Customer Reviews

Crimson & Clover & Cellophane Symphony

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the early days of record buying, besides the Beatles, Herman's Hermits, and the Four Seasons, I always looked for a new Tommy James single. He is one prolific writer, who continually put out singles almost every 2-3 months. Between "Hanky Panky" and "Do Something To Me", he changed - dramatically. This is a two album set, and is worth every dime. The first album , "Crimson and Clover", is and excellent album defying critics abilities to "pigeonhole" it. It wasn't bubblegum, it wasn't acid rock, it wasn't metal, it was a bit of everything.

The title cut is pretty much known by all. It is actually a splice of two master tapes at different speeds, (if you listen you can tell!) This was and is one of the greatest singles of this generation, and is timeless. Who doesn't know it? "Crystal Blue Persuasion" was another big one, known by all, and today would be MOR. Top 5 all the way, another major classic.

"Do Something To Me" was recorder earlier, and was released before "Crimson and Clover" and shows its "Mony Mony" roots. "Sugar on Sunday" could have been another single, but a group called "CLIQUE" jumped on it. "Breakaway" and the others are filler, but unlike most of his albums, this was his first 33 1/3rd lp to be listened to in its entirety. All the songs are rather good.

The best part is getting "Cellophane Symphony" on the same CD. "Sweet Cherry Wine" is his anti-war ode, and another hit. "Changes" attempts the mold of "Crimson" a great song. "Loved One" has been and has always been on of my favorites. The remainder are also easy to listen to, and are not Bubblegum, but the beginnings of FM rock. He tried and at last found the formula.

IF YOU ARE A FAN, YOU CANNOT GO WRONG WITH THIS ALBUM. If a collector or a lover of the 60's, this is a true artifact I think you will enjoy. For the value, your risk is low.

While historians today tend to focus on groups like The Velvet Underground and The Doors when tracing the "psychedelic" music of the sixties, Tommy James and the Shondells brought the stuff to the top of the charts in '69 and hardly receive a mention. "Crimson and Clover" is a great album and coupled with "Cellophane Symphony" this is one of the "ingenuine" articles proving a guy who began with the nice bubblegum of "Mony Mony" and "Mirage" could surface with a dynamite psychedelic record. "I Am a Tangerine" "Smoky Roads" "Sugar on Sunday" ... might not ring a bell, but before you toss out this group pn its undeserved bubblegum reputation, give 'em a chance with this album!

This CD has the long (unedited) psychedelic version of Crimson & Clover and other hallucinating songs that I use to listen in my teens. Check it out and relax.

Because this two-albums-on-one-disc collection contains the long version of the hit "Crimson and Clover," many ardent fans will probably prefer it to Tommy James' Greatest Hits collection. The two albums also contain several of James's other best known songs, like "Crystal Blue Persuasion," "Sweet Cherry Wine" and "Sugar on Sunday." These pure pop songs stand in sharp contrast to much of the remaining material, which includes some of the goofiest music ever to come out of the late 60s psychedelic era. Of the two records, "Crimson and CLover" is the more conventional, as James reserves most of the space out jamming to the extended version of the title track.

On "Cellophane Symphony," however, things get downright weird. The opening title track is an extended slow jam with none of the "Crimson" tunefulness to alieviate the "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida" heaviness. Beyond that comes the pot worshipping relic "Papa Rolled His Own," the awful Ed Sullivan and Elvis imitations on "I Know Who I Am," and the truly annoying mock going away party of "On Behalf of the Entire Staff and Management." The hippie humor represented by all of this has not aged well. Nevertheless, "Cellophane" does have its strong points, notably the ballad "Evergreen," "Making Good Time," and the aforementioned "Sweet Cherry Wine."

Overall, this collection will mostly be of interest to ardent fans of Tommy James's music. Casual fans should stick to his excellent Greatest Hits collection.

Crimson & Clover is one of the best albums ever, the title track is 5 and a half minutes of what heaven is like and the rest of it is quite experimental (Dick Clark talking at the beginning on some of the tracks, the piano at the end of do Something To Me and the backwards message on Smokey roads). However I noticed they classified this as pop, this is real good rock music, the Cellophane Symphony album on the second half of the CD is more experimental and psychedelic than most Pink Floyd albums. Now I would like to see Christian Of the World to be reissued on CD as well as all of Tommy James' albums with and without the Shondells.

