Search - Del Shannon :: This Is My Bag/Total Commitment

This Is Not Del's "Bag"

06/29/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In 1966, Shannon moved from Michigan to Los Angeles, ditching his band, The Royaltones, and his producer, Harry Balk, and signed with Liberty Records. This two-fer contains Shannon's first two albums for the label. THIS IS MY BAG was produced by Snuff Garrett, the pop production legend who was making stars out of Gary Lewis and The Playboys at the time. That said, it is no surprise that the album is made up of a couple of originals and a lot of weak covers of contemporary hits (a typical Snuff Garrett album of the time). Unfortunately, the originals do not rank among Shannon's best and many of the covers don't work with Shannon's voice. TOTAL COMMITMENT is better, with Garrett turning production duties over to Shannon and Dallas Smith. The album is still filled out with covers, but at least they're done with more conviction than the ones on the previous album. The originals on this album are also very good, although the album mix of "Show Me" is highly inferior to the Snuff Garrett-produced single version. (Check out Rhino's GREATEST HITS for the mono version or Raven's ANTHOLOGY for the stereo mix). In all, THIS IS MY BAG is okay and TOTAL COMMITMENT is enjoyable, if unoriginal. This CD is beautifully packaged and the sound is clear stereo, with the exception of "The Big Hurt," which is included in a muddy mono mix (see Charly's GREATEST HITS for the superior stereo version). Still, this is not for someone with only a mild interest in Del Shannon."