Draggin the Line is the best. Driving around in the 70’s these songs blaring on the radio was heaven. It’s pronounced Shon DELLS. If you can get a hold of Tommy James’ book it is a great read. He was very involved with the mob during their heyday.
@@GlenMaderos Hmm. I never liked that one or Mony Mony. But I LOVE Crystal Blue Persuasion, Crimson and Clover, I Think We’re Alone Now, Sweet Cherry Wine, Hanky Panky, Ball of Fire, etc.
It's the Shon-DELLS emphasis on the last syllable. The suffix of many of those groups is emphasized. Like the Ron-NETTES, the Shir-RELLS, the Marvel-LETTES. I like both versions of this song. The Tommy James & The Shondells version is very much a product of its time with the psychedelic feel of the reverb and that's why I love it. That era in time was very important in Rock & Roll and this song captures that feel. The Joan Jett version is also cool because, also a product of its time, it has that classic rock and roll and smooth feel to it. Both of them are great!
That dead stare on Alex's face during the middle said it all. I loved it!! It made me chuckle because that's how it made us feel the first time!! S for me 🎶🎵
I CAN'T BELIEVE you guys listened to the short version of this. There's a longer version that was on the album which is the iconic 60s psychedelic pop song and clearly much better than the singles version.
The full, unedited version may qualify as S tier if you were to hear the 4, count 'em 4 different guitar solos contained therein. This watered down shortened version is still A+ though.
@@compuspex Actually, the entire song was re-recorded for the album. The original version was just a demo, an acetate copy of which Tommy James took to WLS-AM in Chicago and allowed a DJ to spin on the air. The feedback from listeners was incredible -- so incredible that the boss of Roulette Records, the infamous Morris "Married to the Mob" Levy, immediately pressed 45s of the demo copy, got it into the shops, and TJ&tS thus had a major overnight hit. That's what's funny about Alex's complaints regarding the production. He's attributing it to insufficiently advanced late '60s studio technology, when the imperfections that he heard were actually the result of the record simply being a demo version of a song that Tommy James and the Shondells had no intention of releasing until they had created a more polished and more fleshed-out version. The album version is the version that Tommy James & the Shondells wanted the world to hear. The hit single version -- which A&A just reacted to -- is the version that Morris Levy wanted to turn into a cash cow.
@@gregsager2062 For real. The mix is fucked from the very start because the music is coming out of both headphones. This song is an aural masterpiece if you listen to the right version, but this ain't it.
A+ is a fair rating, I'm with Andy on this one. "I Think We're Alone Now" is another good one. (Tiffany did the cover in the 80's) " Mony Mony" is a classic, too.
@Lisa Morrison I have to agree with you on both counts. Mony Mony was a huge hit with a lot of airplay when I was in school, as was Crimson And Clover, but I Think We’re Alone Now was epic, to me anyway. It’s a testament to Tommy James and The Shondells that so many artists did covers of their songs.
"I Think We're Alone Now" is a great pick! "Mony, Mony," in my mind (with the original and the Billy Idol cover), just got way too much air play and became old to me. I don't care if I ever hear the song again! But in all fairness, fresh ears listening to it would probably feel differently.
They might've heard the cover of "Mony, Mony," by Billy Idol too (as well as Tiffany's cover of "I Think We're Alone Now.") Fun fact, those two covers went to #1 back-to-back in 1987.
For what it's worth, and despite how much I've always hated the excesses taken by engineers at the dawn of the stereo age, I can say with assurity that this song was NEVER meant to be heard through headphones, and was likely heard almost exclusively in mono via a.m. radio, even in the U.S. A completely different experience than what you just went through, for sure!
I agree. Most of the pop records of this period that were aiming for the hit parade, like this one, were recorded to sound great playing through a transistor radio and probably in mono. In my opinion most of them still sound better and have more impact blasting out into a room, rather than on headphones. And as others have said, the reverb effects sound jarring on this version, whereas they were more seductive on the original when listened to the way it was intended.
This also sounds like it may be a digital re-mastering, which makes that effect toward the end of the song sound much different than the original analog recording - and sound not as good.
@@newremote Car radios were still mono as well. I probably heard more of our ’60s music in the car than anywhere else. There may have been car stereo systems, but they were an extravagance. People were starting to get stereo systems for their home, though the first available single, it says here, was Paul Anka’s “Lonely Boy.” The Beatles didn’t record a full album available in stereo only until “Abbey Road.” Most singles (and albums) for a long, long time were made for cars - and cheap, portable radios. Mono is still kind of hot.
@@frankiebowie6174 agreed! I had a transistor radio with a thingy for my ear son I could listen on the school bus, lol. I hung my radio from the handlebar of my bike. I too heard lots of songs on the car radio. They will never have the thrill of static and losing the station during a song. Static and all, we had the best music ever.
There's no "them" to "Draggin' the Line", because it wasn't a Tommy James & the Shondells song. It was a Tommy James solo song, recorded and released a year after he had parted ways with the Shondells.
I was born in 60. May sound weird but I remember when this came out as an eight year old. Back then AM Radio was all there was. As a youngster I thought it was awesome and I still do till this day. For me always an S Tier in my book. Nobody's cover is even close. Remember to consider your reactions from the time frame the tune was released. In 1968 this song was a BANGER.
No FM in the sixties??? First FM in a car was 1952. I grew up in Columbus Ohio in the sixties. Our local FM station played full albums at night. This band had a single about 1970 called "You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda". I haven't been able to find that record, but I remember almost every word of that song and I was only 11.
You guys listened to the radio version of this song. There is a 5 minute version that has some great fuzz guitar. Really broadens the song out for me. Check It out ! Also their last Album "Travelin" was my favorite album. The guys had ventured out into some rock with an edge. Check out the 1st song "Bloody Water"....It rocks hard !
If you consider the time when this song came out it's definitely S-tier. We had never heard anything like that before. Also you needed to do the full album version. Tommy James is so underrated. 👍🎶
This one time I might disagree with someone on something in the comment section. Having heard both the radio version and the longer version, I honestly think that if they had done the longer version it would have tanked the rating. I'm someone who absolutely LOVES this song, and a lot of Tommy James's work. I probably heard it for the first time on the radio in the early mid 90s as a 6th grader, and I thought the whole vocal thing at the end was cool as shit back then (and still do) so that aspect I feel is more a product of when you hear it and under what context, so hopefully in time it will grow on them. The reason that I think the longer version would have actually lowered the grade though is that I worry that it is a bit too repetitious and "teases" the transition to the end enough times that by the time it actually does go there, you're sitting here either like "finally ugh!" or just downright annoyed. I personally feel like there would have been a discussion about how you could easily remove 30-40 seconds of the solo and the song would be a lot better, based on watching their reactions to similar music. It's not something like 'Papa Was A Rolling Stone' or '25 or 6 to 4' or 'Sweet Home, Chicago' where a person can just sit there and lose themselves in the sauce, as the expression goes. But that's my take.
For the past 50 years whenever I hear the Name Tommy James and the Shondells, the funky voice vibrato is the first thing that comes to mind. It is inextricably linked to them. I understand that it may not appeal to you on a first listen. But it is iconic. I think it was genius to record that effect.