At the end of the Sixties I was living at an American air base in Japan and each month at the BX they would have a featured album that they loaded up on big time and sold for like a buck. This explains not only how I ended up with "ABC" by the Jackson 5 but also how I picked up "Cellophane Symphony." I must admit I had never thought to track this album down on CD, so finding it was not only available, but also paired up with the "Crimson & Clover" album that was probably the best seller for Tommy James & the Shondells is a real treat (especially since there will probably never be a CD of the first record I ever bought, "The Beatles Second Album").

This is NOT an argument that the title track of "Cellophane Symphony" is a lost masterpiece of the late sixties or the birth of progressive rock. This is pure nostalgia on my part, because I cannot really imagine anybody really being taken by that particular track today. Most people are going to be enticed because they recognize the Tommy James & the Shondells hits from this pair of albums, especially "Crimson & Clover" and "Crystal Blue Persuasion." The longer version of "Crimson & Clover" ends up being the chief attraction of this double-album CD, because otherwise you would be better off going after the group's greatest hits anthology, which is one of the better collections of that type. Then again, if you have pleasant memories of the audacious little "Cellophane Symphony" or the tacky "On Behalf of the Entire Staff & Management," you might just have to track this one down.

These 2 albums were issued within months of each other.Crimson & Clover was a commercial success and exhibited the strenghts of Tommy James as an outstanding writer and performer. Cellophane Symphony delivered a stretch into a new previously untapped arena for him. A small record company and a poor marketing approach has cost this gifted artist his proper place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This CD is classic late 60s.A must buy for any serious music lover.

I bought this to replace my worn-out LP and
it came with a bonus: Cellophane Symphony.
The liner notes say Crimson & Clover is finally
back into it's original speed. If you don't
own the long version, this is the cd to buy!
Another great party song is Do Something To Me.
It's sounds similar to Mony Mony, and the album
version is far superior than the single version.
More great songs: Crystal Blue Persuasion and
Sweet Cherry Wine. A great value!!!

I bought this CD for basicaly one reason and one reason only. I wanted to have the long and very beautiful revised version, of "Crimson & Clover". I have always loved this song since it came out in my junior year of high school. It brings back such warm and fuzzy good memories of times that were not as bad as times are today. It brings back memories of times of high school friends and simple "puppy love and hopes" before the times of war in Vietnam and the hard times since then. It is a very soothing song of lost simpler times in my and my generations lives. I always listen to it when I get to feeling down but it also reminds me of the friends that have left this life and this brings a tear to my eyes. Just a simple honest review is all that this is. Hope you understand this.

A Friend
Alan

This two album cd from Tj and the Shondells is the best collection by this former bubblegum pop group. The big hit Crimson and clover is here in its original longform but the album itself is actually one of the sixties best. On "I am a tangerine" the band outdoes the beatles in Revolver like pyschedelia- the lyrics are pretty silly but the effects and arrangment are very cool. This is pure pyschedelia done better than you would imagine especially if youre familiar wih the groups early career. Also great is the other somewhat known hit" crystal blue persuasion" a very laidback but odd mix of motown and flower power moments. Tommy James produced the record and really got into the production and mixing side of recording- its very much an ear candy type record. I would say this fits firmly in line with the zombies oracle and floyds piper at the gates though more pop and accessible- perhaps in the top ten of 60's records. The followup Cellaphane Symphony starts off amazing with a long instrumental piece using the moog synth- it comes across as floydian and i assure you its quite eerie and groundbreaking. This album contains the minor hit sweet cherry wine- a protest song that was popular during the vietnam era. The shondells throw in some alt country and some haunting almost jazzlike silkiness on "Evergreen"- perhaps this albums best tune. Where CS fails is the humor pieces which are heavily borrowed from the Small faces(Ogdens Nutflake) or perhaps the Kinks. They are too long not very funny and take away from what could have been a second masterpiece. The moog is used on a couple of tracks and give songs like "changes" a stamp of their own. All in all for the price this is an excellent cd- good liner notes- very good sound and Crimson is essential listening. The addition of Cellaphane is also nice as atleast 65-70% of the record is very good as well. For those familiar with 60s music its easy to spot where tommy James borrowed stole or incorporated others styles- but his group did it with enough taste and personality to make it their own.