B.J. Thomas twofers on Collector's Choice!

I listened to the first one in the car....Sounded OK, but I'll have to try a more critical listen this afternoon. Nice liner notes though!

 

Wow, wow, wow..., those poor old SCEPTER master tapes! I only bought one of these new 2-fer's from Collector's Choice ("Raindrops/Everybody's Out Of Town") and I'm telling you right NOW, that I'm starting to wonder if Gordon Anderson is actually listening to these things, that he slaps his company name on? I'm thinking that if he had listened, there is NO way that he would have let these out. These master tapes are in really bad shape. There is tape drag at the beginning of "I Just Can't Help Believing" and other tape issues with a few other tracks. I do, however, agree with Dennis above, in that the liner notes are very interesting. In fact, it was cool to find out that Steve Tyrell, (yes, the now almost famous "standards" singer, who used to work as a youth, at SCEPTER RECORDS), was the guy who, when they realized that SCEPTER was in such bad financial shape at the time, that instead of paying to set up studio time and musicians for B.J. to record the song, "Suspicious Minds", that Steve asked the songwriter Mark James, if he could get the backing track of Elvis's version, which he DID. So, the backing track is actually the exact same as Elvis's, with The Sweet Inspirations re-doing their backing vocals. You can (according to B.J.), actually hear Elvis bleeding through, every now and then, of which, I add, especially now that those tapes are in such bad shape. This particular CD that I bought also has a few previously unreleased bonus tracks, so for the fans of B.J., this is a must buy, but to be completely honest, that if you want the sound on those old albums to sound like they used to, you'd be better off going to your local GOODWILL and looking for the original "SCEPTER" LP's.

One more thing, while I'm on the topic, Gordon Anderson also recently reissued most of those old Dionne Warwick albums on CD and they also had really bad tape issues. Believe me, I'm a fan of those old SCEPTER recordings, by many of those artists on that label and I appreciate that Gordon is trying to preserve them, but, these tapes are in such terrible shape, that I wonder if it's really worth it?

Chris C

 

BJ's version re-used the basic tracks from Mark James's recording. It's quite different from the Elvis recording.

 

I must have read that wrong? Oh well, it still sounds like crap.

Chris C

 

I assume these are the stereo tapes?

Is is well known that Dionne's tapes were falling apart back in the 80s when Bill Inglot put together the Anthology.

I still wonder if the mono masters from BJ and Dionne are in the same bad shape?

 

The sound quality (even to non-audiophile ears!) isn't great on these BJ reissues, but I'd encourage any fan of great 1960s pop music not to shy away from these releases...besides the familiar singles, there are a number of wonderful album tracks from the likes of Mann & Weil, Bacharach & David, Jimmy Webb, Mark James, etc. etc...virtually a roll call of the best 1960s pop songwriters. As has been pointed out here, the liner notes are also terrific with a lot of information new to me (BJ recorded Bacharach & David's "All Kinds Of People" and it remained in the can? Why couldn't it be included as a bonus track along with all of the other unreleased material here?) I couldn't be more pleased to have these on CD despite the apparent issues with the quality of the masters, and I hope Collectors' Choice will consider another round of his later work.

 

The B.J. CD that I bought is STEREO. I mentioned this in a Dionne thread, but, a few years before Collector's Choice did their Dionne Warwick reissues, Sequel in the U.K. did theirs. While Collector's Choice uses STEREO (at least on the few that I bought), Sequel used a lot of MONO, mixed in with STEREO, on certain tracks. Naturally, the use of MONO and STEREO, inside of the same album, makes the listening experience sound like a train wreck. The MONO masters also seem to have their problems as well, but not nearly as audible, as those SCEPTER STEREO masters seem to.

Chris C

 

My CDs have finally arrived. I can't thank Collector's Choice's customer service enough for all the patience in reshipping my package because the original shipment had been addressed to a P.O. Box. I failed to notice the warning on their website that shipments could not be addressed to P.O. boxes. The CDs are great, just as I expected. Collector's Choice is doing a great job reissuing long-awaited albums on CD. When they released the Billy Vaughn twofers, they seemed to be reading my mind. Now they've done it again with B.J. Thomas. These reissues are nothing short of a dream come true for me. A big thank you for releasing them!

However...

