When Too Much Joy first released Son of Sam I Am on the San Francisco-based indie label Alias Records, critics were delighted. Rolling Stone called it “an exciting, promising discovery,” the New York Times praised its “irresistible guitar-driven pop songs,” Penthouse declared it “the best indie rock record of the year,” while the San Francisco Chronicle singled out “Kicking” as “easily the best new number in 1989.” I, for one, remember the band in consistent rotation on WOXY/97X during my high school years.

Warner Bros quickly signed the band and reissued the album with a remixed version of their LL Cool J cover, “That’s a Lie” and a couple of bonus tracks. LL Cool J himself appeared in the music video for “Lie,” and fan requests to see it again and again landed it in what used to be called heavy rotation. This band was clearly headed for the big time.

Son of Sam I Am was where they first figured out how to combine the sonic attack of the Clash and the anthemic melodies of the Descendents with the satirical insights of Randy Newman and the warm humanism of John Prine. And now that 35 years have passed since that Warner Bros. release, the master tapes and the underlying compositions have reverted to the band, who are celebrating their emancipation with a Sandinista-sized reissue: Son of Sam I Am (Tommy’s Version).

The CD comes with a 24-page booklet that includes all the lyrics plus an oral history about the making and marketing of Sam and features all fifteen original tracks from the Warner album, plus another nine bonus tracks. The digital version you can buy on Bandcamp or play on your streaming service of choice adds another ten to those for a total of thirty-four – proving that there can never be too much of a good thing, especially when that thing is Too Much Joy. Pre-order it here.

Photo courtesy of Too Much Joy.