Deep Dive: B.J. Thomas, MIDNIGHT MINUTE

Today we celebrate the birthday of vocalist B.J. Thomas, a man who first came to enormous fame in the late ‘60s thanks to the hits  “Hooked on a Feeling” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head.” Although Thomas had most of his biggest hits while signed to Scepter Records, he’s nonetheless part of Rhino’s catalog thanks to his late ‘80s work on Reprise Records, so to commemorate this date, we thought we’d take a deep dive and suggest that you give his 1989 album MIDNIGHT MINUTE a spin.

We’ll be perfectly honest: there is one very specific reason that you should check out this album, and it’s the very last song, which also doubles as a very familiar TV theme...or perhaps you’ve forgotten about the wonderfulness that is Growing Pains?

That’s right: Thomas teamed with the late, great Dusty Springfield to deliver one of the ‘80s’ most iconic theme songs, “As Long As We Got Each Other.”

That’s not to say that this album isn’t filled with other fine tunes, mind you: there are also the album’s singles, “Midnight Minute” and “Don’t Leave Love (Out There All Alone).” It’s definitely a very ‘80s-sounding album, but when a consumer on Amazon wrote of the album that it was like Thomas was channeling Michael Bolton and proved that – from a vocal standpoint – he could hold his own with any of the other contemporary artists out there, they weren’t wrong.

Give MIDNIGHT MINUTE a spin, won’t you? But begin at the end, so you can show us that smile again...