I agree! I don't think about TJ&theS without thinking about Crimson and Clover, and I don't think about Crimson and Clover without singing that part, in my head or out loud.
I really don't understand how ANYONE can hear this record and think 'production deficiency'. As I was listening, I was thinking 'I forgot how great the production was on this track'. The vibe of this psychedelic masterpiece could easily be destroyed by Pro Tools and modern production techniques. And, BTW, Joan Jett's cover is just OK. All that said, nice song choice and keep the freedom shack crankin' !
I think A&A don't know the constraints of the time. It is always hard to know how people viewed it at the time. And if you weren't there, it is still mostly extrapolation. For example, most people do not understand how absolutely mind-blowing artists like Monet and Van Gogh were at their peak. So much so that they were frequently rejected early on. "Impressionist" was originally an insult, something many generation of rock fans should appreciate. But let's face it, there were a lot of technical cosntraints. Amp-based vibrato was barely cool when it first came out and had a short shelf life (Pink Floyd's "One of These Days" is probably one of the few that pulled it off, mainly because it was on bass rather than vocals.) But this is classic tinny and wet sound of the time. It didn't age well. A lot of what set the best bands apart at the time was those who got new recording technology earlier, which made the performances much warmer.
It’s kind of like judging 1995 internet for not being as fast as 2020 internet, this was the way it was done back then. But I guess you can only judge things by your own experiences and tastes.😊
This is among the best of pop psychedelic songs. A couple of others are Incense and Peppermints by the Strawberry Alarm Clock and Green Tambourine by the Lemon Pipers
Another great song. A note about listening with headphones. The one thing you must remember is that none of these songs from the classic rock era were mastered with or for headphones. Producers and engineers listened to the music on loudspeakers and the songs were mixed using loudspeakers. That is why they can throw you off when, for instance, a song begins with the guitar in your left ear. From loudspeakers you get a lot of crossover sound left channel to right ear, right channel to left ear. It is for this reason you will never get the same experience from headphones that we old folks got from listening to these songs. Back when this music was popular headphones were really only used for listening at night to avoid annoying people.
Very well said! Many of us first heard these songs on crappy transistor radios and single-speaker car radios, broadcast in mono by our local radio stations. Bands, and producers, knew that their songs were going to be heard this way, and recorded them accordingly.
I’m agreeing with Andy‘s gut on this one. It really feels like an S-tier song to me. Admittedly, I grew up with it, and loved it from the first time I heard it. Yes, that funky choice for the vocals is the elephant in the room. The funny thing about that elephant is that these 50 years later, it still is my favorite part of the song. When I sing that song to myself, I always sing that part - it was so freakin’ fun and novel when I heard it in the early 1970s, I must have honed in on that part and sung it over and over (out loud and in my head). Go ahead, guys… I challenge you to sing that part out loud with each other. It’ll be embedded in your brains forever, if you do! 🗣🧠
You hit on an important point -- for those of us who first heard this song when we were in single digits and have lived with it for decades, it's hard to find *any* fault with the song, production or instrumentation or otherwise. It's locked in our memories as the perfect backdrop to our young lives. So it's good to hear the A&A perspective, probably a more objective POV, even if we somewhat disagree.
Thanks,@@jdw5678 (fellow ol' timer). I agree with all you've said, except the "objective POV" part. They are as much a product of their times and conditioning as we are of ours. Their POV is, likewise, subjective, imho... 😇
@@jimreadey4837 I agree. How to express my thoughts?? It's more than listening to a song now and 50 odd years ago. Back then it was a completely different culture, ALL the music was different. Did you live in a rural area or a city? Were you well off or was your family scraping to get by? You can't just pick out 2 college kids and play music from 50 years ago, and have them appreciate it as much as we did then, and still do, anymore than you could take 2 guys in their late 60s or early 70s and play something from 5 or 10 years ago and expect them to feel the same way as two youngsters would feel. I happen to agree with Andy that it was A+ or maybe even S, but I definitely knew other kids back then that thought it wasn't that good. 🤷♂
Right on,@@musicluvr70(with the emphasis on the _on_ -- not on _right,_ à la millenial-speak)! And all that has been said, I love hearing and watching these guys reactions. The know way more about music than I did when I was listening to the same songs a their age (or do now!). So I get this wonderful vicarious experience of a kind of do-over where I'm listening to the music for the first time (again), but I'm much smarter, musically speaking. I get to be touched even more deeply by the music, this time around... 🎼🎵🎶🎵🎤🎹🎸
I'm with Andy on this one. It's not going to impress everybody, but those of us who love it REALLY love it - which is what the best art does, in my opinion.
Tommy James wanted to make an anti war tune in the same vein as his favorite "Where have all the Flowers Gone". Crimson and Clover echoes the theme of killing off every other generation of young men for nothing - just sending them off to war because the politicians can't adapt or show some level of flexibility that might save thousands of lives.
I'm also with Andy, because well, Alex, you can't be basing ratings on "production", especially with older music, eh? That "production" thing wasn't really important back then; nobody really cared, they just wanted to get their songs on the radio.
Thanks to Andy for defending it. One of my favorites. Don't take it away from me! I dare Alex to rerecord it. That's the trouble with listening now - you've got 50 years of "we're past that". You can't see how it influenced at the time. If they waited 10 years, it just wouldn't happen. Imagine management type saying "oh we've got to change it. We're past psychedelic now." Listening on phone speaker is definitely more jarring than the car radio was back then. Memory - Driving my car with my father, when he heard this psychedelic he reached over to change the channel thinking the radio station was going out of range. So I had to snap at him to leave it alone.
In 1964, James renamed the band the Shondells because the name "sounded good" and in honor of nearby Fort Wayne's own Troy Shondell, famous for his 1961 release "This Time." The vocal at the end was accomplished by the voice microphone being plugged into an Ampeg guitar amplifier with tremolo turned on.
I didn't care for Joan Jett's cover. But this I totally love. Every bit of it. I guess for some people "you had to be there". But not for Andy.... ❣ Alex gets pretty into his production head.
imagine being 17 and laying out on a dock in the middle of a little lake -- and this song comes on over the speakers. first time hearing it -- i fell in love with it. thanks for reminding me. smiles and love to you both
24 years old and grew up loving this song! Psychedelic masterpiece. Also, you guys reallyyyy should’ve listened to the extended version, although it is a trippy solo and not sure if it would be up your guys’s alley anyways 😂 but it’s definitely the better, true version.
Nice to see someone acknowledge and respect the rawness of which this song was created. I believe the whole point of distorting his voice the way they did is because it was new and creative, something that hadn't been done. Way to go Andy!
That reverb effect is probably very jarring in the headphones, but hearing it on the AM radio in the 70s, it wasn't as harsh. That was way more harsh than I ever remember it. And I don't listen to the show with headphones.
Something that I have been thinking about recently is that Andy and Alex are listening to these songs on headphones, and while headphones certainly existed back then, most of us listened to the music of that time using stereo speakers, often large stereo speakers powered by substantial amps. It's a very different listening experience from the one you get from those headphones.
