Total Commitment

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 and number 99 on the Cashbox singles chart.

Background
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."

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."

Critical reception
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."

Record Mirror called the album an "unpretentiously en-joyable Beat album".

The Honolulu Advertiser stated that Total Commitment is soul supreme, "Under My Thumb" and "Sunny" are standout.

Recording dates

 * July 19, 1966 – "Under My Thumb", "She Was Mine", "Show Me"
 * July 26, 1966 – "What Makes You Run", "I Can't Be True", "Red Rubber Ball", "The Pied Piper", "Sunny", "Time Won't Let Me".
 * July 28, 1966 – "Summer in the City", "Where Were You When I Needed You" and "The Joker Went Wild"