B. J. Thomas - New Looks From An Old Lover: The Complete Columbia Singles (2017)

Having documented B.J.’s early sides with our 2-CD Set The Complete Scepter Singles, and followed his late ‘70s/early ‘80s foray into inspirational music with a pair of album twofers from the Myrrh label, it was only a matter of time till we at Real Gone Music tackled the next big phase in the career of this all-time great American singer, namely the classic country-pop sides he cut for Columbia in the ‘80s. This is a stage in B.J.’s career that has seen little attention in the CD era, which is strange because he was just killing it on the Country charts with #1 hits like “Whatever Happened to Old Fashioned Love” and “New Looks from an Old Lover” and the #3 hit “Two Car Garage.” In fact, out of the 21 songs on this collection—which includes the A and B-side of every Columbia single plus sides from the Cleveland International and Priority labels —eight were chart hits, among them the Top 20 duet “Rock and Roll Shoes” with Ray Charles plus “The Whole World’s in Love When You’re Lonely” and “The Girl Most Likely To.” We’ve also added a pair of bonus tracks including his rare original solo version of “As Long as We’ve Got Each Other,” the theme to the TV show Growing Pains, and his early version of “Wind Beneath My Wings,” which ended up being a hit for Gary Morris and Bette Midler among others. Remastered by Sean Brennan at Battery Studios, peppered with rare photos, and annotated by Joe Marchese based on a fresh interview with the artist himself, The Complete Columbia Singles is a must for any B.J. fan and anybody who wants to hear some of the best country-pop the ‘80s had to offer.