@@jgsrhythm100 It was partly James's fault that the demo was released as the single, though, since he took an acetate of the demo with him to WLS-AM in Chicago -- one of the biggest and most important pop music stations in the entire country -- and let a DJ play it on the air. Once that happened, and demand for the single pegged the needle in the red, Roulette Records boss Morris Levy immediately put it out as a single and it became a hit. Tommy James and his bandmates no doubt protested (the album version is what they had in mind to create all along), but nobody was going to protest too loudly to a label mogul who had a reputation for instigating violence against people who disagreed with him and who had a long-standing relationship with the Genovese crime family.
I just listened to the long version and the short version (again) on Spotify and the reverb (tremolo?) isn't as jarring as the A/A listen. Redo it with the long version though, guys! I also gave Joan Jett a listen and the same passion wasn't there and the ending was blah without the tremolo.
Couple of comments I agree with. 1. Its a grower. 2. The first time I heard this song it blew me away and I played it over and over on a jukebox several times just absorbing it. So the shock value back in the day was definitely there. Plus, it was so different for Tommy James & the ShonDELLS.
@@sandyalbright2707 Yes they were. It was in a little hamburger joint up at a lake close to where I grew up. They always had the latest songs on that jukebox. So that song takes me back to that moment on that day. Good memories.
Psychedelic bubblegum! Thank you, Beatles, for inspiring everyone to stretch out and "get weird". For a brief moment, even the teenybopper pop could be cool. Great track, and fifty times better than anything else they ever did. They were a mafia-controlled band (so was Vanilla Fudge), Tommy James later wrote a book about the whole thing.
Music was very important in our house. My dad had just bought a new high end stereo system. This song had just came out, and me and some friends are listening to it. When the end came, with the vibrating voices, my dad ran in all freaked out. He thought we had messed up his stereo. Lol
Draggin' the Line, I Think We're alone Now, Mony Mony, & Hanky Panky were all big hits back when. So many of their songs were covered by other groups/artists later on.
I always loved that Joan Jett did covers in the eighties no one else thought of doing:Tossing and Turning,Everyday People,hell,even Little Drummer Boy on a NO N Christmas album.
Cystral Blue Persuasion, Crimson & Clover and Draggin' The Line, all great songs and all sound totally different from each other. Now you guys need to check out Draggin' The Line!
Great review guys - I think between the two of you, you perfectly captured this song. That tremolo thing definitely grabbed you when it first came out, and was definitely a novelty at the time. You heard things like that in the mid/late 70’s when bands tinkered with synthesizers, too. Things that became annoying but bands had to try the new toy! Happy 4th everyone!
I like when you give the rating immediately after the song, so you are not influenced by each other. Other than that - you guys are the best in the business!
Remember that on AM radio many times a day. The end effect on the vocal sounded alot louder here than it did. I haven't heard this for a few years, but it didn't seem to be that pronounced before. Excellent reaction!!!
Wow. Not sure what is wrong with Alex and his reviews. It was the 60s and psychedelic music was big. I think it is still fantastic. Stop comparing it to new stuff. Do that way too much.
He's also wrong about what he's hearing in the song. He thinks that it could've sounded better if it had been recorded in a later era, because the mix sounds primitive. What he doesn't realize is that that's because it was only a demo version, not because late '60s recording technology couldn't create a clean, well-separated high fidelity sound. Tommy James took an acetate copy of the "Crimson and Clover" demo with him on a visit to Chicago's pop radio megastation WLS-AM, allowed a DJ to spin it on the air, and the resulting demand for the record prompted Roulette Records mogul Morris Levy to release the demo version as the single. The album version, which is the version that Tommy James and the Shondells planned to make all along, is not only longer and has all of those various guitar solos in it (wah-wah, fuzz, etc.), it was also mixed properly.
Wow, I was a kid when this came out and enjoyed it and still enjoy it today and I appreciate the 60's psychedelic influence. Put the incense on glow lights or something close your eyes listen again and get in the zone.....Crimson & Clover Over and Over. LOL I Love it as is. Joan's is a rocker for sure but this is a CLASSIC.
Love, Love, Love this song. 💕 We def heard these radio releases over and over and so it's def diff for you guys to do a fly-by 1x listen to judge but we appreciate the effort. Glad you liked it so much, Andy.
Hey hey guys! Things are looking up! I’m glad that Andy appreciated the song for what it is and even more glad that Alex took the time in music history into consideration when rating it. We thought that this was just the COOLEST song EVER when it was released. I was disappointed with your rating of Crystal Blue Persuasion. I think, if I remember correctly, you only gave it a B and a B+. I felt that you didn’t take that snapshot in time that it was popular into consideration. I always liked Crystal Blue Persuasion better than Crimson and Clover. Next by them him/them? DRAGGING THE LINE! It’s a very up beat, fun song. I think you’ll enjoy it! ✌️❤️
Having read Tommy James autobiography some years back I seem to remember that this mix was intended to be a ‘rough mix’ but was leaked to a station and then subsequently was released as the ‘finished’ version.
Tommy is such a prolific song writer; funny how all his #1's also hit #1 with their covers. Checkout the live version with Joan Jet & Tommy James { I think it was in 2016 } fairly recent.
When this song came out and the funky vocal came on, some people thought their radio was broken. I also concur that Draggin the Line should be next. Such a great groove.
One thing that no one has mentioned in regards to the sound of the era, most of the music was consumed on crappy car radios, notice I didn't say car stereo, in the 60s very few cars had stereo in them, hell FM was an option, no cassette or 8 track so the sound was crappy. What a luxury to hear these songs on good equipment. The sound of this tune was unique when it came out, and on a crappy radio the voice modulation wasn't as harsh, or clunky sounding, some of it may well be because of conversion to digital. I've heard some really odd things on digital conversions that don't jive with the original analogue versions.
This was a demo version that Tommy James played for a local DJ, who secretly recorded it and then gave it a lot of airplay. Because the public loved it, they never went back to polish it.
That was the radio 45 edited version you need to hear the album version it’s much longer with a lot more middle instrumental part between ending final versus’s…. The only affects that they have are reverb and speed and intensity volume fluctuations. Pink Floyd‘s money uses the speed and intensity on a fender amplifier they just sang through one not rocket science and they did it around 69 I could’ve done it years earlier.
Alex put it pretty well, with the "Trying new things." Psychedelic music and most authentic musicians back then were just trying everything to break the molds and conformity the industry said you had to follow to succeed. That's why that era is so damned memorable, and will be for generations to come.
I love how far they lay back into the groove during the verses then push the beat with a cut time feel during the instrumental bridge...starting with that bass riff.
As a kid, the 1st 45 I ever bought, was by him... Hanky Panky... Then along came Crimson and Clover, at a momentou time in my life lol.. I'm 67 years old and when I was 24, I met 2 brothers.... They both had played with Tommy James and the Shondells..(dells).. I always told them that if he ever came here, on tour, I wanted to meet him. One of the brothers, has worked for him, for years, in another capacity now. So whenever Tommy comes here, we get to go to the concert for free ,which is great... He still puts on a great show . My friend told Tommy they wanted to hire my husband as a bus driver, and a mechanic, and Tommy said as long as he could cook, he was in lol So we have been to a few concerts, gotten autographs, and photos, with him. He is a great talent and a wonderful person. We still enjoy his music very much. BTW, I guess I am a loyalist, because I did not like Joan Jett's version. lol This was groundbreaking at the time that it came out...
True this. The wah-wah solo on the album version takes it to another place. I was in 8th grade when the 45 came out. I was enthralled. This is what they used to play on AM radio.
