Artist: Ian Thomas, Album: Levity, Song: Levity

"Put some levity back into this life.  Take the disillusion away.  Put away the things that go bump in the night, that pull you under."  Ian Thomas is a singer songwriter from Toronto, Ontario.  He started his illustrious career in a folk group called, Tranquility Base, in 1970.  In 1973 he struck out on his own with his self-titled debut and Juno award winning album.  It included the huge international hit, Painted Ladies.  Since then, he has amassed 19 albums to date, either as a solo artist or as a member of bands like The Boomers and Lunch At Allen's.  Ian can boast having numerous top twenty singles, his music in film compositions, his production work with other artists along with being a published author.  A number of his songs have also been re-recorded by international acts like Chicago and Santana.  One of his most popular songs, The Runner, was a hit for the band, Manfred Mann's Earth Band.  One particular release that doesn't seem to get as much attention as it should within Ian's wealth of recording output, is the album, Levity, released in 1988.  I was a much younger man when this was released and remember listening to the title track to this album over and over again.  The album was released with WEA and was recorded in both Canada and England by a man named Christopher Neil.  Christopher had produced some major hit singles for artists like Sheena Easton and Genesis spin off, Mike + The Mechanics.  This album received some good airplay upon it's release and had a couple of singles.  Levity definitely ranks up there among his top songs but for reasons likely known only to Ian, is never included in his retrospective releases.  The actual album is a very difficult find today as well.  At the time of this blog, there were vinyl copies trading on Amazon for $20 and 1 CD copy on Ebay for $130!  You can check out the song, Levity, on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-nGVeTmaYg).  Ian is currently working on a new album and continues to play shows with his band Lunch At Allen's.  You can follow him at (http://www.ianthomas.ca/).  Thanks for reading and enjoy!