BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS 3

"Blood, Sweat & Tears 3" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US rock act Blood, Sweat & Tears. The album was released through Columbia Records in June 1970, 18 months after the release of their sophomore album in January 1969. It was another commercial success for the band, even though it didn´t reach the same extremely high number of sold copies that the predecessor did.

Like the case was on the predecessor, a large bulk of the material on "Blood, Sweat & Tears 3" are re-arranged cover tunes, and very little is original material. Blood, Sweat & Tears manage to put their own spin on the tracks though and you are never in doubt which artist it is you are listening to. The band´s trademark brass rock sound is intact and you´ll also be treated to musicial elements from soul, r´n´b, jazz and classical music. Compared to it´s predecessor, "Blood, Sweat & Tears 3" is slightly more r´n´b influenced and a little less jazz rock tinged.

The playing are still quite adventurous though and as always the musicianship are on a high level. Tight playing, a rare attention to detail and a lead vocalist in David Clayton-Thomas who has a strong and relatively raw voice and a convincing delivery. The whole thing is packed in a professional and organic sound production, which suits the material well and while not all tracks are equally challenging (the 7:49 minutes long "Symphony for the Devil/Sympathy for the Devil" stands out a bit because of it´s semi-progressive structure), they are all catchy and memorable. All in all "Blood, Sweat & Tears 3" is a strong release by Blood, Sweat & Tears and while it doesn´t quite reach the heights of it´s direct predecessor a 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved.