thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard

Let’s change things up a little bit today and start with the song.  See what you think….

So what did you think?  I love this song….whenever I hear it it screams Summer to me.  So many good memories of being a kid with three months of sun, play and no school.  But let’s leave memory lane behind for now and talk about Alive and Kicking.

Alive and Kicking is a New York band that originally formed in the late 60s.  From everything that I have read, they were a very tight band but as we all know it takes more than being a good musician to be successful.  In the case of Alive and Kicking, they were lucky enough to get signed to Roulette records which was also the home to Tommy James.  Tommy, who created some of the best pop hits in the 60s with his band the Shondells, took the group under his wing; gave them the song Tighter and Tighter; and produced their album.  The rest is history….talent and a little luck and you have a huge hit on your hands.  Tighter and Tighter spent 16 weeks on the charts in the summer of 1970 and was a gold record for the group.  Surely there was more great stuff to come from this group.  Well maybe not…it’s not like Tommy James was going to abandon his career and keep writing hit songs for you!

Cue the crickets………..

Speaking of Tommy let’s leave this post on a high note and listen to one of Tommy’s greatest hits.

It’s funny how the first time you hear a song can stick in your mind forever.  I first heard this song when I was at camp the summer between 10th and 11th grade.  It was way past lights out and I was listening to WLS from Chicago on my little transistor radio in my upper bunk.   (I had managed to sneak the radio and the original mono earphone  into camp)  This song came on the radio and I thought I had died and gone to heaven…I had never heard anything like it and I don’t know if I have ever heard anything as original since then.  Good memories….