Blood, Sweat & Tears - Blood, Sweat & Tears (album)
Released: December 11, 1968
Recorded: August 2, 1968 - October 22, 1968
Genre: Rock/Jazz fusion
Length - 45:36 (original)
Label: Columbia
Producer: James William Guercio
Blood, Sweat & Tears is the second album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in 1968. It was a huge commercial success, rising to the top of the U.S. charts for seven weeks and yielding three successive Top 5 singles. It received a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1970 and has been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA with sales of more than four million units in the U.S.
Bandleader Al Kooper and two other members had left left Blood, Sweat & Tears after their first album. Bobby Colomby and Steve Katz searched for a replacement singer and selected David Clayton-Thomas. Three more musicians joined to bring the band to nine members. Columbia assigned James William Guercio (who was simultaneously working with new band Chicago) to produce a new album.
The song selection was much more pop-oriented than the first album, with more compositions from outside the band. It was recorded at the then state of the art CBS Studios in New York City. The studio had just taken delivery of one of the first of the model MM-1000 16-track tape recorders, built by Ampex. The new technology allowed for far more flexibility in overdubbing and mixing than the 4- and 8-track tape recorders which were standard in 1968. The album was among the very first 16-track recordings released to the public.[citation needed]
The album was selected for the 2006 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Side one:
1.) "Variations on a Theme By Erik Satie" (1st and 2nd Movements) – 2:35
Adapted from "Trois Gymnopédies"; arr. by Dick Halligan
Recorded October 9, 1968
2.) "Smiling Phases" (Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood) – 5:11
Recorded October 15, 1968
3.) "Sometimes in Winter" (Steve Katz) – 3:09
Recorded October 8, 1968
4.) "More and More" (Vee Pee Smith, Don Juan) – 3:04
Recorded October 15, 1968
5.) "And When I Die" (Laura Nyro) – 4:06
Recorded October 22, 1968
6.) "God Bless the Child" (Billie Holiday, Arthur Herzog Jr.) – 5:55
Recorded October 7, 1968
Side two:
7.) "Spinning Wheel" (David Clayton-Thomas) – 4:08
Recorded October 9, 1968
8.) "You've Made Me So Very Happy" (Berry Gordy Jr., Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Frank Wilson) – 4:19
Recorded October 16, 1968
9.) "Blues - Part II" (Blood, Sweat & Tears) – 11:44
Recorded October 22, 1968
Interpolating "Sunshine of Your Love" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown, Eric Clapton) and "Spoonful" (Willie Dixon)
10.)"Variations on a Theme By Erik Satie" (1st Movement) – 1:49
Recorded October 9, 1968
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A remastered CD which added live bonus tracks of "More and More" and "Smiling Phases" (both recorded at The Cafe au Go-Go, New York, August 2, 1968) was released in 2000.
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Musicians:
David Clayton-Thomas - lead vocals except as noted
Lew Soloff - trumpet, flugelhorn
Bobby Colomby - drums, percussion, vocals
Jim Fielder - bass
Dick Halligan - organ, piano, flute, trombone, vocals
Steve Katz - guitar, harmonica, vocals (lead vocals on "Sometimes In Winter")
Fred Lipsius - alto saxophone, piano
Chuck Winfield - trumpet, flugelhorn
Jerry Hyman - trombone, recorder
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Production:
Producer: James William Guercio
Engineers: Fred Catero, Roy Halee
Arrangers: Dick Halligan, Fred Lipsius, Al Kooper
Cover art: Timothy Quay, Bob Cato
Photography: Harrie George
Design: John Berg
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Review by William Ruhlmann & Bruce Eder
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 — "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.
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Chart & Awards:
Year / Album / Chart / Peak
1969 ............. Blood, Sweat & Tears............. R&B Albums........................ 15
1969 ............. Blood, Sweat & Tears............. The Billboard 200.................. 1
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jifoxqq5ld6e~T3
http://www.7digital.com/artists/blood-sweat-tears/blood-sweat-and-tears-2/
Origin: New York City, New York, U.S.
Genres: Pop rock, Jazz rock, Psychedelic rock
Years active: 1967–1981 / 1984–present
Labels: Columbia Records/ABC Records/Rhino Records/Sony Records/Mobile Fidelity/Wounded Bird
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