All the group and solo hits, and more

Tommy James, first with the Shondells and later solo, had a memorable six year run on the singles chart from 1966 through 1971, landing two #1s, sixteen top-40s, and a fistful of top-100s. Disc one encapsulates James’ greatest commercial success, spanning the group’s debut cover of Barry & Greenwich’s “Hanky Panky,” their return to the top of the charts with “Crimson and Clover,” James’ last hit with the Shondells, “She,” and his biggest solo hits, “Draggin’ the Line,” “I’m Comin’ Home.” Filling out the first disc is a wealth of lower-charting singles that includes the galloping pop “Out of the Blue,” the brassy “Somebody Cares,” the funky “Gotta Get Back to You,” the soulful “Come to Me,” the gritty pop-rock “Ball and Chain,” the country-rock “Nothing to Hide,” and the “Horse With No Name” styled “Cat’s Eye in the Window.” James run of hits spanned AM radio’s focus on singles and FM radio’s promotion of longer-form album cuts. The group’s LPs, such as Crimson and Clover, successfully kept a foot in both worlds, selling millions of copies and spinning off multiple hit singles.

What’s most impressive about the variety collected here is that even as James, his writers and his production team took in new influences, they kept a readily identifiable sound and an unwavering bead on the charts. For example, when they added gospel piano, church harmonies and Stax-styled horns to 1970’s “Church Street Soul Revival,” James lead vocal still rings with the youthful quality lent to 1967’s “I Think We’re Alone Now.” James voice fit equally well in the raunchy remake of Goffin & King’s “Hanky Panky” as in the pre-teen bubblegum “It’s Only Love” or flower-power psych of “Crimson and Clover.” The shorthand of a singles anthology might suggest James was a style mercenary or dilettante flitting from trend to trend, but it’s the pull he exerts on his influences that proves otherwise. James wasn’t a chameleon who colored himself with the latest fad; he was a chart artist who adopted new sounds to his own use. It may all be unabashedly commercial, but in retrospect one can hear both craft and art in each and every cut.

In 1970 James split with the Shondells and began writing most of his own material. His solo work found the top-40 again with “Draggin’ the Line” and “I’m Comin’ Home,” as well as more top-100 singles. The latter-third of disc one and the first-half of disc two chronicle James’ most vital period as a solo chart artist. As with his earlier releases, he explored a variety of sounds, including gospel, folk, and soft rock. But unlike his earlier work, the production choices date some of the 1970s sides, intentionally on a heavily processed cover of Gary Glitter’s “I Love You Love me Love,” but more often by absorption of the era’s glistening guitars, echoed drums and artificial keyboards. James reprises his hit song “Tighter and Tighter” (which hit #7 for Alive ‘n Kickin’ in 1970) with a strong ballad vocal outlined in synthesized strings.

James hopped from Roulette to MCA to Fantasy to Millenium where in 1980 he returned to the pop top-40 (after a nine-year absence) with the ballad “Three Times in Love,” topping the adult-contemporary chart in February of that year. Another pair of lower-charting hits followed, “You Got Me” and “You’re So Easy to Love,” and though they’re laced with then-contemporary synthesizers, the melodies are memorable, the guitars have some edge, and James vocals are moving. 1983’s stomping “Say Please” rocks even harder, with a “Louie Louie” guitar riff, a throwback organ solo, and a powerful vocal that ranges from a whisper to a shout. James’ late-80s work is even more influenced by the synthetic sounds of that era than his ‘70s work had been by proto-disco. Where early on he’d used influences to create hits in his own way, he now seemed to be searching for latter-day relevancy, and it didn’t suit him. What finally returned James to radio and the charts were the holiday hit, “I Love Christmas,” and a string of adult contemporary hits sparked by an earthy, gospel cover of his own “Sweet Cherry Wine” and brought to full fruition with the emotional ballad “Love Words.”

Featured among the forty-eight tracks are numerous mono single mixes (1-15, 20, 23-26, 48) and the set closes with James previously unreleased first recording, 1962’s garage rock “Long Pony Tail” by Tom and the Tornadoes. This is an A-sides only collection, so you’ll have to hope for a Bear Family box set if you want all the B’s. Ed Osborne’s liner notes provide background on each stage of James’ career, though it would have been nice to get chart and session info for the individual tracks. The tri-fold digipack features collages of vintage photos from James’ personal collection. Casual fans may prefer a collection that focuses more narrowly on 1966-71 (such as Rhino’s Anthology, or its remastered double-disc replacement The Definitive Pop Collection), but those who want to sample James’ entire arc as a recording artist will appreciate the latter day sides on disc two. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]

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