Future chart-topper warms up with country, soul and blues
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.
1966’s I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry reprised the title song with which Thomas reached #8 on the charts as the lead singer of the Houston-based Triumphs. Thomas re-imagines Hank Williams’ country classic as pop-soul with slow, measured vocals underlined by a mournful organ, low bass and drums lightly counting out the waltz time. A falling horn line at the end of each verse adds some Stax flavor, and the song’s heartbreak is brought to a head in the anguished wails with which Thomas takes the song out. He takes Williams’ “There’ll Be No Teardrops Tonight†similarly down-tempo, with a harpsichord in place of organ, a guitar carrying the blues and Jordanaires-styled backing vocals adding their moan.
Thomas proved himself a fetching blue-soul singer on the jukebox themed “The Titles Tell†and adds punch to a cover of “Midnight Hour†with horns, handclaps and female backing singers. The album spun off a minor hit in Mark Charron’s sentimental original “Mama,†and his other titles, though a bit maudlin in tearjerkers like “I Wonder†and “Bring Back the Time,†are good vehicles for Thomas. There’s frat-rock energy in “Wendy,†a pre-Beatles boy-singer pop melody in “Terri,†and a Texicali-tinge to “Maria.†Thomas also sang covers of Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual†and Freddie Scott’s “Hey Girl,†mostly following the originals but adding a distinctive touch with his vocal tone.
Thomas followed up the same year with the album Tomorrow Never Comes. The track list once again includes a slow, soulful pass at a country legend’s song, this time building Ernest Tubb’s “Tomorrow Never Comes†to a show-stopping crescendo. Mark Charron once again supplies most of the originals, this time writing about the supercharged emotions of teenagers and young adults. The little known “Plain Jain†is the story of a lonely girl who kills herself after falling for a prank prom invitation; though only charting to #129, it’s a worthy entry in the death-song genre. Charron captures the end-of-the-world melodrama of found love, broken hearts, friendlessness, failure and occasional moments of self realization, youthful optimism and redemption.
Thomas’ style was all over the map at these early points in his career, crooning, rocking and emoting atop pop, soul, blues and country arrangements of guitar, bass, drums, strings and horns. Those horns come to the fore on a rousing cover of Timmy Shaw’s “Gonna Send You Back to Georgia,†and the album closes with the fine, bluesy frat-rocker, “Candy Baby.†Collectors’ Choice adds two bonus B-sides, the countrypolitan kiss-off “Your Tears Leave Me Cold†and a torchy cover of Robert Thibodeux’s “I’m Not a Fool Anymore.†All tracks are stereo except 1, 2, 8, 21 and 24, and the set’s 8-page booklet includes liner notes by Mike Ragogna and full-panel reproductions of the album covers. Making their first appearances on CD, these are two great places to start an appreciation of Thomas that extends deeper than his well-known hits. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com] 
