B.J. Thomas - Raindrops Keep Fallin On My Head & Everybodys Out Of Town '2009

Tracks list

 B.J. Thomas had hits before “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head”
-- big ones, too, like “Hooked on a Feeling,” -- but that 1969
single made his career, establishing him as a first-class adult contemporary
singer. Naturally, “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head”’s
prominent position in Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid was instrumental in this
breakthrough -- its blockbuster status guaranteeing Thomas a bump -- but the LP
Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head followed through on the single, abandoning any
lingering Texas soul influences remaining in Thomas and focusing firmly on pop.
Bacharach & David are heard on the title track and “This Guy’s In
Love with You,” Jimmy Webb has two songs (“If You Must Leave My
Life,” “Do What You Gotta Do”), Mark James, author of
“Hooked on a Feeling,” has two cuts, including “Suspicious
Minds,” and Bobby Russell’s ‘60s standard “Little Green
Apples” gets an airing. What’s most revealing is Thomas choice of
The Greatest Love” from Joe South -- it’s one of South’s
poppiest numbers, and B.J. gives it an appropriately soft and symphonic
treatment. This orchestrated, yet not dramatic, arrangement is the sound of
Raindrops, and it’s the sound of mainstream crossover pop at the late
‘60s, the sound that Thomas made his own starting with this very record.
Song for song, it’s not quite as interesting as Young and in Love, but it
holds together as well as that album, and offered a better indication of
B.J.’s career path.

Following up the success of “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” may
have been the easiest thing B.J. Thomas ever had to do professionally. He now
had the sound, the style, and the songwriters, all he had to do was offer some
more of the same, and that’s precisely what 1970’s
Everybody’s Out of Town offered. The LP had the same mix of new tunes
from major pop songwriters -- Bacharach & David, authors of
“Raindrops,” being the most prominent, naturally -- covers of
current popular tunes (“Everybody’s Talkin’,”
“Oh Me, Oh My,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” Jr.
Walker’s “What Does It Take”) and a host of pleasant MOR
material. There are some subtle differences -- there’s a little bit of a
heavier soul vibe here and Bacharach/David’s shuffling neo-vaudeville
tunes somewhat oddly build upon the old-timey vibe of Butch Cassidy -- but the
chief allure of the album is its softness, how it can still seem smooth when
Thomas is pouring whatever remnants of his soulful past into his phrasing. This
may not have much grit, but it’s not meant to: it’s lush MOR, and
in that regard, it does its job well, if not without a whole lot of distinction.
:: TRACKLIST ::

Raindrops Keep Fallin On My Head
1. Little Green Apples
2. Raindrops Keep Fallin On My Head
3. This Guys In Love With You
4. If You Ever Leave Me
5. Guess Ill Pack My Things
6. If You Must Leave My Life
7. The Greatest Love
8. Do What You Gotta Do
9. Mr. Mailman
10. Suspicious Minds

Everybodys Out Of Town
11. Everybodys Talkin
12. Everybodys Out Of Town
13. The Mask
14. I Just Cant Help Believing
15. Send My Picture To Scranton, PA
16. What Does It Take
17. Oh Me Oh My
18. Created For A Man
19. Sandman
20. Bridge Over Troubled Water

Bonus Tracks
21. Long Ago Tomorrow
22. Theres No Holding You
23. The Girl Cant Help It
24. Always On My Mind
25. I Believe In Music

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