Action! The Songs of Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart

by N/A

Overview

Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart's brand of West Coast sunshine pop made them one of the most successful songwriting teams in the 1960s, and although the duo only managed one big hit as performers, 1967's "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight," they almost single-handedly provided the Monkees with most of their hits (including the theme song to their TV show), and wrote hit singles for several other artists and groups, plus wrote the theme songs for the TV soap opera Days of Our Lives and the period-successful teen variety series Where the Action Is, all of which kept the royalty checks rolling in. Boyce & Hart parted ways, both as performers and as a writing team, at the end of the decade (they teamed with ex-Monkees Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones to perform and record for a bit in the mid-'70s as Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart) and there really hasn't been a good anthology of their compositions to date. This set comes closer than most to presenting the songwriting craft of the pair, leading off with Boyce & Hart's lone hit as performers, "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight," then following with versions of "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" (a hit for Paul Revere & the Raiders and also done by the Monkees, the extra-snotty version here is an earlier one by the Flies); "Last Train to Clarksville" (the Monkees' first big hit -- here it's done by the Standells in a similar arrangement with slightly dirtier-sounding lead guitar); a pair of television themes (Paul Revere & the Raiders' "Action" from the show Where the Action Is and the Monkees' "[Theme From] The Monkees"); and earlier successes like Jay & the Americans' "Come a Little Bit Closer," Little Anthony & the Imperials' "Hurt So Bad," Fats Domino's "Be My Guest," and Chubby Checker's "Lazy Elsie Molly," among others. Again, it's not really the perfect anthology this songwriting duo probably deserves, but the inclusion of rarer versions of some of the big hits is a plus, and at 26 tracks, it's the most complete to date. ~ Steve Leggett

Product Details

Release Date:	09/04/2012
Label:	Ace
UPC:	0029667049528
Rank:	51771

Tracks

1. I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight  - Tommy Boyce  - Artie Butler  - Bobby Hart
2. Valleri  - Tommy Boyce  - Bobby Hart  -  Monkees  - Mick Patrick  - Harvey Williams
3. Action, Action, Action  - Keith Allison  - Tommy Boyce  - Bobby Hart  - Larry Marks
4. I'm Not Your Stepping Stone  - Tommy Boyce  -  Flies  - Bobby Hart  - Ivor Raymonde
5. Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day  - Tommy Boyce  - Jerry Dennon  - Dewey Martin  -  Sir Raleigh & the Coupons  - Steve Venet
6. Words  - Tommy Boyce  - Bobby Hart  - Norm Ratner  -  Regents
7. Last Train to Clarksville  - Tommy Boyce  - Ed Cobb  - Bobby Hart  -  Standells
8. (He's Gonna Be) Fine, Fine, Fine  - Tommy Boyce  -  Ikettes  - Ike Turner  - Steve Venet  - Toni Wine
9. P.O. Box 9847  - Tommy Boyce  - Bobby Hart  -  Monkees  - Mick Patrick  - Harvey Williams
10. She  - Tommy Boyce  - Bobby Hart  - Don McGinnis  - Del Shannon
11. Come a Little Bit Closer  - Tommy Boyce  - Wes Farrell  - Bobby Hart  -  Jay & the Americans  - Artie Ripp  - Garry Sherman
12. The Dum Dum Ditty  - Tommy Boyce  - Artie Butler  - Bobby Hart  - Larry Martire  - Shadow Morton  -  Shangri-Las  - Steve Venet
13. I Can't Get Him Out of My Mind  - Dave Appell  - Tommy Boyce  - Artie Butler  - Wes Farrell  - Sandra Gee  - Bobby Hart
14. Hurt So Bad  - Bobby Hart  -  Little Anthony & the Imperials  - Teddy Randazzo  - Bobby Weinstein
15. Thank You for Loving Me  - Tommy Boyce  - Wes Farrell  - Bobby Hart  - Jerry Ross  -  Sapphires  - Jimmy Wisner
16. If You're Thinkin' What I'm Thinkin'  - Jimmy Bowen  - Tommy Boyce  -  Dino  - Bobby Hart  - Bill Justis
17. Seven Days in September  - Tommy Boyce  -  Ginger & The Snaps  - Bobby Hart  - Gene Page
18. Never Again  - Bobby Hart  - Teddy Randazzo  -  Royalettes
19. I Gotta Find Cupid  - Tommy Boyce  - Bobby Hart  -  Lewis  - Leon Russell
20. Beverly Jean  - Tommy Boyce  - Curtis Lee  - Phil Spector
21. Too Many Teardrops  - Bobby Hart
22. Be My Guest  - Dave Bartholomew  - Tommy Boyce  - Fats Domino  - John Marascalco
23. Lazy Elsie Molly  - Dave Appell  - Tommy Boyce  - Chubby Checker  - Bobby Hart
24. Action  - Tommy Boyce  - Bobby Hart  - Terry Melcher  -  Revere
25. (Theme From) The Monkees  - Tommy Boyce  - Bobby Hart  -  Monkees  - Mick Patrick  - Harvey Williams
26. Dicci Come Fini [Peaches 'n' Cream]  - Tommy Boyce  - Giuseppe Calabrese  -  Honeybeats  - Steve Venet