As a young teenage girl when this song came out, whenever I hear it, it is as if they're singing it only to me, as if whispered in my ear. ...so happy making.
Tommy James and the Shondells have such a huge variety of songs and had many top hits. I really hope you guys dig deeper into them. It’s definitely worth the time.
This song is a vibe. It vibes hard from beginning to end. Andy should definitely check out the extended version. Everything he loved, just more of it. This song was definitely weird, but in a cool way. Nothing else like it. More Tommy James with or without the Shondells! Draggin' the Line and Mony Mony for sure.
I'm always amazed people haven't heard these amazing and overwhelmingly popular songs before. I guess it confirms the fact after I turned 28 decades ago I woke up to being 65 now and can't remember how the world was so changed. Great reaction, I love your in depth analyses, so many of the reactors have little musical experience and can't add much to their reaction.
I agree with you Andy 😎 it would be so cool if you could give "Crystal Blue Persuasion" a listen. It sounds weird but I feel this song is tattooed on my heart forever. ❤️ 🍀
And while we're giving mad props to Tommy James... let's not forget that Tommy wrote and produced the monster hit "Tighter, Tighter" by "Alive N Kickin'", which deserves its own review by A&A.
What about crystal blue persuasion? I'm with Andy..mostly..the vocal wavering, whilst over done, dates it...but the production back then was really great. Way better than many modern records...
I grew up with Tommy James and the Shondells and I still love them. Other great songs by them are Hanky Panky, I think We're Alone Now, Mony,Mony, Sweet Cherry Wine,Crystal Blue Persuasion,Mirage. In my opinion they are all "S" tier songs.
Listening to the radio version of this song is like listening to Hey Jude with only a handful of na-na-na-nas. The long version relentlessly drives the chorus into your head, and it'll still be there 36 hours later.
When I was a little kid, my older sister had this 45 - I used to sing the last part through a fan to mimic the voice effect. Love Tommy James and almost of his music catalog.
Thanks for pointing out the the differences of tools available in the studio, in the 60's compared to now... that was a great take Alex.... I would add that back then, only the Beatles, Beach Boys and a few others had the resources to access the really cutting edge stuff... you get a thumbs up from an old rocker. Oh, and thumbs up Andy for Joan Jett reference.... late...
Enjoyed the nuanced discussion of production values on three different planes -- the original '68 production, production values a decade later, and how it holds up today. Also enjoyed Andy clapping back at Alex and brooking no nonsense. Well done.
I remember when this song came out the voice distortion thing was so radical that is was featured in the evening news. It was like "you're not going to believe what young people are listening to nowadays". There was a satirical TV show called Rowan And Martin's Laugh In (which was like the Saturday Night Live of the sixties) and they did a satirical spoof on it. I love the song but it's not my favorite from them, Crystal Blue Persuasion and Sweet Cherry Wine are the songs that meant the most to me. Sweet Cherry Wine is a great anti-war anthem.
This was as TRIPPY as you got back then. Even the label on the 45 was a yellow and orange spiral that tripped your Sh!t out at a young kid! Trippy was the right move. Didn’t have 50-60 years of music to compare to. It was SO innovative!
The vibrato on the vocal was actually something a lot of us loved. Same technique was used on Donovan's hit, Hurdy Gurdy Man (which featured at least two and probably three future members of Zeppelin in the studio). It was never an overused technique, but remember that era was the new frontier for the technical people, too, not just the bands. A lot of innovation and experimentation, a lot of it discarded later as things evolved. Wouldn't it have been wonderful if Auto-Tune had been a quick experiment and over, instead of becoming such a crutch?
I've always heard it as Tommy James and the ShonDELLS (emphasis on second syllable). Am I alone on this?
👍
I was going to say the same thing!
That's the way I've always heard it pronounced also.
Yup me too, that's the way to pronounce it
It is Shon-DELLS, no doubts.
"Draggin the Line" is a must. Best bass riff, ever.
Draggin the Line is the best. Driving around in the 70’s these songs blaring on the radio was heaven.
It’s pronounced Shon DELLS. If you can get a hold of Tommy James’ book it is a great read. He was very involved with the mob during their heyday.
HS classmate had the middle name Shondell - this was her uncle’s favorite band and he died in Vietnam just before she was born.
Lloyd speak this gospel truth… Draggin The Line is their best tune. Incredible track
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
@@GlenMaderos Hmm. I never liked that one or Mony Mony. But I LOVE Crystal Blue Persuasion, Crimson and Clover, I Think We’re Alone Now, Sweet Cherry Wine, Hanky Panky, Ball of Fire, etc.
I also agree with you. I love "Draggin The Line".
I think Draggin' the Line is one of the best produced songs ever. So clean and clear , especially for it's time.
It's the Shon-DELLS emphasis on the last syllable. The suffix of many of those groups is emphasized. Like the Ron-NETTES, the Shir-RELLS, the Marvel-LETTES.
I like both versions of this song. The Tommy James & The Shondells version is very much a product of its time with the psychedelic feel of the reverb and that's why I love it. That era in time was very important in Rock & Roll and this song captures that feel. The Joan Jett version is also cool because, also a product of its time, it has that classic rock and roll and smooth feel to it. Both of them are great!
Please, Please, Please: It's shon-DELLS.
It's Levi-OH-sa, not levioh-SA
That dead stare on Alex's face during the middle said it all. I loved it!! It made me chuckle because that's how it made us feel the first time!! S for me 🎶🎵
Agreed, that made me laugh!
Classic reaction
I CAN'T BELIEVE you guys listened to the short version of this. There's a longer version that was on the album which is the iconic 60s psychedelic pop song and clearly much better than the singles version.
❤️We had the best music back then. You just had to be there. The more trippy the better.
The full, unedited version may qualify as S tier if you were to hear the 4, count 'em 4 different guitar solos contained therein. This watered down shortened version is still A+ though.
This "watered-down" version is the originally released version. The middle guitar section was added to the song later for the LP.
@@compuspex Actually, the entire song was re-recorded for the album. The original version was just a demo, an acetate copy of which Tommy James took to WLS-AM in Chicago and allowed a DJ to spin on the air. The feedback from listeners was incredible -- so incredible that the boss of Roulette Records, the infamous Morris "Married to the Mob" Levy, immediately pressed 45s of the demo copy, got it into the shops, and TJ&tS thus had a major overnight hit.
That's what's funny about Alex's complaints regarding the production. He's attributing it to insufficiently advanced late '60s studio technology, when the imperfections that he heard were actually the result of the record simply being a demo version of a song that Tommy James and the Shondells had no intention of releasing until they had created a more polished and more fleshed-out version.
The album version is the version that Tommy James & the Shondells wanted the world to hear. The hit single version -- which A&A just reacted to -- is the version that Morris Levy wanted to turn into a cash cow.
Agree, and honestly I think the quality of the extended version sounds better too. It's odd how the sound is so different in this one.
@@gregsager2062 For real. The mix is fucked from the very start because the music is coming out of both headphones. This song is an aural masterpiece if you listen to the right version, but this ain't it.
I know- I was disappointed when I realized it was a radio edit
A+ is a fair rating, I'm with Andy on this one. "I Think We're Alone Now" is another good one. (Tiffany did the cover in the 80's) " Mony Mony" is a classic, too.