I have to be honest about the "4 Pack w/autographed booklet". I hate to say it, but it did disappoint me. I though it meant 1- an exclusive box (no matter how simple) and 2 - an exclusive booklet. I don't know about you, but all I got was the four CDs and an extra (duplicate) "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head/Everybody's Out of Town" booklet autographed by B.J. on the back. This extra booklet was actually glued to one of the jewel boxes, so I had to remove it carefully. If you buy the CDs separately, all you will miss is the autograph. Sorry, but I expected more. Am I pleased with my purchase? Certainly. Would I have bought the "4 pack" if I knew it was just the four CDs with an autograph on one of them? I'm not sure. I already have B.J.'s autograph, anyway, which you can see here. In case you're wondering, the one on the CD does look genuine. The figures on the invoice make it look as if I paid 11.98 just for the autographed booklet, but the price listed for each individual CD on the CC website is 14.98, so the total price would have been the same if I had ordered them out of the "4 Pack" option. The only advantage for me is that I could have ordered them from a domestic store, which would have made the transaction easier for me.

On the "On My Way/Young and In Love" booklet, B.J. says: "'Light My Fire', 'Oh Me, Oh My' and "Rock and Roll Lullaby' were huge hits for me in Brazil' (...) "I've almost had as many hits in Brazil as I've had anywhere else, even here". The liner notes of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head/Everybody's Out of Town", written by Mike Ragogna, also say: "It's interesting to note that this LP's 'Oh Me, Oh My' as well as 'Light My Fire' and B.J.'s most beautiful signature song, 'Rock and Roll Lullaby' became huge hits in Brazil..." That's true, but I think he meant "Long Ago Tomorrow" instead of "Light My Fire". To my knowledge, B.J.'s version of "Light My Fire" was not a hit over here, but "Long Ago Tomorrow" certainly was. Or maybe there is something I don't know. That would explain why B.J. opened his concert in my home town in 2005 with the Doors song. But I still think he's mistaken. So the big question now is: since B.J. himself acknowledges the huge hits he had in my country, how about trying to get these CDs released over here?

Anyway, thanks B.J. for taking the trouble of signing each and every special ordered booklet. I just expected more from a "4 pack" than just an autograph.

 

Here's a short but very interesting interview that B.J. Thomas gave to Brazilian television. The interview starts at 9:00, but if the video downloads fast (it did for me), you can go straight to the relevant part without waiting. Among other things, he explains "Rock and Roll Lullaby" was originally written for a Broadway play that actually never made it to Broadway.

 

By the way, completists still need "Have a Heart - The Love Songs Collection" on Varese Vintage because of seven previously unreleased songs not included in the CC reissues. I never understood how both Varese and Rhino could release competing compilations of B.J. Thomas' Scepter material. Now Collector's Choice is doing the honors, but the way it should have always been done. Still, you can't dispense with the Varese CD.

 

I purchased the japanese cd 10 years ago. Fantastic album

personal favourites include a couple of Mann & Weil winners "Roads" and "Sweet Cherry Wine", as well as "Song For My Brother" (one of the best recording ever of a Jimmy Webb song) and "We Have Got To Get His Ship Together".

 

Because it's available to anybody who wants to pay for it, and the labels thought there was an audience, at least for the hits. In fairness to Varese, you'll note that there's little overlap between their hits collection and Rhino's. And there was a later "hits" collection, on Razor & Tie, that carried the story through his CBS years.

Varese and Razor & Tie put out simultaneous Joe Stampley collections, with a little overlap. I suggested to Varese at the time that they coordinate with the other label; he'd have nothing of it.

 

In fact, the collection is far from complete. I have just discovered that B.J.'s third Scepter album, "B.J. Thomas sings for Lovers and Losers", was left out. "Billy and Sue" (both the original recording and the new version) is also missing. I'm looking for a good B.J. Thomas discography on the net, one that is both complete and informative, but so far I have only found these:

http://bjthomas.net/Discography.htm
http://www.bjthomasfanclub.com/songlist.htm

These seem to be complete, but there is no information about the albums. What is the story of the original "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", credited to "B.J. Thomas and The Triumphs"? Where did the tracks on "The Very Best of B.J. Thomas" on Hickory (1966, including "Billy and Sue") come from? Which "greatest hits" albums contain rerecordings? There is a wealth of information to be uncovered here.

 

Collectors' Choice is often very receptive to customers' reissue requests and wishes. Perhaps a reissue of SINGS FOR LOVERS AND LOSERS can be suggested to CCM with "odds and ends" rounding out the disc? These BJ reissues appear to have been a labor of love for the company, with many bonus tracks, unrelease and otherwise. It couldn't hurt to make this suggestion to CCM. I'll second it, myself!

 

Can anyone give specifics on the sound of the first twofer pairing I'm So Lonesome....with Tomorrow Never Comes? Good? Passable?