B.J. Thomas: Most of All / Billy Joe Thomas

Thomas parts ways with Chips Moman and Memphis

B.J. Thomas is often remembered for his biggest pop hits, “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Hooked on a Feeling,” “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” and “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.” But like many artists whose careers were longer than their pop chart success, there’s a lot more to Thomas’ catalog than these four songs. In addition to 1980s success on the country charts, Thomas recorded albums throughout the mid-60s and 70s that turned up lower-charting hit singles and terrific album sides. Collectors’ Choice has gathered Thomas’ first eight solo albums for Scepter as a series of four two-fers, starting with his 1966 label debut, I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, and concluding with 1971’s Billy Joe Thomas.

After out-of-the-gate success with Huey Meaux in Texas, four albums and a hit singles with Chips Moman in Memphis, and a Los Angeles-based chart-topper with Burt Bacharach and Hal David, by the start of the 1970s B.J. Thomas was once again on the move. His 1970 release Most of All includes a few finished tracks recorded with Moman at American Studios, but also includes a stop in Atlanta and finally settles in at Doraville, Alabama’s Studio One. Here Thomas connected with producer Buddy Buie and the studio players who would form the Atlanta Rhythm Section. This new setting produced two hits, “Most of All” and “No Love at All,” both Top 40 pop and Top 5 adult contemporary. The former was written by Buie, the latter reunited Thomas with songwriter Wayne Carson, suggesting the track might have been started in Memphis.

Buie’s instrumentation wasn’t terrifically different than Moman’s, featuring guitars, bass and drums augmented by strings and horns. But Buie’s productions are smoother and not as deep in the soul-funk pocket as had been laid down in Memphis. Thomas responded by modulating his vocals with longer notes that edge into crooning. The material follows the familiar course of a few originals and cover songs that fit Thomas snugly enough to leave little leaving room for musical reinvention; James Taylor’s early “Rainy Day Man,” The Carpenters’ “Close to You,” and Brook Benton’s “Rainy Night in Georgia,” don’t add much to the originals. Neither does a cover of Mann & Weil’s controversial song of interracial romance, “Brown Eyed Woman,” which had scored on the coasts for Bill Medley.

The following year Thomas made another leap, recording in New York City, Los Angeles and Nashville, with Steve Tyrell and Al Gorgoni producing Billy Joe Thomas. Thomas continued to chart higher on the adult contemporary chart than the pop list, topping the former with the gorgeous “Rock ‘n’ Roll Lullaby.” The single’s Beach Boys-styled backing vocals lift Thomas as he stretches into falsetto and adds a new style to his catalog. Paul Williams’ “That’s What Friends Are For” (not to be confused with Burt Bacharach’s similarly titled song that was a hit for Dionne Warwick) revisits the Billy Joel inflections Thomas brought to 1968’s “Mr. Businessman,” and “Happier Than the Morning Sun” is given a sunnier, lighter arrangement than Stevie Wonder’s later recording.

For this last album on Scepter, Tyrell engaged the songs’ writers to perform, a plan that paralleled the emergence of singer-songwriters as a marketable quantity. Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Jimmy Webb and Paul Williams played and sang on their tunes, and guests included Duane Eddy, Darlene Love and Dave Somerville of ‘50s vocal group, The Diamonds. Tyrell and Gorgoni created the most consistent album to that point in Thomas’ career, seamlessly knitting together pop, blues and soul, while picking up songs from favorite sources Wayne Carson and Mark James alongside the famous singer-songwriters. Thomas shows himself ready for serious lyrics, including the terrific call-to-action “We Have Got to Get Our Ship Together” and John Sebastian’s “The Stories We Can Tell.” Pete Drake’s pedal steel on the latter all but pointed the way to Thomas’ future on the country charts.

Collectors’ Choice adds three bonus tracks to the original albums: a single and two B-sides of which the gospel “Mighty Clouds of Joy” makes the most lasting impression. All tracks are stereo, and the set’s 8-page booklet includes liner notes by Mike Ragogna and full-panel reproductions of the album covers. These albums find Thomas searching for direction after leaving Memphis and finding new confidence in New York City. He’d hook up with Paramount the following year, score an across-the-board success with “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” with ABC in 1975, and top the country charts in the mid-80s, leaving Billy Joe Thomas to stand as a fitting end to his run with Sceptor. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

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