Blood, Sweat & Tears (Blood, Sweat & Tears album)

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Blood, Sweat & Tears
BS&T cover.jpg
Studio album by
Blood, Sweat & Tears
ReleasedDecember 11, 1968
RecordedOctober 7–22, 1968
Studio Columbia 30th Street, New York City
Genre
Length45:36 (Original)
Label Columbia
Producer James William Guercio
Blood, Sweat & Tears chronology
Child Is Father to the Man
(1968)		Blood, Sweat & Tears
(1968)		 Blood, Sweat & Tears 3
(1970)
Singles from Blood, Sweat & Tears
  1. "You've Made Me So Very Happy"
    Released: February 5, 1969
  2. "Spinning Wheel"
    Released: May 20, 1969
  3. "And When I Die"
    Released: September 30, 1969

Blood, Sweat & Tears is the second album by the American band Blood, Sweat & Tears, released on December 11, 1968. It was the most commercially successful album for the group, rising to the top of the U.S. charts for a collective seven weeks and yielding three successive Top 5 singles. It received a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1970. The album has been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA, with sales of more than four million units in the U.S. In Canada, the album enjoyed a total of eight weeks at number 1 on the RPM national album chart.

Contents

History

Al Kooper, Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss had left BS&T after the first album. Founding members Bobby Colomby and Steve Katz searched for a replacement singer and selected David Clayton-Thomas. Three more musicians joined to bring the band to a total of nine members. Columbia assigned James William Guercio as producer for the album. Guercio was simultaneously working with the band Chicago.

"More and More", "Smiling Phases", and "You've Made Me So Very Happy" were among the songs that Kooper had arranged before leaving the group. Other arrangements were contributed by Fred Lipsius. The song selection was more pop oriented than the first album, with more compositions from outside the band.

The album was recorded at CBS's then state-of-the-art 30th Street Studio in New York City. The studio had just taken delivery of one of the first Ampex model MM-1000 16-track tape recorders. The new technology allowed for far more flexibility in overdubbing and mixing than the four and eight-track studio recorders which were standard in 1968. This was among the first 16-track recordings released to the public.[ citation needed ]

An additional song, "Children of the Wind", was recorded at these sessions but left off the album. It later appeared on the compilation The Very Best of Blood, Sweat and Tears: What Goes Up!

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [2]
The Rolling Stone Record Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

In his AllMusic retrospective review, music critic William Ruhlmann called the players a "less adventurous unit" than on the debut album, but called the album "more 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." [1] In his lengthy contemporary review, Jon Landau of Rolling Stone dismissed the album, writing; "The listener responds to the illusion that he is hearing something new when in fact he is hearing mediocre rock, OK jazz, etc., thrown together in a contrived and purposeless way." [4]

The album was voted number 660 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). [5] It was selected for the 2006 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [6]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)RecordedLength
1."Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie" (1st and 2nd Movements)adapted from Trois Gymnopédies ; arranged by Dick Halligan October 9, 19682:35
2."Smiling Phases" Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood October 15, 19685:11
3."Sometimes in Winter" Steve Katz October 8, 19683:09
4."More and More"Vee Pee Smith, Don JuanOctober 15, 19683:04
5."And When I Die" Laura Nyro October 22, 19684:06
6."God Bless the Child" Billie Holiday, Arthur Herzog Jr. [7] October 7, 19685:55
Total length:23:50
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)RecordedLength
7."Spinning Wheel" David Clayton-Thomas October 9, 19684:08
8."You've Made Me So Very Happy" Berry Gordy Jr., Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Frank Wilson [8] October 16, 19684:19
9."Blues – Part II"Blood, Sweat & Tears; interpolating "Sunshine of Your Love" (Jack Bruce, Pete Brown, Eric Clapton), "Spoonful" (Willie Dixon) and "Somethin' Goin' On" (Al Kooper)October 22, 196811:44
10."Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie" (1st Movement)adapted from Trois Gymnopédies; arranged by Dick HalliganOctober 9, 19681:49
Total length:22:00

2000 CD bonus tracks

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)RecordedLength
11."More and More" (Live at the Cafe Au Go Go)Vee Pee Smith, Don JuanAugust 2, 19684:38
12."Smiling Phases" (Live at the Cafe Au Go Go)Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris WoodAugust 2, 196818:44

Personnel

Production

Charts

Album – UK Albums Chart (United Kingdom)

YearChartPosition
1969Top 40 Albums15 [9]

Related Research Articles

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In Concert is a double live album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, that was released in Europe and Japan in 1976. This album was remixed and released in the United States as Live and Improvised in 1991 by Columbia/Legacy and again in 2012 as "In Concert" by Wounded Bird. This collection was recorded live at four different venues over five nights during the summer of 1975. The lineup for this album is the same as the New City album they were supporting on that tour with the exception of Steve Khan and Mike Stern on guitar.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Blood, Sweat & Tears > Review". AllMusic. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
  2. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN   978-0857125958.
  3. ↑ The Rolling Stone Record Guide. Random House. 1979. p. 38.
  4. ↑ Landau, Jon (March 1, 1969). "Records". Rolling Stone . San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  5. ↑ Colin Larkin, ed. (2006). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 215. ISBN   0-7535-0493-6.
  6. ↑ "1001 Official Website". Archived from the original on January 10, 2014. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
  7. ↑ David Clayton-Thomas interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1970)
  8. ↑ Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 25 - The Soul Reformation: Phase two, the Motown story. [Part 4] : UNT Digital Library" (audio). Pop Chronicles . University of North Texas Libraries.
  9. ↑ "Every Hit.com" . Retrieved August 7, 2011.
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