BJ Thomas - Hooked on a Feeling

Why in Heaven's name would BJ Thomas seek out to release a dance music version of his hit single "Hooked on a Feeling"? Even more so, why would BJ Thomas seek out the drummer from an 80's hair-metal band to create this new-fangled composition? These questions and more will be answered herein.

There is no doubt that BJ Thomas can not only write a fantastic song, he can also sing it as well; "Hooked on a Feeling" has been covered by countless other vocalists over the last few decades including sultans of suave such as Neil Diamond and David Hasselhoff. The thought of an actual dance music remix or reproduction of the single is not that farfetched at all. There are white label remixes of BJ's chart topper floating around the record bags of the world; one of the most well known being Nashville's own El Niggarotchie white label breaks remix available through PlanetXusa.com.

The music in question here comes to us via newly recorded vocals from BJ himself and mixed by Cinderella drummer Fred Coury. The chosen style for these initial mixes are a sort of ultra low-grade euro club sound which Coury deftly creates using a less than knowledgeable ear for dance composition and progression. The music itself is trite and extremely common, although BJ's vocals are outstanding to say the least (he still has that magickal touch). If this single actually makes it onto vinyl, it will be snatched up and played furiously in DJ sets that thrive on questionable Shania Twain and Faith Hill remixes in tragic Hi-NRG clubs everywhere (and there are more than a few of those).

Basically, he had the idea going in the right direction, but fell short of the mark by allowing an unqualified producer to head this audio project. BJ recorded the vocals in Nashville, and could have had his pick of any one of the city's brilliant dance music producers to help turn out a chart-topping single. Instead, we will just have to settle for the hard and heavy white label remixes floating around the online stores.