Total Commitment
| Total Commitment | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 1966 | |||
| Recorded | July 19–28, 1966 | |||
| Genre | Rock and roll | |||
| Length | 31:28 | |||
| Label | Liberty | |||
| Producer | Dallas Smith | |||
| Del Shannon chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Total Commitment | ||||
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Total Commitment is the eighth studio album by American rock and roll singer-songwriter Del Shannon, and his second for Liberty Records, Released in October 1966.
It includes multiple cover songs, including "Sunny", "Red Rubber Ball", and "Time Won't Let Me", as well as the singles "Show Me" and "Under My Thumb", which reached number 128 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart[1] and number 99 on the Cashbox singles chart.[2]
Background[edit]
Liberty wanted to get Shannon back into the studio to record another album, and get another single or two in the mix. "What Makes You Run" and "I Can't Be True", both originals, "What Makes You Run" followed "Under My Thumb" in the sense of arrangement and instrumentation. He truly thought he had a winner with "Thumb" to be a hit."[3]
Dan Bourgoise reflected on the second batch of cover songs: "If Del never did cover songs, that would be one thing. But he was always one who would do a few cover songs on his albums...[he] would find a song that he really liked that he thought he could add something to, to make it his own."[4]
Critical reception[edit]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| New Record Mirror | [6] |
Total Commitment received positive retrospective reviews. Bruce Eder of AllMusic said that "Total Commitment is almost a roots rock record compared with This Is My Bag, which preceded it, And even amid such classic compositions as 'Where Were You When I Needed You,' 'Time Won't Let Me,' and 'Summer in the City."[5]
Record Mirror called the album an "unpretentiously en-joyable Beat album". [6]
The Honolulu Advertiser stated that Total Commitment is soul supreme, "Under My Thumb" and "Sunny" are standout.[7]
Track listing[edit]
Side one[edit]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Under My Thumb" | Jagger/Richards | 2:47 |
| 2. | "Red Rubber Ball" | Paul Simon, Bruce Woodley | 2:50 |
| 3. | "She Was Mine" | Roy Nievelt | 2:42 |
| 4. | "Where Were You When I Needed You" | P.F. Sloan, Steve Barri | 2:54 |
| 5. | "The Joker Went Wild" | Bobby Russell | 2:27 |
| 6. | "The Pied Piper" | Steve Duboff, Artie Kornfeld | 2:07 |
Side two[edit]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sunny" | Bobby Hebb | 2:52 |
| 2. | "Show Me" | 2:27 | |
| 3. | "Time Won't Let Me" | Tom King, Chet Kelley | 2:35 |
| 4. | "What Makes You Run" | 2:42 | |
| 5. | "I Can't Be True" | 2:20 | |
| 6. | "Summer in the City" | John Sebastian, Mark Sebastian, Steve Boone | 2:45 |
Recording dates[edit]
- July 19, 1966 – "Under My Thumb", "She Was Mine", "Show Me"[3]
- July 26, 1966 – "What Makes You Run", "I Can't Be True", "Red Rubber Ball", "The Pied Piper", "Sunny", "Time Won't Let Me".[3]
- July 28, 1966 – "Summer in the City", "Where Were You When I Needed You" and "The Joker Went Wild"[3]
References[edit]
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (1982). Joel Whitburn's Bubbling under the hot 100, 1959-1981. Menomonee Falls, Wis: Record Research. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-8982-0047-8.
- ^ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, October 29, 1966".
- ^ a b c d Runaway - The Del Shannon Story. Xlibris Corporation. 30 June 2023. ISBN 9798369401477.
- ^ Runaway - The Del Shannon Story. Xlibris Corporation. 30 June 2023. ISBN 9798369401477.
- ^ a b Eder, Bruce. ""Total Commitment" - Album Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
- ^ a b Jones, Peter; Jopling, Norman (11 February 1967). "Del Shannon: Total Commitment" (PDF). New Record Mirror. No. 18. p. 8. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
- ^ "The Honolulu Advertiser 27 Oct 1966, page 26". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-12-29.