BLODD SWEAT & TEARS Second Album

Original released as Columbia CK 63986

(US, January 1969)

A1. Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie (1st and 2nd movement)
Adapted from "Trois Gymnopedies" (Arranged by D. Halligan) 2:34
A2. Smiling Phases (S. Winwood/J. Capaldi/C. Wood) 5:11
A3. Sometimes in Winter (S. Katz) 3:11
A4. More and More (P. Vee/D. Juan) 3:04
A5. And When I Die (L. Nyro) 4:05
A6. God Bless the Child (B. Holiday/A. Herzog Jnr.) 5:57
B1. Spinning Wheel (D. Clayton-Thomas) 4:07
B2. You've Made Me So Very Happy (B. Gordy Jnr./B. & P. Holloway/F. Wilson) 4:19
B3. Blues - Part II (Blood Sweat & Tears) 11:49
B4. Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie (1st movement)
Adapted from "Trois Gymnopedies" (Arranged by D. Halligan) 1:38

Arranged by Blood Sweat & Tears
Engineered by Roy Halee and Fred Catero
Recorded between August 2, 1968 and October 22, 1968
Original art cover by Timothy Quay
Produced by James William Guerico

Lineup:
David Clayton-Thomas: Vocals (Except "Sometimes in Winter")
Steve Katz: Guitar, Hamonica, Vocals (Lead on "Sometimes in Winter")
Bobby Colomby: Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Jim Fielder: Bass
Fred Lipsius: Alto Saxaphone, Piano
Lew Soloff: Trumpet, Fluegelhorn
Chuck Winfield: Trumpet, Fluegelhorn
Jerry Hyman: Trombone
Dick Halligan: Organ, Piano, Flute, Trombone, Vocals

Winner of 3 Grammies in 1970 ("Album of the Year", Best Arrangment for "Spinning Wheel" and Best Contemporary Instrumental Perfomance for "Variations on a Theme by Erk Satie") this absolutely mind-blowing album peaked at #1 on the US Charts, staying there for seven weeks, going double platinum by the end of 1969 and stayed on the top 40 for 66 weeks. It's actually in the 13th place of the best selling albums from all time in the US with about 3 millions copies solded. The difference between "Blood, Sweat & Tears" and the group's preceding long-player, "Child Is Father to the Man", is the difference between a monumental seller and a record that was "merely" a huge critical success. Arguably, the Blood, Sweat & Tears that made this self-titled second album - consisting of five of the eight original members and four newcomers, including singer David Clayton-Thomas - was really a different group from the one that made "Child Is Father to the Man", which was done largely under the direction of singer/songwriter/keyboard player/arranger Al Kooper. They had certain similarities to the original: the musical mixture of classical, jazz, and rock elements was still apparent, and the interplay between the horns and the keyboards was still occurring, even if those instruments were being played by different people. Kooper was even still present as an arranger on two tracks, notably the initial hit "You've Made Me So Very Happy". But the second BS&T, under the aegis of producer James William Guercio, was a less adventurous unit, and, as fronted by Clayton-Thomas, a far more commercial one. Not only did the album contain three songs that neared the top of the charts as singles - "You've Made Me So Very Happy", "Spinning Wheel" and "And When I Die" - but the whole album, including an arrangement of "God Bless the Child" and the radical rewrite of Traffic's "Smiling Phases", was wonderfully accessible. It was a repertoire to build a career on, and Blood, Sweat & Tears did exactly that, although they never came close to equaling this album. (William Ruhlmann & Bruce Eder in AllMusic)

BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS Debut Album

 Original released on LP  Columbia CS 9619

(US, March 1968)

"Child Is Father to the Man" is keyboard player/singer/arranger Al Kooper's finest work, an album on which he moves the folk-blues-rock amalgamation of the Blues Project into even wider pastures, taking in classical and jazz elements (including strings and horns), all without losing the pop essence that makes the hybrid work. This is one of the great albums of the eclectic post-Sgt. Pepper era of the late '60s, a time when you could borrow styles from Greenwich Village contemporary folk to San Francisco acid rock and mix them into what seemed to have the potential to become a new American musical form. It's Kooper's bluesy songs, such as "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" and "I Can't Quit Her," and his singing that are the primary focus, but the album is an aural delight; listen to the way the bass guitar interacts with the horns on "My Days Are Numbered" or the charming arrangement and Steve Katz's vocal on Tim Buckley's "Morning Glory." Then Kooper sings Harry Nilsson's "Without Her" over a delicate, jazzy backing with flügelhorn/alto saxophone interplay by Randy Brecker and Fred Lipsius. This is the sound of a group of virtuosos enjoying itself in the newly open possibilities of pop music. Maybe it couldn't have lasted; anyway, it didn't. (William Ruhlmann in AllMusic)

WALLPAPER: "Blood, Sweat & Tears"