Most of All/Billy Joe Thomas

B.J. Thomas | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 12, 2010)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Collector's Choice
• ASIN: B002MCI97K
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #214,093 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Most of All

2. Rainy Day Man

3. (They Long to Be) Close to You

4. Table for Two for One

5. Circle 'Round the Sun

6. No Love at All

7. Rainy Night in Georgia

8. Brown Eyed Woman

9. I Don't Know Any Better

10. Hello Love

11. That's What Friends Are For

12. Rock & Roll Lullaby

13. Happier Than the Morning Sun

14. Roads

15. Sweet Cherry Wine

16. A Song for My Brother

17. A Fine Way to Go

18. Just as Gone

19. I Get Enthused

20. Are We Losing Touch

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Billy Joe, Finally!, January 12, 2010

By 

grooverider "artie" (Toluca Lake LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Most of All/Billy Joe Thomas (Audio CD)

"Billy Joe Thomas", which was released orginally in 1972 with a gatefold cover had a copy of his birth certificate adorning the back cover! Each of the 12 songs featured the original songwriter as a performer on their respective cut. Look at the talent performing on this album: Stevie Wonder(harmonica on "Happier Than the Morning Sun"), Carole King (piano on the great, "A Fine Way to Go"), Jimmy Webb (piano on "A Song For My Brother"), John Sebastian (guitar on "The Stories We Can Tell"), Paul Williams (Background vocals on "That's What Friends Are For") songwriter Mark James (Background vocals on "I Get Enthused" and the album highlight for me, "Are We Losing Touch") and on and on... Also playing: Background vocalists extraordinare, The Blossoms (shout out to Darlene Love),guitar great Duane Eddy (on the single "Rock And Roll Lullaby" which also featured co-author Barry Mann).
But holding all this talent together, the immensely talented B. J. Thomas, who with his incredible vocals put his very personal stamp on every one of the 12 songs. Quite a feat, indeed!
Recorded in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville this still is a
uniquely cohesive piece of music, which speaks volumes about the gifted vocalist B. J. Thomas. This album always seemed so personal to him, I felt that his personality really was on display on each song. Thank you, Mr. Thomas

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thomas parts ways with Chips Moman and Memphis, January 23, 2010

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Most of All/Billy Joe Thomas (Audio CD)

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]

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent material, August 18, 2010

By 

bisiti - See all my reviews

This review is from: Most of All/Billy Joe Thomas (Audio CD)

This particular re-issue contains materials that sound softer overall compared to the other re-issues of the materials preceding it. And production wise, I think this one's the best. Highlights for me include "Table For Two For One", "Rainy Night in Georgia", Brown Eyed Woman", "No Love At All", "I Get Enthused", "Life", just to name a few... For everyone who loves music of that period and listening to singers with quality voice, don't miss this one. I think the Scepter years, and the following couple of years, are really the period when BJT was at his best.