The Rubinoos do an amazing cover of "I Think We're Alone Now".
@Lisa Morrison I have to agree with you on both counts.
Mony Mony was a huge hit with a lot of airplay when I was in school, as was Crimson And Clover, but I Think We’re Alone Now was epic, to me anyway.
It’s a testament to Tommy James and The Shondells that so many artists did covers of their songs.
@@roncypert8255 I agree. Very influential, indeed.
"I Think We're Alone Now" is a great pick! "Mony, Mony," in my mind (with the original and the Billy Idol cover), just got way too much air play and became old to me. I don't care if I ever hear the song again! But in all fairness, fresh ears listening to it would probably feel differently.
They might've heard the cover of "Mony, Mony," by Billy Idol too (as well as Tiffany's cover of "I Think We're Alone Now.")
Fun fact, those two covers went to #1 back-to-back in 1987.
For what it's worth, and despite how much I've always hated the excesses taken by engineers at the dawn of the stereo age, I can say with assurity that this song was NEVER meant to be heard through headphones, and was likely heard almost exclusively in mono via a.m. radio, even in the U.S. A completely different experience than what you just went through, for sure!
I agree. Most of the pop records of this period that were aiming for the hit parade, like this one, were recorded to sound great playing through a transistor radio and probably in mono. In my opinion most of them still sound better and have more impact blasting out into a room, rather than on headphones. And as others have said, the reverb effects sound jarring on this version, whereas they were more seductive on the original when listened to the way it was intended.
This also sounds like it may be a digital re-mastering, which makes that effect toward the end of the song sound much different than the original analog recording - and sound not as good.
@@newremote
Car radios were still mono as well.
I probably heard more of our ’60s music in the car than anywhere else. There may have been car stereo systems, but they were an extravagance.
People were starting to get stereo systems for their home, though the first available single, it says here, was Paul Anka’s “Lonely Boy.”
The Beatles didn’t record a full album available in stereo only until “Abbey Road.”
Most singles (and albums) for a long, long time were made for cars - and cheap, portable radios. Mono is still kind of hot.
@@frankiebowie6174 agreed! I had a transistor radio with a thingy for my ear son I could listen on the school bus, lol. I hung my radio from the handlebar of my bike. I too heard lots of songs on the car radio. They will never have the thrill of static and losing the station during a song. Static and all, we had the best music ever.
"Dragging the Line" is my favourite by them. Also "Hanky Panky", "Crystal Blue Persuasion", "Mony Mony", and "I Think We're Alone Now"
Yeah, these are better songs by them.
Crystal Blue Persuasion 💖
I believe they already did Crystal Blue Persuasion.
There's no "them" to "Draggin' the Line", because it wasn't a Tommy James & the Shondells song. It was a Tommy James solo song, recorded and released a year after he had parted ways with the Shondells.
@@gregsager2062 yeah I knew that, but if you look at any of THEIR hits compilation Draggin' the Line is on it so.
I was born in 60. May sound weird but I remember when this came out as an eight year old. Back then AM Radio was all there was. As a youngster I thought it was awesome and I still do till this day. For me always an S Tier in my book. Nobody's cover is even close. Remember to consider your reactions from the time frame the tune was released. In 1968 this song was a BANGER.
Yep....... I still listening to this at least 5-6 times a year on average.
“S” Tier no doubt!
I like the Prince version better than Joan Jett. Prince's version is more of a rocker to the point that it is more than a cover of TJ&S.
Solid S Tier
No FM in the sixties??? First FM in a car was 1952. I grew up in Columbus Ohio in the sixties. Our local FM station played full albums at night. This band had a single about 1970 called "You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda". I haven't been able to find that record, but I remember almost every word of that song and I was only 11.
You guys listened to the radio version of this song. There is a 5 minute version that has some great fuzz guitar. Really broadens the song out for me. Check It out ! Also their last Album "Travelin" was my favorite album. The guys had ventured out into some rock with an edge. Check out the 1st song "Bloody Water"....It rocks hard !
If only there was some way for them to google the proper length of a song before reacting to it…
Absolutely, the longer version is more than a notch above .
So true. That version is gold!!
This was the wrong version guys, the wrong version. Listen to the album version.
The long version is the best.
If you consider the time when this song came out it's definitely S-tier. We had never heard anything like that before. Also you needed to do the full album version. Tommy James is so underrated. 👍🎶
Very true!
This one time I might disagree with someone on something in the comment section. Having heard both the radio version and the longer version, I honestly think that if they had done the longer version it would have tanked the rating. I'm someone who absolutely LOVES this song, and a lot of Tommy James's work. I probably heard it for the first time on the radio in the early mid 90s as a 6th grader, and I thought the whole vocal thing at the end was cool as shit back then (and still do) so that aspect I feel is more a product of when you hear it and under what context, so hopefully in time it will grow on them.
The reason that I think the longer version would have actually lowered the grade though is that I worry that it is a bit too repetitious and "teases" the transition to the end enough times that by the time it actually does go there, you're sitting here either like "finally ugh!" or just downright annoyed. I personally feel like there would have been a discussion about how you could easily remove 30-40 seconds of the solo and the song would be a lot better, based on watching their reactions to similar music. It's not something like 'Papa Was A Rolling Stone' or '25 or 6 to 4' or 'Sweet Home, Chicago' where a person can just sit there and lose themselves in the sauce, as the expression goes. But that's my take.
@@zoegartham312 Agree a hundred percent. You nailed it. By the way: pity they didn't use the stereo version. I'm a stereo lover.
A psychedelic classic. Great tune. Great engineering, mixing and effects.
Their long version is even better, imho!
Back when singers did it with no net!
@@margaretanscombe730 Yeah, I was disappointed the guys got the AM radio version.
For the past 50 years whenever I hear the Name Tommy James and the Shondells, the funky voice vibrato is the first thing that comes to mind. It is inextricably linked to them. I understand that it may not appeal to you on a first listen. But it is iconic. I think it was genius to record that effect.
I agree! I don't think about TJ&theS without thinking about Crimson and Clover, and I don't think about Crimson and Clover without singing that part, in my head or out loud.
I don’t hardly know her but I think I could love her. Doesn’t get any better. You need to listen to the long version.
Yes the full version is best
I really don't understand how ANYONE can hear this record and think 'production deficiency'. As I was listening, I was thinking 'I forgot how great the production was on this track'. The vibe of this psychedelic masterpiece could easily be destroyed by Pro Tools and modern production techniques. And, BTW, Joan Jett's cover is just OK. All that said, nice song choice and keep the freedom shack crankin' !
They did themselves a disservice by choosing the short version.
modern psychedelic like Tame Impala can pretty great because so much more can be done sonically
They probably wouldn't have like toaster oven either.
I think A&A don't know the constraints of the time. It is always hard to know how people viewed it at the time. And if you weren't there, it is still mostly extrapolation. For example, most people do not understand how absolutely mind-blowing artists like Monet and Van Gogh were at their peak. So much so that they were frequently rejected early on. "Impressionist" was originally an insult, something many generation of rock fans should appreciate.
