Tommy James & The Shondells
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Category: Top 40 Music On Compact Disc
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URL: https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3037
Printed Date: 09 June 2025 at 2:03pm
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Topic: Tommy James & The Shondells
Posted By: satchdr
Subject: Tommy James & The Shondells
Date Posted: 13 January 2008 at 1:48pm
| Unless I am missing something, there is a domestic "hits" CD for Tommy James & The Shondells that is not reflected in the database. It is Roulette RCD 42040, entitled "The Best Of Tommy James & The Shondells" and is identical to Roulette LP SR 42040. It is clearly a commercially manufactured CD and states a 1985 copyright of Roulette and "Manufactured in U.S.A." on the edge of the CD. It's one of the first CDs that I remember buying after I bought my first CD player back in 1985. The recordings are good quality and the stereo LP versions of "Crystal Blue Persuasion" (4:02), "Crimson & Clover" (5:27) and "Sweet Cherry Wine" (4:20) are on the CD. |
Replies:
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 15 January 2008 at 6:52pm
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Roulette Records was still in business at the dawning of the CD age. I have two copies of that CD, an early, Japanese-pressed domestic version with black printing on the label, and a later US-pressed copy in red. Sonically, they're not as good as the releases that followed Rhino's purchase of the Roulette catalog.
The extended version of "Crimson And Clover" is as it first appeared on the Roulette Crimson And Clover vinyl LP, which means that the "heavy" instrumental portion that was recorded later and inserted into the single-length original runs slower and at a lower key than the rest of the song. 
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Posted By: satchdr
Date Posted: 15 January 2008 at 9:23pm
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Great information, Yah Shure!
I've got the CD on the right in your scan (and the original Roulette album. For those who want the stereo version of "I Think We're Alone Now," the sonic quality is great in its appearance on "Bubblegum Classics Volume Two" (Varese Sarabande VSD 5575). It gives the song a great clarity and depth (in my humble opinion.) Satchdr |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 16 January 2008 at 10:38am
I agree that the sound quality is better, but the stereo version of "I Think We're Alone Now" is an earlier mix, not the final one. Tommy James has explained what happened several times in different interviews on XM's '60s on 6, most recently on December 19, 2007, when he was accompanied by Shondell Mike Vale and "ITWAN" arranger Jimmy "Wiz" Wisner. I recorded most of that interview with XM's Phlash Phelps, and here's what was said regarding the song: Phlash Phelps: I don't know if this is the version... we were talking about this a couple years ago, that this may be the version that you threw out, the one that we have here? Jimmy Wisner: Yes. Phlash: Remember this? Tommy James: Well, the one that you play, it's funny you said that, because XM has a version of "I Think We're Alone Now" that I realized as I was listening to it, it was a previous version. It was... when I say "version," it was a rough mix; it was an attempt at the final mix that we ended up going in and then we ended up taking out the piano and just having the bass and the drums for the first third of the record. Well, the version you have has all the instruments still in it: the pounding piano and everything like that. I hadn't heard that in, oh, since, you know, before the record came out. So it actually just blew me away that you guys had that. |
satchdr wrote:Posted By: satchdr
Date Posted: 16 January 2008 at 11:18pm
| Again, thanks to Yah Shure for the ITWAN info. I'll now go back and listen to the two versions with Tommy James' comments in mind |
Posted By: PopArchivist
Date Posted: 09 April 2022 at 8:16am
Which means that there is no actual stereo version is there that has been released that is the same as the mono take? What did the 1967 LP have on it? ------------- Favorite two expressions to live by on this board: "You can't download vinyl" and "Not everything is available on CD." |
Posted By: LunarLaugh
Date Posted: 09 April 2022 at 5:22pm
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Technically speaking, the stereo mix is created from the
same exact tracks used to make the mono mix except it sounds like it is "all faders up" for the whole song. Stuff that is muted in the mono mix during the verses isn't muted in the stereo. Because of this, I think the lack of other instrumentation present in the verses in the mono mix would make a stereo mix that matched the mono a bit lackluster (not a lot of tracks to move around during those parts). ------------- https://thelunarlaugh.bandcamp.com/ - Listen to The Lunar Laugh! |
Posted By: davidclark
Date Posted: 09 April 2022 at 11:10pm
Correct, the stereo mix of this track was not issued until 1992. This is true of a number of 60s tracks, that the first stereo mix wasn't issued until years later (on LP or CD) - some sounding rather different than the original mono mix. ------------- dc1 |