| Child Is Father to the Man | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 21, 1968 | |||
| Recorded | November 11 - December 20, 1967 | |||
| Genre | Jazz-rock [1] | |||
| Length | 49:28 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | John Simon | |||
| Blood, Sweat & Tears chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Child Is Father to the Man | ||||
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Child Is Father to the Man is the debut album by Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in February 1968. It reached number 47 on the Billboard pop albums chart in the United States.
As a teenager, Al Kooper went to a concert for jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson and this experience inspired Kooper to start a rock band with a horn section. [2] Originally in a band called The Blues Project, Kooper left after band leader Danny Kalb rejected his idea of bringing in a horn section. [2] He then left for the West Coast and found bassist Jim Fielder who believed in the songs that Kooper wrote. [2] Though Kooper had big ideas for his next project, he didn't have the money to bring his ideas to fruition. [2] He then threw a benefit for himself and invited several musicians he previously worked with, such as Judy Collins, Simon & Garfunkel, David Blue, Eric Andersen and Richie Havens. [2] Although the performances sold out, the owner of the Cafe Au Go Go added such numerous expenses to the gross receipts that the net receipts after the performance were not enough to get a plane ticket or a taxi to the airport. [2]
He later called Fielder and convinced him to come to New York. He also asked Bobby Colomby, Anderson and Steve Katz, who was his bandmate in his former band The Blues Project. [2] Colomby called Fred Lipsius and the band placed an ad in The Village Voice for more horn players. [2] Within a month, the band assembled an eight piece which also contained Randy Brecker, Jerry Weiss and Dick Halligan. [2] Kooper then asked John Simon to produce them, after being fresh off from producing Simon & Garfunkel's album Bookends. [2] The album was recorded in two weeks in December 1967. Simon asked all of the members to record their material in one take so he could study songs and make useful suggestions to the arrangements. [2] After a brief promotional tour, Colomby and Katz ousted Kooper from the band, which led to Child is Father to the Man being the only BS&T album on which Kooper ever appeared. [2] The band would later have two number one albums and several Grammys, although Kooper felt they were playing music that he didn't agree with. [2] Despite being asked to leave Blood, Sweat & Tears, Kooper felt everything worked out well for him and the band. [2]
In the United States Child Is Father to the Man peaked at #47 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. It failed to generate any Top 40 singles, although "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" and "I Can't Quit Her" found some play on progressive rock radio.
In 2012, the album was ranked number 266 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. [3]
The title is a quotation from a similarly titled poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, slightly misquoting a poem by William Wordsworth called "My Heart Leaps Up".
CBS Records released The Rock Machine Turns You On, the first budget sampler LP, in the UK in 1968. The song "My Days Are Numbered" was included as Side Two track one on the album and introduced BST to a much wider audience.
The album was re-released in the UK in 1973, entitled "The First Album" on Embassy Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records (catalogue number EMB 31028) with an identical track listing and the same picture on the front of the sleeve. The rear had new sleeve notes written by English DJ, Noel Edmonds.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [4] |
| Rolling Stone | Positive [5] |
Writing for AllMusic, critic William Ruhlman wrote of the album:
"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... 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." [4]
The song "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" found new life from 2002 to 2004, as Late Show with David Letterman band leader Paul Shaffer performed it regularly during the show's final full commercial break. The performances became more and more animated over time, including celebrity guests such as Ted Koppel, Nathan Lane, and others draping a cape over a kneeling Shaffer and attempting to lead him off stage before he stormed back to continue the song (a tribute to a similar gimmick employed by James Brown). [6]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Overture" | Al Kooper | 1:32 |
| 2. | "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" | Kooper | 5:57 |
| 3. | "Morning Glory" | Larry Beckett, Tim Buckley | 4:16 |
| 4. | "My Days Are Numbered" | Kooper | 3:19 |
| 5. | "Without Her" | Harry Nilsson | 2:41 |
| 6. | "Just One Smile" | Randy Newman | 4:38 |
| Total length: | 22:23 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I Can't Quit Her" | Kooper, Irwin Levine | 3:38 |
| 2. | "Meagan's Gypsy Eyes" | Steve Katz | 3:24 |
| 3. | "Somethin' Goin' On" | Kooper | 8:00 |
| 4. | "House in the Country" | Kooper | 3:04 |
| 5. | "The Modern Adventures of Plato, Diogenes and Freud" | Kooper | 4:12 |
| 6. | "So Much Love / Underture" | Gerry Goffin, Carole King | 4:47 |
| Total length: | 27:05 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" (demo version - mono) | Kooper | 6:10 |
| 14. | "Refugee from Yuhupitz" (Instrumental - demo version - mono) | Kooper | 3:44 |
| 15. | "I Can't Quit Her" (demo version - mono) | Kooper, Levine | 3:00 |
| 16. | "Morning Glory" (demo version - mono) | Beckett, Buckley | 4:11 |
| 17. | "Somethin' Going On" (demo version - mono) | Kooper | 5:19 |
| 18. | "The Modern Adventures of Plato, Diogenes and Freud" (demo version - mono) | Kooper | 5:03 |
| Total length: | 27:27 76:55 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Refugee from Yuhupitz" (Instrumental - demo version - mono) | Kooper | 3:44 |
| 14. | "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" (demo version - mono) | Kooper | 6:10 |
| 15. | "The Modern Adventures of Plato, Diogenes and Freud" (demo version - mono) | Kooper | 5:03 |
| Total length: | 14:57 64:25 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know" (Demo - mono) | Kooper | 6:13 |
| 14. | "Refugee From Yuhupitz" (Instrumental - Demo - mono) | Kooper | 3:46 |
| 15. | "I Can't Quit Her" (Demo - mono) | Levine-Kooper | 3:04 |
| 16. | "The Modern Adventures of Plato, Diogenes and Freud" (Demo - mono) | Kooper | 5:25 |
| Total length: | 18:28 67:56 | ||
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Additional musicians
Album - Billboard (United States)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Pop Albums | 47 [7] |
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.
Al Kooper is a retired American songwriter, record producer, and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s he was a prolific studio musician, including playing organ on the Bob Dylan song "Like a Rolling Stone", French horn and piano on the Rolling Stones song "You Can't Always Get What You Want", and lead guitar on Rita Coolidge's "The Lady's Not for Sale". Kooper produced a number of one-off collaboration albums, such as the Super Session album that saw him work separately with guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. In the 1970s Kooper was a successful manager and producer, recording Lynyrd Skynyrd's first three albums. He has had a successful solo career, writing music for film soundtracks, and has lectured in musical composition. Kooper was selected for induction for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023.
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.
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.
Super Session is an album by singer and multi-instrumentalist Al Kooper, with guitarists Mike Bloomfield on the first half and Stephen Stills on the second half. Released by Columbia Records in 1968, it peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard 200 during a 37-week chart stay and was certified gold by RIAA.
Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 is the third album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in June 1970.
B, S & T; 4 is the fourth album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in June 1971. It peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Pop albums chart.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, initially released in February 1972.
Al's Big Deal – Unclaimed Freight is a compilation album by American musician Al Kooper. It was released as a double-LP in 1975.
"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.
New Blood is the fifth album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in October 1972.
Mirror Image is the seventh album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, released by Columbia Records in July 1974.
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.
Brand New Day is the tenth album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in November 1977. This was the band's only release on ABC Records. It was produced by Roy Halee and the band's former drummer Bobby Colomby. Colomby and Halee had also co-produced the group's fourth album, Blood, Sweat & Tears; 4, in 1971. Brand New Day failed to reach the Billboard 200 chart, peaking at #205.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