But let's face it, there were a lot of technical cosntraints. Amp-based vibrato was barely cool when it first came out and had a short shelf life (Pink Floyd's "One of These Days" is probably one of the few that pulled it off, mainly because it was on bass rather than vocals.) But this is classic tinny and wet sound of the time. It didn't age well. A lot of what set the best bands apart at the time was those who got new recording technology earlier, which made the performances much warmer.
It’s kind of like judging 1995 internet for not being as fast as 2020 internet, this was the way it was done back then. But I guess you can only judge things by your own experiences and tastes.😊
This is among the best of pop psychedelic songs. A couple of others are Incense and Peppermints by the Strawberry Alarm Clock and Green Tambourine by the Lemon Pipers
Green Tambourine. Yes, please.
They did Incense and Peppermint.
@@kathy2122 ah, I'd forgotten that. Then definitely onto Green Tambourine!
Green Tambourine absolutely rocks!
And "Picture of Matchstick Men". Psychedelic era classics.
Another great song.
A note about listening with headphones. The one thing you must remember is that none of these songs from the classic rock era were mastered with or for headphones. Producers and engineers listened to the music on loudspeakers and the songs were mixed using loudspeakers. That is why they can throw you off when, for instance, a song begins with the guitar in your left ear. From loudspeakers you get a lot of crossover sound left channel to right ear, right channel to left ear. It is for this reason you will never get the same experience from headphones that we old folks got from listening to these songs. Back when this music was popular headphones were really only used for listening at night to avoid annoying people.
Very well said! Many of us first heard these songs on crappy transistor radios and single-speaker car radios, broadcast in mono by our local radio stations. Bands, and producers, knew that their songs were going to be heard this way, and recorded them accordingly.
I’m agreeing with Andy‘s gut on this one. It really feels like an S-tier song to me.
Admittedly, I grew up with it, and loved it from the first time I heard it. Yes, that funky choice for the vocals is the elephant in the room. The funny thing about that elephant is that these 50 years later, it still is my favorite part of the song. When I sing that song to myself, I always sing that part - it was so freakin’ fun and novel when I heard it in the early 1970s, I must have honed in on that part and sung it over and over (out loud and in my head). Go ahead, guys… I challenge you to sing that part out loud with each other. It’ll be embedded in your brains forever, if you do! 🗣🧠
Nobody else did it because it is so unique. Tommy James put a spin on all their tunes. He was experimenting and developing their skills.
You hit on an important point -- for those of us who first heard this song when we were in single digits and have lived with it for decades, it's hard to find *any* fault with the song, production or instrumentation or otherwise. It's locked in our memories as the perfect backdrop to our young lives. So it's good to hear the A&A perspective, probably a more objective POV, even if we somewhat disagree.
Thanks,@@jdw5678 (fellow ol' timer).
I agree with all you've said, except the "objective POV" part. They are as much a product of their times and conditioning as we are of ours. Their POV is, likewise, subjective, imho... 😇
@@jimreadey4837 I agree. How to express my thoughts?? It's more than listening to a song now and 50 odd years ago. Back then it was a completely different culture, ALL the music was different. Did you live in a rural area or a city? Were you well off or was your family scraping to get by? You can't just pick out 2 college kids and play music from 50 years ago, and have them appreciate it as much as we did then, and still do, anymore than you could take 2 guys in their late 60s or early 70s and play something from 5 or 10 years ago and expect them to feel the same way as two youngsters would feel. I happen to agree with Andy that it was A+ or maybe even S, but I definitely knew other kids back then that thought it wasn't that good. 🤷♂
Right on,@@musicluvr70(with the emphasis on the _on_ -- not on _right,_
à la millenial-speak)!
And all that has been said, I love hearing and watching these guys reactions. The know way more about music than I did when I was listening to the same songs a their age (or do now!). So I get this wonderful vicarious experience of a kind of do-over where I'm listening to the music for the first time (again), but I'm much smarter, musically speaking.
I get to be touched even more deeply by the music, this time around... 🎼🎵🎶🎵🎤🎹🎸
I'm with Andy on this one. It's not going to impress everybody, but those of us who love it REALLY love it - which is what the best art does, in my opinion.
True.. it's my least favorite of their tracks. Not that it's bad. I just prefer their other stuff more.
Tommy James wanted to make an anti war tune in the same vein as his favorite "Where have all the Flowers Gone". Crimson and Clover echoes the theme of killing off every other generation of young men for nothing - just sending them off to war because the politicians can't adapt or show some level of flexibility that might save thousands of lives.
I'm also with Andy, because well, Alex, you can't be basing ratings on "production", especially with older music, eh? That "production" thing wasn't really important back then; nobody really cared, they just wanted to get their songs on the radio.
Opening line with AM Radio ramp (jingle) is and will be a banger 🤷🏻😃
“Uhhh” 🥰
Thanks to Andy for defending it. One of my favorites. Don't take it away from me! I dare Alex to rerecord it. That's the trouble with listening now - you've got 50 years of "we're past that". You can't see how it influenced at the time. If they waited 10 years, it just wouldn't happen. Imagine management type saying "oh we've got to change it. We're past psychedelic now."
Listening on phone speaker is definitely more jarring than the car radio was back then. Memory - Driving my car with my father, when he heard this psychedelic he reached over to change the channel thinking the radio station was going out of range. So I had to snap at him to leave it alone.
Right on! Great comment
In 1964, James renamed the band the Shondells because the name "sounded good" and in honor of nearby Fort Wayne's own Troy Shondell, famous for his 1961 release "This Time."
The vocal at the end was accomplished by the voice microphone being plugged into an Ampeg guitar amplifier with tremolo turned on.
I didn't care for Joan Jett's cover. But this I totally love. Every bit of it. I guess for some people "you had to be there". But not for Andy.... ❣ Alex gets pretty into his production head.
imagine being 17 and laying out on a dock in the middle of a little lake -- and this song comes on over the speakers. first time hearing it -- i fell in love with it. thanks for reminding me. smiles and love to you both
24 years old and grew up loving this song! Psychedelic masterpiece. Also, you guys reallyyyy should’ve listened to the extended version, although it is a trippy solo and not sure if it would be up your guys’s alley anyways 😂 but it’s definitely the better, true version.
Nice to see someone acknowledge and respect the rawness of which this song was created. I believe the whole point of distorting his voice the way they did is because it was new and creative, something that hadn't been done. Way to go Andy!
Andy is always at peak Andy!
You had to be there during that time to appreciate this song for what it was.
That reverb effect is probably very jarring in the headphones, but hearing it on the AM radio in the 70s, it wasn't as harsh. That was way more harsh than I ever remember it. And I don't listen to the show with headphones.
There is an interview with Tommy who says this was the demo and unbeknownst to him was released as is.
It was not mixed down
Something that I have been thinking about recently is that Andy and Alex are listening to these songs on headphones, and while headphones certainly existed back then, most of us listened to the music of that time using stereo speakers, often large stereo speakers powered by substantial amps. It's a very different listening experience from the one you get from those headphones.
@@jgsrhythm100 It was partly James's fault that the demo was released as the single, though, since he took an acetate of the demo with him to WLS-AM in Chicago -- one of the biggest and most important pop music stations in the entire country -- and let a DJ play it on the air. Once that happened, and demand for the single pegged the needle in the red, Roulette Records boss Morris Levy immediately put it out as a single and it became a hit. Tommy James and his bandmates no doubt protested (the album version is what they had in mind to create all along), but nobody was going to protest too loudly to a label mogul who had a reputation for instigating violence against people who disagreed with him and who had a long-standing relationship with the Genovese crime family.
