Tommy James And The Shondells by Johnny And The Creeps

Back in high school I found a 45 of “Mirage” in a used record bin. I remember being excited by the song but a little confused. Was this really the same band that Debbie Gibson was covering? I think the music of Tommy James has been overshadowed by bad covers that were actually big hits themselves and it doesn’t help that “Mony Mony” reached archetype frat rock status. Last Halloween I chose to play some Tommy James songs and everybody thought I was crazy.  What people don’t remember is that he wrote a lot of very catchy, wonderful pop songs and I wanted to breathe new life into them. Anyway, the gig was great and we were able to record our efforts shortly after, this is how the set went.

01 Hanky Panky

02 I Think We’re Alone Now

03 Crimson And Clover

04 Dragging The Line

05 Mirage

In Between Days – The Cure

Here’s an offering for Autumn ‘08. In Between Days was the song that really sold me on The Cure. It sounds silly but I saw the video on MTV back in ‘85 and was I so blown away by the hypnotic sound, the synthetic pining, the bird like camera movements, the glow in the dark socks! Well, I immediately went and bought the record and I spent the next few weeks realizing that there was a world beyond REM and The Replacements. In my head the interpretation sounded like Merle Haggard but I think it came out more like John Denver. Oh well…

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy – 1910 Fruitgum Company

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy has to be one of the most banal songs of all time. However, late one night, a few years ago, I heard it on a classic rock radio station and I was amazed at how disturbing the lyrics were. “Love you’re such a sweet thing, good enough to eat thing?” Well, of course visions of Jeffrey Dahmer started spinning and it was then I got the idea to record a “darker” version of the song. I didn’t want to get too creepy with the delivery because it is a catchy tune. Seems like a good way to usher in the Summer of ‘08.