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Chubby Checker   Primary Artist
The Ikettes   Primary Artist
Del Shannon   Primary Artist
Dino, Desi & Billy   Primary Artist
Little Anthony & the Imperials   Primary Artist
Keith Allison   Primary Artist
The Shangri-Las   Primary Artist
The Royalettes   Primary Artist
The Monkees   Primary Artist
The Regents   Primary Artist
Gary Lewis & the Playboys   Primary Artist
Paul Revere & the Raiders   Primary Artist
Curtis Lee   Primary Artist
Jay & the Americans   Primary Artist
The Sapphires   Primary Artist
The Standells   Primary Artist
Ginger & The Snaps   Primary Artist
Sir Raleigh & the Coupons   Primary Artist
Sandra Gee   Primary Artist
The Honeybeats   Primary Artist
Tommy Boyce   Primary Artist
The Flies   Primary Artist
Bobby Hart   Primary Artist
Fats Domino   Primary Artist
Garry Sherman   Conductor
Mick Patrick   Compiled

Technical Credits

Ivor Raymonde   Producer
Jimmy Wisner   Arranger
Fats Domino   Composer
Tony Rounce   Illustrations
Ed Cobb   Producer
John Broven   Illustrations
John Marascalco   Composer
Dewey Martin   Arranger
Brian Nevill   Illustrations
Jerry Dennon   Producer
Jimmy Bowen   Producer
Nick Robbins   Mastering
Phil Spector   Producer
Bill Justis   Arranger
Larry Martire   Composer
Larry Marks   Producer
Gene Page   Arranger
Leon Russell   Arranger
Wes Farrell   Composer
Norm Ratner   Producer
Artie Butler   Arranger
Artie Ripp   Producer
Toni Wine   Composer
Dave Appell   Producer
Stephen J. McParland   Illustrations
Steve Venet   Composer,Producer
Don McGinnis   Arranger
Garry Sherman   Arranger
Harvey Williams   Liner Notes,Illustrations,Additional Production
Rob Hughes   Illustrations
Niall McCormack   Package Design
Bobby Weinstein   Composer
Graham Welch   Illustrations
Shadow Morton   Producer
Giuseppe Calabrese   Composer
Phil Chapman   Illustrations
Simon White   Illustrations
Jerry Ross   Producer
Dave Bartholomew   Producer
Tommy Boyce   Composer,Producer,Liner Notes
Alec Palao   Illustrations
Teddy Randazzo   Arranger,Composer,Producer
Terry Melcher   Producer
Mick Patrick   Liner Notes,Illustrations,Additional Production
Bobby Hart   Composer,Producer,Liner Notes
Ike Turner   Producer