@@gregsager2062 Yes I knew there was more to the story byr did not recall all the details Your long term memory obviously better than mine 😆
I just listened to the long version and the short version (again) on Spotify and the reverb (tremolo?) isn't as jarring as the A/A listen. Redo it with the long version though, guys! I also gave Joan Jett a listen and the same passion wasn't there and the ending was blah without the tremolo.
Couple of comments I agree with. 1. Its a grower. 2. The first time I heard this song it blew me away and I played it over and over on a jukebox several times just absorbing it. So the shock value back in the day was definitely there. Plus, it was so different for Tommy James & the ShonDELLS.
Jukebox.. love it. Those were the days
@@sandyalbright2707 Yes they were. It was in a little hamburger joint up at a lake close to where I grew up. They always had the latest songs on that jukebox. So that song takes me back to that moment on that day. Good memories.
There is an interview with Tommy who says this was the demo and unbeknownst to him was released as is.
It was not mixed down
Psychedelic bubblegum! Thank you, Beatles, for inspiring everyone to stretch out and "get weird". For a brief moment, even the teenybopper pop could be cool. Great track, and fifty times better than anything else they ever did. They were a mafia-controlled band (so was Vanilla Fudge), Tommy James later wrote a book about the whole thing.
Dragin' the Line🤘 it's a banger.
Tommy is an innovator and very stylish recording artist 🤯
Sweet Cherry Wine is another great one that is often overlooked IMHO
A&A, his "Mony Mony", "Dragging The Line" and "Hanky Panky" are next for you!!,
Love this song!
Happy 4th of July Alex & Andy
& to all you music fans like me!
🇺🇸🎵🤘
Music was very important in our house. My dad had just bought a new high end stereo system.
This song had just came out, and me and some friends are listening to it. When the end came, with the vibrating voices, my dad ran in all freaked out. He thought we had messed up his stereo. Lol
Draggin' the Line, I Think We're alone Now, Mony Mony, & Hanky Panky were all big hits back when. So many of their songs were covered by other groups/artists later on.
That echo-y part at the end was my favorite part of it when I heard it as a kid in the 90's. It's what I think about when I hear the song name.
The funky vocal thing is awesome for LSD and fractal love.
The mixing back then was cutting edge for the time, Reverb back then totally drew you in.
This was one of the best reactions between you two…loved the honesty and difference of opinions. You. Should react to the Joan Jett version soon! 😎
agreed
This is far better than the Joan Jett version in my opinion!!
peak Andy
I always loved that Joan Jett did covers in the eighties no one else thought of doing:Tossing and Turning,Everyday People,hell,even Little Drummer Boy on a NO N Christmas album.
Cystral Blue Persuasion, Crimson & Clover and Draggin' The Line, all great songs and all sound totally different from each other. Now you guys need to check out Draggin' The Line!
Definitely Draggin' the Line!! Great song!
Great review guys - I think between the two of you, you perfectly captured this song. That tremolo thing definitely grabbed you when it first came out, and was definitely a novelty at the time. You heard things like that in the mid/late 70’s when bands tinkered with synthesizers, too. Things that became annoying but bands had to try the new toy! Happy 4th everyone!
I like when you give the rating immediately after the song, so you are not influenced by each other. Other than that - you guys are the best in the business!
Remember that on AM radio many times a day. The end effect on the vocal sounded alot louder here than it did. I haven't heard this for a few years, but it didn't seem to be that pronounced before. Excellent reaction!!!
I said the same thing.
@@pokeysd3886 you definitely did and first too. I never look before commenting. Always glad to hear somebody else thought the same thing!
Ditto! Remember that most of this music had to stand out because it was more of a soundtrack than a listening experience
I'm 30 years old, grew up with this song, and the vocal tremolo part to me is the most iconic part in my opinion.
Wow. Not sure what is wrong with Alex and his reviews. It was the 60s and psychedelic music was big. I think it is still fantastic. Stop comparing it to new stuff. Do that way too much.
Yes I find it odd that he criticizes songs for not being modern.
He's also wrong about what he's hearing in the song. He thinks that it could've sounded better if it had been recorded in a later era, because the mix sounds primitive. What he doesn't realize is that that's because it was only a demo version, not because late '60s recording technology couldn't create a clean, well-separated high fidelity sound. Tommy James took an acetate copy of the "Crimson and Clover" demo with him on a visit to Chicago's pop radio megastation WLS-AM, allowed a DJ to spin it on the air, and the resulting demand for the record prompted Roulette Records mogul Morris Levy to release the demo version as the single. The album version, which is the version that Tommy James and the Shondells planned to make all along, is not only longer and has all of those various guitar solos in it (wah-wah, fuzz, etc.), it was also mixed properly.
I was almost a teen when this song was released and totally loved it immediately for its sound and creative arrangements. Still love it.
Wow, I was a kid when this came out and enjoyed it and still enjoy it today and I appreciate the 60's psychedelic influence. Put the incense on glow lights or something close your eyes listen again and get in the zone.....Crimson & Clover Over and Over. LOL I Love it as is. Joan's is a rocker for sure but this is a CLASSIC.
Andy would probably like the long version - has a longer psychedelic break!
Plus the long version is in stereo…
If I remember correctly, you had to be on acid to appreciate this song. Lol
It Did help.
I just listened to the long version and I agree it must help!
and I'm having a flashback!
One of the all-time great song entrances. Brilliant.
When this first came out I loved it! Everyone loved this back in the day….yes, psychedelic is the word!
Love, Love, Love this song. 💕
We def heard these radio releases over and over and so it's def diff for you guys to do a fly-by 1x listen to judge but we appreciate the effort. Glad you liked it so much, Andy.
Hey hey guys! Things are looking up! I’m glad that Andy appreciated the song for what it is and even more glad that Alex took the time in music history into consideration when rating it. We thought that this was just the COOLEST song EVER when it was released. I was disappointed with your rating of Crystal Blue Persuasion. I think, if I remember correctly, you only gave it a B and a B+. I felt that you didn’t take that snapshot in time that it was popular into consideration. I always liked Crystal Blue Persuasion better than Crimson and Clover. Next by them him/them? DRAGGING THE LINE! It’s a very up beat, fun song. I think you’ll enjoy it! ✌️❤️
Having read Tommy James autobiography some years back I seem to remember that this mix was intended to be a ‘rough mix’
but was leaked to a station and then subsequently was released as the ‘finished’ version.
Tommy is such a prolific song writer; funny how all his #1's also hit #1 with their covers. Checkout the live version with Joan Jet & Tommy James { I think it was in 2016 } fairly recent.
Not really, most of the group's hits were written by or in collaboration with other songwriters. They did write this song, however.
When this song came out and the funky vocal came on, some people thought their radio was broken. I also concur that Draggin the Line should be next. Such a great groove.
There's a longer version you should check out
One of my all time favorites. I bet Alex won't care for this. This is quintessential 60's. Dig it!
