Today’s classic song of the day was recommended by friend Charlie Hazelwood. The song is “Tighter, Tighter” by that one-hit wonder band, Alive ‘N Kickin’. It was released in June of that wonder year, 1970, and made it all the way to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Tighter, Tighter” was written and produced by Tommy James (yes, that Tommy James) and his writing partner Bob King. James released a cover of his own song a few years later, in 1976, but it failed to chart.
Here’s what Mr. James remembers about the song:
“I was dying to get back in the studio, and I had written a song called ‘Tighter, Tighter.’ It was going to be my single. And right about that time, my wife’s friend was managing a group called Alive ‘N Kickin’ from Brooklyn. And they were a good group, a really good group. I went out to see them a couple of times in different places, and I was going to produce them at some point, but sometime in the future.
“I didn’t have the time for it right now, didn’t have the head for it, so I went in and I laid down a track of this song called ‘Tighter, Tighter,’ and I just didn’t like the way it was coming out, it just wasn’t right. Somehow—it didn’t happen to me very often, but I just miscalculated the vocal, and I didn’t like the way I sounded on it. I really believed the song was a hit—I had written it with Bob King, my new songwriting partner at that time. And so I remembered this group. They had a male and a female lead singer that would switch off leads. So I re-wrote the song as a duet.
“I called them up and said, ‘You guys, can you come down here and add your players on top of what we’ve already done, and I think you’ve got a hit with this.’ So they came in and that’s just what we did. We put their guitar player on, we put their keyboard player on, we added some horns, and Pepe and Sandy sang the lead, and then Pepe, Sandy, and I did backgrounds. And it came out beautiful, we took it to Roulette [James’ record label], Roulette put it out, and it was a big hit record for them. “It ended up being the first group outside of the Shondells that I produced. I produced a few other acts, Patti Austin, a group called Troy, which was Benny Mardones who later had a hit with ‘Into The Night’ in the late ’70s. I was producing a few people and having some fun. And then I basically went back in and recorded as a solo act from that point on.”
Alive ‘N Kickin’ was formed by two friends in Brooklyn, New York, Pepe Cardona and Sandy Toder. They got together in 1968 and lasted all the way through 1971. Not a long run and they released only one album and had this single hit, so there you go. That said, “Tighter, Tighter” sold more than a million copies, which certified it as an RIAA Gold record, which ain’t bad. And it certainly earned Mr. James some songwriting royalties, too.
