on radio and in jukeboxes across America. It's completely ingrained in American culture, and IAC is so honored to be able to present It's Christmas Again, which is the first recorded song by the legendary Tommy James and the Original Shondells since 1970!
If only radio in this era was filled with songs as utterly captivating as Crimson and Clover and Mony Mony. Great songwriting like this is the crux of the matter, is the reason there's ever been such a thing as "popular music". Tommy James continues to crank out catchy songs and his reunion with the Original Shondells is such an important event in music that it will be heard around the world.
Buy Tommy James' Music and find out more about him at tommyjames.com
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| Cashbox Magazine - Tommy James Review (link) |
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Tommy James
Hold The Fire
AURA Records
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POP
Reviewed 10-30-07
Tommy James 
Hold The Fire
Ah… Tommy James, just the name brings back memories of warm summer nights and driving with the convertible top down to the A & W drive in, with skater girl waitress, drive in theaters and hundreds of other cool outdoor fun things before computer games took up all our spare time. So you don’t remember any of that stuff? Musta happen before you were born.
This guy is just as good as he ever was back then except recording music today can result in much higher quality than when it was on 45 rpm records. Mr. James has sold, to date, over 100 million records and has been awarded 23 gold singles and 9 gold and platinum albums. So maybe he has never written a bad song, if so I can’t tell you what it was. His latest CD Hold The Fire was produced by Tommy James & James ‘Wiz’ Wisner and will undoubtedly please all of his older fans as well as many new ones.
Tommy has assembled 12 solid new songs and remakes of a couple of the older hits with totally new arrangements. “Hold The Fire” slips into philosophical words of wisdom about the importance of love to every one of us. In fact the ultimate survival of mankind depends on it. Listen to songs like Love Words, Magamation Man, Sweet Cherry Wine, Angels and Strangers, Give it All…Aw heck, listen to the whole CD, every song has a message from a guy who has plenty to say.
Tommy’s musical style hasn’t changed much over the years, which in my book makes it a very good thing. You see, the oldies are all making a huge comeback today because today’s music is lacking in a few key ingredients: Memorable melodies and lyrics that say something of importance (other than amassing large quantities of ‘bling’ while exploiting and degrading the opposite sex). So, since Tommy includes great melodies and solid lyrics with his latest songs his new music is bound to be around for many years to come. Every one of these songs can stand alone and if you give them a second and third listen they will begin to get stuck in your mind like good music always does.
I have to admit that one of my favorites is Tommy’s “I Love Christmas”. I predict that this one will stand the test of time to become a Christmas classic and favorite of everyone. It’s a memory of when he was three visiting Santa in the department store and quickly returning to the present to include a medley of a dozen other Christmas classics. Ya gotta love it.
MSP
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Interviewing Tommy James (1)