Ice Cream Man

Some time ago I was driving in San Francisco and listening to a radio station on the low end of the dial. “Crimson and Clover” came on and naturally, i was excited. This has always been one of my favorite oldies but I had never really thought much about the song or Tommy James and the Shondells, who I might, or might not have known at the time. I cranked it up as I was driving around town then something amazing happened. For the first time (at least that I can remember) I heard the full, album version of the song. This wasn’t the two-minute-plus version but over five minutes of psychedelic pop bliss. Not too long after that I started looking for Tommy James albums at record stores and finally tracked down the album Crimson and Clover. Luck have it, half the tracks on the LP are gems. There’s the popular hit, “Crystal Blue Persuasion”, and the not as popular, but just as good, “Sugar On Sunday.” There’s also “I Am A Tangerine” which is prolly one of the more “psych” songs you’ll hear on a record with two top ten hits (Crimson was actually a #1 hit in 1968). So…. what I’m getting at is… not only should you rock this track but you should track downn the full album. It’s one of those albums that’s always good to have in a collection.

Tommy James and the Shondells “Crimson & Clover”

Buy Crimson and Clover