TOMMY JAMES Third Album

Original released on LP Roulette SR 3007

(US, 1972)

Arguably the most musical album by Tommy James, a stellar cast of musicians who performed with Elvis Presley, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, and other giants back up Tommy James around the time of his solo hit "Draggin' the Line". Along with co-producer and co-songwriter Bob King, his partner with the successful "Tighter, Tighter" a year earlier for "Alive 'n' Kickin'", James puts together 13 sides that range from the psychedelic pop he is known for to straight-out country. Reinventing John Fogerty's "Born on the Bayou" riff which also served as Lou Reed's foundation for his classic "Sister Ray", the timeless changes emerge as "Dark Is the Night" here. When Buddy Spicher's fiddle comes in, it is far removed from the Everly Brothers' "Love Hurts," where all these gents "borrowed" the chord progression. Perhaps this novel and monumental album would have fared better on Fantasy Records, where TJ would find himself just five years later. It's as fascinating hearing Pete Drake, Linda Hargrove, Pig Robbins, and other legends doing "Kingston Highway," which could be a sequel to Tommy James & the Shondells brilliant "Ball of Fire" as it is to hear James performing in their territory on "Walk a Country Mile," "Fortunada," and "I Live to Love a Woman". James even covers Linda Hargrove's "Rosalee," the genres go back and forth, but there's no denying it flows seamlessly.

"Who's Gonna Cry" is pure Shondells, with the singer throwing in little touches of B.J. Thomas via Hank Williams, the backing vocals' total pop and the country twang sneaking in to create an interesting hybrid of successful sounds. "Who's Gonna Cry" is more commercial than "Draggin' the Line," but this package might have been too much for radio programmers, along with the unfair typecasting this artist faced at this point in time. Many fans of Tommy James' Top 40 hits passed this one by in the cut-out bins, never realizing what genius is poured all over these tracks. Joey Dee and Ritchie Cordell co-wrote "Paper Flowers" with Tommy James, and again, it is the sound we grew up with on the radio, effects from the "Crimson & Clover" album add some spice to the pedal steel. The album is impeccably engineered by Elvis Presley guitarist Scotty Moore who doesn't pick up his axe for this outing - but boy does everything sound so fine. There are heavy gospel influences throughout, starting with the first track, "Nothing to Hide," and continuing throughout the disc. Now this would have been an adventurous hit record - that authentic Presley sound merging with the Shondells and a chorus that comes in from heaven itself. As "Hanky Panky" hit years after it was recorded by the teenager who became a pop star, wouldn't it be amazing for people who care about great music to rediscover this important work? Someone ought to put "Nothing to Hide" in a major motion picture and bring this album to life. Bob King and James do a credible job of writing country with their "Tell 'Em Willie Boy's a 'Comin'," two-minutes-and-forty-seven seconds of Tommy James having fun in the recording studio, fun that you can feel, making this album a real find. (Joe Viglione in AllMusic)

TOMMY JAMES - A Christian Of The World

Original Released on LP Roulette SR 42062 
(US 1971)

This Tommy James' second album after the breakup of the Shondells was his most successful solo project. "Christian Of The World" is a mix of inspirational near-gospel music with harder rock 'n' roll songs. The first hit was "Church Street Soul Revival" followed by "Adrienne". While the first two singles did well, it was the third that went Top 10. "Draggin' The Line" was issued in the summer of 1971, and the persistent bass line and James' strong vocal helped make it a Top 5 hit. A fourth single from this album, "I'm Comin' Home", also did well in the fall of 1971. The genius of Tommy James is that along with his perfect radio voice and ability to construct and deliver hits, he knows how to nick riffs right and left and reformulate them to suit his compact pop essays. "Christian of the World" is another top-notch Tommy James album; unfortunetly, it has not received the critical acclaim it deserves. "Christian of the World" was a total departure from anything Tommy had ever done before. While it's true, other 'mainstream' pop and country performers had, on occasion, recorded traditional Gospel music...no other rock artist had ever attempted anything as bold as an album of new 'Christian oriented' songs. Today this genre would be called Christian Contemporary, but in 1971, the year of its release, this was unheard of.

TOMMY JAMES Debut Album

Original released on LP Roulette SR 42051

(US, 1970)

A very cosmic/psychedelic album cover has seven black-and-white Tommy James heads coasting over what looks like an acid trip, rainbow behind him, colors dripping upwards. It's the opposite of the black-and-white psychedelic look of the "Cellophane Symphony" album and the first of James' three final albums for Roulette. If we are to take the discs as three chapters, this one is Tommy James and Bob King proving that Tommy James was the Shondells. "Ball and Chain" is poppy and intense, the Velvet Underground gone bubblegum. Clearly, drugs had some influence on Tommy James' work, and where his ex-bandmates took a stab at the third Velvet Underground album with their Hog Heaven track "Come Away," "Ball and Chain" from the first Tommy James solo album sounds like it is an outtake from the Velvet Underground's "Loaded". "Meet the Comer" has bits of Neil Young's "Helpless," all gone pop, of course. Tommy James' reformulation of pop riffs he would create or nick kept the majority of his albums highly listenable. It's a real gift to tune in and grab melodies from the cosmos, and rest assured, memorable hooks and special sounds are all over these grooves. "Midnight Train" continues the party, making this a very underground pop album. "Come to Me" leads off side two, and it is the lost sequel to "Sugar on Sunday," the big hit for the Clique which first appeared on the "Crimson & Clover" album. "Come to Me" has a choir of backing vocals and should've been a smash with its flavors of past glories enhanced with a new bridge. Wonderful stuff. As the first part in his solo trilogy, Tommy James pays tribute to Tommy Roe, Billy Joe Royal, and even Bobby Sherman, but shows them all how a pop album is crafted and how Tommy James is the genuine article. It's perhaps the most experimental of all his projects, more cohesive than Peter Lucia and Mike Vale's Hog Heaven, and sets the stage for the refined "Christian of the World" and the reverent and very satisfying Nashville recording "My Head, My Bed and My Red Guitar". Where a song like "Quick Silver" would be out of place on those aforementioned titles, it fits perfectly on this descent into a pop maestro's psyche. An enlightening project, and like many of Tommy James' other artistic endeavors, tragically overlooked. (Joe Viglione in AllMusic)

TOMMY JAMES - Draggin' The Line (1971)