Longhorns & Londonbridges is a 1974 album by B. J. Thomas, released on Paramount Records. It is commonly misidentified as Longhorn & London Bridges.[1]
Album history
Longhorns and Londonbridges was the second and final album that Thomas recorded for Paramount Records, following the end of his six-year relationship with Scepter Records in 1972. The record was released in the same year that Paramount Pictures sold its rights in the Paramount Records label to ABC Records,[2] which in turn was sold to MCA Records in 1979. At this point, ABC Records was dissolved as an independent record label, with only the best-selling ABC recordings being reissued on MCA Records.
The distribution and sales of many records released during this period of significant label transitions (1974-1979) were negatively affected. Thomas' album releases during this period were all on the Paramount, ABC and MCA labels,[3] and so were similarly affected. While Thomas was to continue with degrees of success in the release of singles,[4] no singles were released from Longhorns & Londonbridges and its chart success was marginal.[5] It was not reissued by MCA Records and has not been reissued on CD.[6]
^Bramblett used many of the same personnel, plus producer Steve Tyrell, on Bramblett's 1975 album, That Other Mile (Polydor), described by critic Joe Viglione as "Another excellent album (that) didn't find an audience...the mystery here is why this artist doesn't have a deeper catalog? That Other Mile is pleasant and cries out for repeated spins." See Joe Viglione, Review of That Other Mile; www.allmusic.com. Critic Fred DeVan, writing in Audio magazine, notes the similarity in quality to Longhorns & Londonbridges: "The music and the performance are stark perfection, full of little details and smart production. Many current pop-rock themes are touched with great precision and warmth. The recorded sound is just great, and there are lots of interesting elements vying for attention on this release. ...Producer Steve Tyrell, and most of the rest of the crew, including Randall, did the same number on B.J. Thomas' Longhorns & Londonbridges." Fred DeVan, Review of That Other MileArchived 2010-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, Audio Magazine, January, 1976, as reprinted at www.randallbramblett.com.
