Читать книгу The Mojo Collection - Various Mojo Magazine - Страница 159

Record label: Roulette

Produced: Tommy James

Recorded: New York; summer 1968–January 1969

Released: April 1969

Chart peaks: None (UK) None (US)

Personnel: Tommy James (v, g); Eddie Gray (g); Ronnie Rossman (k); Mike Vale (b); Pete Lucia (d)

Track listing: Cellophane Symphony; Makin’ Good Time; Evergreen; Sweet Cherry Wine (S); Papa Rolled His Own; Changes; Loved One; I Know Who I Am; The Love Of A Woman; On Behalf Of The Entire Staff And Management

Running time: 41.55

Current CD: Sequel NEMCD647 adds: Crimson And Clover album

Further listening: Crimson And Clover (1968)

Further reading: www.tommyjames.com

Download: www.tommyjames.com

A child prodigy at 13, Tommy James spent the early ’60s fusing garage rock with bubblegum pop. A second incarnation of his group The Shondells charted with I Think We’re Alone Now in 1967 and Mony, Mony in 1968 before the psychedelic bug bit and the album and single Crimson And Clover introduced a new phase for the group. Still with songwriting partner Richie Cordell, James moved into new, less formulated territory. Influenced by Sgt. Pepper, the group changed garb and paid lip service to musical fashion while retaining their pert pop sound. However, by the end of 1968 James had seized full control of proceedings and Cellophane Symphony became his most ambitious project yet.

The opening title track was a nine-minute-plus instrumental, some way from the three-minute slices of pop he was renowned for, sounding more like an atmospheric Pink Floyd outtake complete with Farfisa organ. The mood generally is one of irreverence: plenty of tongue-in-cheek wordplay and even, at one point, a John Wayne impersonation, before side one closes with the vaudevillian Papa Rolled His Own. In the spirit of Zappa’s We’re Only In It For The Money, Cellophane Symphony climaxes with James’s very own attack on the establishment, On Behalf Of The Entire Staff And Management, a spoof party singalong where James is presented with a gold watch for services rendered. The mood takes an even more bizarre twist when James starts squealing ‘It doesn’t work, it doesn’t work/the watch doesn’t even work/I hate you.’ Perhaps it was a refutation of the futility of playing the pop game. Whatever, James is seen seated in an empty auditorium on the reverse of the original UK version of the album with an expression that seems to be asking ‘What the hell was all that about?’