One thing that no one has mentioned in regards to the sound of the era, most of the music was consumed on crappy car radios, notice I didn't say car stereo, in the 60s very few cars had stereo in them, hell FM was an option, no cassette or 8 track so the sound was crappy. What a luxury to hear these songs on good equipment. The sound of this tune was unique when it came out, and on a crappy radio the voice modulation wasn't as harsh, or clunky sounding, some of it may well be because of conversion to digital. I've heard some really odd things on digital conversions that don't jive with the original analogue versions.
This was one of the coolest songs of its time. Saw Tommy James in the late 90s & he put on one of the best shows I've ever seen.
SHON DELLS
This was a demo version that Tommy James played for a local DJ, who secretly recorded it and then gave it a lot of airplay. Because the public loved it, they never went back to polish it.
I just read that on Wikipedia. I never knew that and I grew up listening to WLS… those buggers.
That was the radio 45 edited version you need to hear the album version it’s much longer with a lot more middle instrumental part between ending final versus’s…. The only affects that they have are reverb and speed and intensity volume fluctuations. Pink Floyd‘s money uses the speed and intensity on a fender amplifier they just sang through one not rocket science and they did it around 69 I could’ve done it years earlier.
Tommy James never really got the credit he deserves for such memorable songs. This one is psyche meeting pop at its best.
He continued to write and release fabulous music through the seventies, eighties, nineties, and beyond. Brilliant singer and especially songwriter.
Alex put it pretty well, with the "Trying new things." Psychedelic music and most authentic musicians back then were just trying everything to break the molds and conformity the industry said you had to follow to succeed. That's why that era is so damned memorable, and will be for generations to come.
I love how far they lay back into the groove during the verses then push the beat with a cut time feel during the instrumental bridge...starting with that bass riff.
Tommy James wrote a great book. It's called Me, They Mob, and the Music business. It's about his experience with Roulette records.
As a kid, the 1st 45 I ever bought, was by him... Hanky Panky... Then along came Crimson and Clover, at a momentou time in my life lol.. I'm 67 years old and when I was 24, I met 2 brothers.... They both had played with Tommy James and the Shondells..(dells).. I always told them that if he ever came here, on tour, I wanted to meet him. One of the brothers, has worked for him, for years, in another capacity now. So whenever Tommy comes here, we get to go to the concert for free ,which is great... He still puts on a great show . My friend told Tommy they wanted to hire my husband as a bus driver, and a mechanic, and Tommy said as long as he could cook, he was in lol So we have been to a few concerts, gotten autographs, and photos, with him. He is a great talent and a wonderful person. We still enjoy his music very much. BTW, I guess I am a loyalist, because I did not like Joan Jett's version. lol
This was groundbreaking at the time that it came out...
HOLY SHIT this is the short version! You missed an incredible guitar solo!
True this. The wah-wah solo on the album version takes it to another place. I was in 8th grade when the 45 came out. I was enthralled. This is what they used to play on AM radio.
As a young teenage girl when this song came out, whenever I hear it, it is as if they're singing it only to me, as if whispered in my ear.
...so happy making.
Great reaction, as usual. There is a longer version of this song by them with a great instrumental break.
Tommy James and the Shondells have such a huge variety of songs and had many top hits. I really hope you guys dig deeper into them. It’s definitely worth the time.
This song is a vibe. It vibes hard from beginning to end. Andy should definitely check out the extended version. Everything he loved, just more of it. This song was definitely weird, but in a cool way. Nothing else like it. More Tommy James with or without the Shondells! Draggin' the Line and Mony Mony for sure.
Suggested they could put songs into categories, One of the categories being a vibe. This would totally fit. I love the music video to
I was a 8 year kid 1968 .With older siblings listening to great music . Everything was groovy .You had to be there to understand it !
I was there when it first came out, and I've always felt that the heavy tremolo used all through the song was more effect than effective.
I'm always amazed people haven't heard these amazing and overwhelmingly popular songs before. I guess it confirms the fact after I turned 28 decades ago I woke up to being 65 now and can't remember how the world was so changed. Great reaction, I love your in depth analyses, so many of the reactors have little musical experience and can't add much to their reaction.
I agree with you Andy 😎 it would be so cool if you could give "Crystal Blue Persuasion" a listen. It sounds weird but I feel this song is tattooed on my heart forever. ❤️ 🍀
And while we're giving mad props to Tommy James... let's not forget that Tommy wrote and produced the monster hit "Tighter, Tighter" by "Alive N Kickin'", which deserves its own review by A&A.
Careful what you ask for. A state-of-the-art production of this song 10 years later would have been a top-10 disco hit.
Not that that is a bad thing.
What about crystal blue persuasion?
I'm with Andy..mostly..the vocal wavering, whilst over done, dates it...but the production back then was really great. Way better than many modern records...
I grew up with Tommy James and the Shondells and I still love them. Other great songs by them are Hanky Panky, I think We're Alone Now, Mony,Mony, Sweet Cherry Wine,Crystal Blue Persuasion,Mirage. In my opinion they are all "S" tier songs.
"I Think We're Alone Now" is a real gem, one of the best.
Still one of my favorite songs. Damn, the music was good when I was a kid!
Listening to the radio version of this song is like listening to Hey Jude with only a handful of na-na-na-nas. The long version relentlessly drives the chorus into your head, and it'll still be there 36 hours later.
Album version is S all day every day.
When I was a little kid, my older sister had this 45 - I used to sing the last part through a fan to mimic the voice effect. Love Tommy James and almost of his music catalog.
You played the shortened am version missing out on the great instrumental.
I'm with Andy too. I think you have to judge the songs for the time they were created in. Back then, it was unique and AWESOME! And S for sure!
Thanks for pointing out the the differences of tools available in the studio, in the 60's compared to now... that was a great take Alex.... I would add that back then, only the Beatles, Beach Boys and a few others had the resources to access the really cutting edge stuff... you get a thumbs up from an old rocker. Oh, and thumbs up Andy for Joan Jett reference.... late...
Enjoyed the nuanced discussion of production values on three different planes -- the original '68 production, production values a decade later, and how it holds up today. Also enjoyed Andy clapping back at Alex and brooking no nonsense. Well done.
I remember when this song came out the voice distortion thing was so radical that is was featured in the evening news. It was like "you're not going to believe what young people are listening to nowadays". There was a satirical TV show called Rowan And Martin's Laugh In (which was like the Saturday Night Live of the sixties) and they did a satirical spoof on it. I love the song but it's not my favorite from them, Crystal Blue Persuasion and Sweet Cherry Wine are the songs that meant the most to me. Sweet Cherry Wine is a great anti-war anthem.
“Production deficiency” = rock and roll greatness
This was as TRIPPY as you got back then. Even the label on the 45 was a yellow and orange spiral that tripped your Sh!t out at a young kid! Trippy was the right move. Didn’t have 50-60 years of music to compare to. It was SO innovative!
So true!
The vibrato on the vocal was actually something a lot of us loved. Same technique was used on Donovan's hit, Hurdy Gurdy Man (which featured at least two and probably three future members of Zeppelin in the studio). It was never an overused technique, but remember that era was the new frontier for the technical people, too, not just the bands. A lot of innovation and experimentation, a lot of it discarded later as things evolved. Wouldn't it have been wonderful if Auto-Tune had been a quick experiment and over, instead of becoming such a crutch?