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 and 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]

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." [3]

The album was voted number 660 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). [4] It was selected for the 2006 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [5]

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. [6] 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 [7] 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 [8]

Related Research Articles

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Blood, Sweat & Tears is an American jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. BS&T has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a wide range of musical styles. Their sound has merged rock, pop and R&B/soul music with big band jazz.

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David Clayton-Thomas is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the U. S. band Blood, Sweat & Tears. Clayton-Thomas has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and in 2007 his jazz/rock composition "Spinning Wheel" was enshrined in the Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame. In 2010, Clayton-Thomas received his star on Canada's Walk of Fame.

Robert Wayne Colomby is a jazz-rock fusion drummer, record producer and television presenter. He is best known as an original member of the group Blood, Sweat & Tears, which he co-founded in 1967. He has also played with many other musical artists.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">You've Made Me So Very Happy</span> 1967 single by Brenda Holloway

"You've Made Me So Very Happy" is a song written by Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Frank Wilson and Berry Gordy, and was released first as a single in 1967 by Brenda Holloway on the Tamla label. The song was later a huge hit for jazz-rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1969, and became a Gold record.

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<i>New City</i> (album) 1975 studio album by Blood, Sweat & Tears

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Steven Katz is a guitarist, singer, and record producer who is best known as a member of the rock-pop-jazz group Blood, Sweat & Tears. Katz was an original member of the rock bands the Blues Project and American Flyer. As a producer, his credits include the 1979 album Short Stories Tall Tales for the Irish band Horslips, and the Lou Reed albums Rock 'n' Roll Animal and Sally Can't Dance and the Elliott Murphy album Night Lights.

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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.

<i>Live and Improvised</i> 1991 live album by Blood, Sweat & Tears

Live and Improvised is a two compact disc live album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, that was originally released in 1976 as a live album entitled In Concert by Columbia Records in Europe and Japan. This album was later remixed and released in the United States as Live and Improvised in 1991 by Columbia/Legacy and again as "In Concert" in 2012 by Wounded Bird, with a different cover. 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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Rare, Rarer & Rarest is a compilation album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears released by Wounded Bird Records/Sony Music on July 2, 2013. The songs here were recorded over an eight-year period and include mono single mixes, previously unreleased songs, and the music the band recorded for a film soundtrack from 1970.

<i>Super Hits</i> (Blood, Sweat & Tears album) 1998 compilation album by Blood Sweat & Tears

Super Hits is a budget compilation album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears released by Columbia Records in 1998. This ten song collection draws four songs from each of the band's first two albums Child Is Father to the Man and Blood, Sweat & Tears.

<i>Found Treasures</i> 1990 compilation album by Blood Sweat & Tears

Found Treasures is a budget compilation album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears released by CBS/Columbia Records/Sony Music in 1990. The songs here were recorded from 1967 to 1976 while the band was signed to Columbia Records. This collection includes album tracks along with several single edits as they were heard on the radio. The single edits included here were not readily available on other albums and compilations at the time of this release.

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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. ↑ Landau, Jon (March 1, 1969). "Records". Rolling Stone . San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  4. ↑ Colin Larkin, ed. (2006). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 215. ISBN   0-7535-0493-6.
  5. ↑ "1001 Official Website". Archived from the original on January 10, 2014. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
  6. ↑ David Clayton-Thomas interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1970)
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ "Every Hit.com" . Retrieved August 7, 2011.
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