Live at the Bitter End

Audio Compact Disc

Label: BMG Special Products

Style: Contemporary Pop/Rock

Live at the Bitter End

UPC: 755174567827

Release Date: 09/01/2000

Original Release Date: 09/01/2000

Number of Discs: 1

Tim Sendra

BMG Special Products' 2000 release of the Tommy James & the Shondells' collection titled All Their Best is indeed a collection of almost all of Tommy James' best songs. Unfortunately the songs have either been re-recorded in what sounds like the 1990s or taken from live shows from around that same time. James sounds pretty good considering how long it has been since these songs were hits, but the music is just plain bad. It is sterile and boring, two things the Shondells (or the session musicians who played on the records) never were. Worst of all is the incredibly wrong and cheesy faux-techno remix of "Mony Mony." Pathetic is the only word that springs to mind. Worse than pathetic, criminal maybe, is that BMG never lets on that this is a collection of re-recordings and live songs. Nowhere is that sad fact mentioned on the cover, which sports an out of focus shot of the group from the late '60s. You might expect that from some fly-by-night label but not one of the largest, most prestigious labels in the business. Avoid this release like the whooping cough. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi