Long Long Way (Remastered) Ian Thomas

• 1 Long Long Way 05:00
• 2 Tidal Wave 03:47
• 3 Makin' It Hard 03:32
• 4 Wheels On Fire 02:51
• 5 Top Of The World 03:00
• 6 For Knowing You 06:52
• 7 Count Your Blessings 04:24
• 8 Mother Earth 03:17
• 9 It's Over 05:24
• Total Runtime 38:07

Info for Long Long Way (Remastered)

In 1950, Ian Thomas was born in Hamilton, Ontario. Once he began to play piano at the age of six Thomas fell in love with the world of music. He later learned the guitar. By 1969 he was in a folk group called Tranquility Base which began to tour across Canada. They had a #3 hit in Hamilton in 1970 called “If You’re Looking”. This led to an album, but further success eluded them. Thomas became a producer at the CBC. By 1973 he got his own record deal with GRT Records and released “Painted Ladies”. The song climbed to #9 in Vancouver and #34 on the Billboard Hot 100. His self-titled album went Gold. Thomas won the 1974 Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist and toured with April Wine. He got exposure on a number of TV variety shows in Canada which included both his musical and comedic talents.

In 1974 Ian Thomas released his second album, Long Long Way. The title track from the album climbed to #17 in Vancouver. However, unlike his previous Top 40 success in the USA, “Long Long Way” became the first of twenty-five single releases to fail to crack the Billboard Hot 100.

"Although Ian Thomas couldn't come up with anything as memorable as "Painted Ladies" for his next album, he did better himself as a songwriter. Long Long Way includes three of Thomas' strongest tunes with the anti-violence-themed title track, the rocksteady "Makin' It Hard," and "Mother Earth," which is an obvious ode to the environment. All of these songs were played on Canadian radio, but none of them managed to keep Thomas in the spotlight or put his name back on the American charts. What they did do was expose the fact that Thomas was writing for himself and expressing his opinions on matters that he felt were important, and all that was needed was some punchy music to accompany his pop/rock sentiments. Songs like "Tidal Wave," "It's Over," and "For Knowing You" hinted at a genuine honesty, but they didn't exude any distinction or stylishness in a musical sense. Thomas wouldn't see another Top 40 hit in his own country until 1976, when "Liars" climbed to the number 34 spot." (Mike DeGagne, AMG)

Ian Thomas first garnered major radio airplay in1973 with the top-40 single PaintedLadies, followed by a string of hits throughout the 70s and 80s, and on into the 90s with his band The Boomers. Whether performed by him or covered by artists including Santana, Chicago, Manfred Mann, America, Bon Jovi and Bette Midler, Ian’s many hits continually achieved heavy rotation on radio across Canada and around the world ...recordings such as Come The Sun, Long Long Way, Right Before Your Eyes, Coming Home, Pilot, Hold On, Time Is The Keeper, Liars, Wishes, The Runner, Levity, Back To Square One, Love Ya Too Much, You Gotta Know, One Little Word, Dirty Love, To Comfort You, and of course, Painted Ladies. In the new millennium, Ian joined fellow singer-songwriters Murray McLauchlan, Marc Jordan and Cindy Church to form Lunch At Allen’s, touring coast to coast for the past two decades, and now with five albums to their credit.

Ian Thomas, vocals, guitars
Mick Ralphs, electric guitar
David Hentschel, synthesizer
John Capek, keyboards
B.J. Cole, steel guitar
Steve Hogg, bass
Barry Keane, drums, percussion
Milan Kymlicka, strings, bass, tympani

Produced by Adam Mitchell, Ian Thomas

Digitally remastered

Ian Thomas
Little Dreams is the first solo album from Ian Thomas in twenty four years. It can’t be called a comeback recording, simply a new solo recording as he has been busy writing and recording in many other configurations the whole time.

Since his last of twelve solo recordings, Ian has done four Boomers albums with international success and subsequent concert tours of Germany, Canada and the USA. There have been four Lunch at Allens albums with cross Canada tours every year for the last ten years, twenty five movie scores that have had Ian working in studios from Prague to Hollywood, and two successful novels BEQUEST and The LOST CHORD, and a comedy record called Air Pirates. “Songs are still front and foremost my passion. They seem to naturally accumulate in my life like trail markers.”

Ian first broke in North America in 1973 with the top 40 Billboard hit Painted Ladies, which garnered a “Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year” Juno award in 1974. He was to be a fixture on Canadian radio with hits such as Painted Ladies (#4), Long Long Way (#19), Liars (#25), Right Before your Eyes (#57), Coming Home (#23), Pilot (#83), Time Is The Keeper (#71), Hold On (#11), The Runner (#20) and Strange Brew from the Bob and Doug McKenzie movie of the same name. Turns out Dave Thomas’ alias “Doug McKenzie the hoser” is Ian’s brother. Ian swears that nepotism played no role in his involvement in the Bob and Doug Movie. His name was apparently placed in a toque and pulled out by a stranger.

His songs have been covered and played all over the world by other artists as well - like Santana (Hold On – #4), Chicago (Chains), America (Right Before Your Eyes - #13), Manfred Mann (The Runner), Bon Jovi ( Stringing a Line), Bette Midler (To Comfort You) and Anne Murray (Good Again), Daryl Braithwaite (As The Days Go By #10, All I Do #12).

Ian’s group The Boomers, recorded four albums and scored significant success in Europe, Canada and the US. They had a string of international hits throughout the 90s and early 2000s which included Love You Too Much (#22 – most played song on Canadian radio in 1991), You’ve Got To Know (#20 – most played song on Canadian radio in 1993), I Feel A Change Coming (#15), Saving Face (#17), I Want To Believe In Something (#16), and more.

When Ian performs in concert he often hears - “I didn’t know that was your song!” “My shows are interesting that way. Often people, who don’t think they’ve heard of me, come to a concert with friends and realize that in fact - they do know me and my songs after all. I’ve even had a few folks who read my books who have come out to see what my music was all about only to realize they knew my songs. It’s really a wonderful privilege to have managed to become a part of the soundtrack to so many people’s lives”.

This album contains no booklet.