BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS

Blood Sweat & Tears has been in my life since I was a teenager and I don't remember when the first time I heard I Love You More Than You Ever Know for the first time - I think it was sometime around 1971 from the cassette that my big brother played at my hometown, Madiun. I was than aware that the song became a major radio hit and regularly played also by local bands. But to me BS&T was more than just that song as I liked the band's brass rock style as clearly described here at this site : "Blood, Sweat & Tears was/is a Jazz-Rock band formed in New York in 1967, and one of the early examples of the genre that would be known as "Brass Rock" and sharing their hierarchy of the genre with CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY (later CHICAGO), both being prime examples along with their UK competitor IF."

Yes, I fully agree that BS&T is in comparison with Chicago Transit Transit Authority even though there is a fundamental difference: CTA uses much more electric guitar solo than BS&T and I really admired CTA first album that really rocks! BS&T uses much more brass section and more jazzy and sometime bluesy like I Love You'll More Than You Ever Know or Somethin' Going On (track 9 of this debut album).

This album is to me an excellent one even though I prefer CTA because of they are rockier than BS&T debut album. But ... I really love the bluesy jazz style that this debut album presents. From the opening Overture it's quite clear that the band tried to record their album ini a relaxed way and I can get the sense from the Overture. The opening track I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know is my all time favorite as the song is very strong in melody and especially I love the groove it produces - it really creates vintage nuances which I call it in Bahasa Indonesia as "nuansamatik" (the term that I created and use it regularly to describe the situation where certain music matches the criteria being called as having a vintage nuances. The song not only good in its blues style but I also love the vocal, brass section and guitar solo. It's really killing! Thanks to Al Kooper on this!

The other tracks are excellent as well. The fourth track My Days Are Numbered is a very good example how strong and solid their composition is. It flows nicely with jazz nuances and great brass section. My true favorite is Somethin' Going On (track 9) which has blues style and powerful guitar solo....and not only that, it's really rockin' and nuansamatik as I can recall many segments with vintage music that represents the era of classic rock. The Modern Adventures of Plato, Diogenes and Freud reminds me to the work of The Beatles - something like Eleanor Rigby but this one is much more PROGier.

I think this album deserves a solid four-star rating as it has powerful songs and most songs are composed beautifully (under the corridor of prog music) with excellent harmonies and dynamic changes from one segment to another in typical song and from one song to another. The brass section is really great. Most songs are basically not really melodic - but it's OK because we are in PROG music perspective. Take an example of last track So Much Love/Underture where it lacks melody but it's a well-composed song. This CD has bonus songs which I like it very much - especially the hit I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know (track 13) performed live. It's really great! Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

While the debut effort from American jazz rock group Blood, Sweat & Tears did experience moderate commercial success, it wasn't until this self-titled sophomore effort that the band finally experienced the mainstream recognition that they truly deserved. Although the band's popularity would soon sharply decline, this well-known 1968 gem showcases Blood, Sweat & Tears at the absolute top of their game. On this LP, the listener will be treated to a fascinating marriage between jazz, psychedelic rock, blues, and pop that was unique for the time period, and still remains remarkably original to this day.

Keeping in mind that this observation was released before 'jazz rock' was truly solidified as a genre by innovators like Miles Davis, Chicago, and Frank Zappa (all of whom released some of their biggest contributions to the style in 1969), it's quite surprising how innovative Blood, Sweat & Tears is. Although the album rarely deviates into extended jams that characterized jazz-rock classics like In a Silent Way or Hot Rats, Blood, Sweat & Tears does exhibit a unique mix of brass and electric instrumentation, the raw power of rock music, and the instrumental prowess of jazz. Whereas Frank Zappa approached jazz rock from the 'rock' side of things and Miles Davis approached the genre from the 'jazz' side, Blood, Sweat & Tears approaches the genre from a more pop-oriented perspective. Whilst the band's style is not very commercial by today's standards, this is an album characterized by memorable hooks and unforgettable melodies - although there's much more to Blood, Sweat & Tears than simple pop choruses, the band manages to brilliantly incorporate melodic hooks into their style without sounding forced.

Although a very small amount of the music here was actually composed by the band (which is a minor turn-off for me), the song selection is top-notch and the performances are flawless. The brass arrangements complement the music perfectly, and the 'main' band is exceptional as well - lead singer David Clayton-Thomas especially deserves a shout out, as his warm tone and exciting delivery is a big part of what makes this album so enjoyable. The album is also quite diverse, sporting everything from the excellent ballad "You've Made Me So Very Happy" to extended jam sections in "Blues - Part II". While it does work really well for the most part, there is a bit of inconsistency in the quality of the songs ("And When I Die" is nowhere on par with the best the album has to offer), and the observation's high points can leave the listener a bit unsatisfied by its less impressive portions.

That said, however, Blood, Sweat & Tears is an excellent album in nearly every sense of the word, and a true joy to listen to. This is one of those records that always manages to put me in a good mood - whether it be the emotional melodies, funky instrumentation, or brilliant jamming sections, listening to this album is just a hell of a lot of fun in virtually any scenario. While it may not be entirely without its faults, Blood, Sweat & Tears is still an invigorating classic that deserves to be heard by every music lover.

The earlier career of Chicago is among my favourite groups to listen to, but here's a band that put albums BEFORE Chicago. Meet Blood, Sweat and Tears, a band that also is categorized as jazz-rock with a strong horn section (if I have my information correct, one of the Brecker brothers was in the band, but not on this album), a singer with a raspy voice (Kath to Clayton-Thomas) and guitarists with similar names (Terry Kath to Steve Katz). If you drew a Venn diagram with the two bands, producer James William Guercio is in the intersection. The punchline is BST has not the ''wow'' factor Chicago does despite debuting a year earlier.

Whereas Chicago were a rock band with heavy jazz influences interspersed with R&B, classical and psych, and all of those styles meshed together well in highly original tunes, BST has mostly covers and adaptations here that are more jazz-pop with slightly haphazard minglings with classical, blues, rock, and even can show off some Broadway flair. Some of the tunes have quite desirable melodies that good pop has in the form of ''And When I Die'', ''You Make Me So Very Happy'' and ''More and More''. The hitch is that David Clayton-Thomas is singing, and unlike Kath's warm rasp, Clayton-Thomas sings like he's trying too hard to hit high notes he simply cannot hit. The horn section picks up that flaw.

The self-titled album is too hit and miss all over the place. Whatever magic befell on the better poppier tracks never happened on ''Spinning Wheel'' and ''Sometimes in Winter''. The band can get a bit too humdrum and can never spark amazement like their rivals can. Even on three star albums, Chicago can really get some pizazz going to make me forget about other flaws (until review time). ''Blues Part II'' is the huge elephant in the room that lingers on a jam for too long (and references without credit Cream's ''Sunshine of Your Love''; doesn't work in a jazz-pop context) and pales in comparison to ''Liberation''.

If you love jazz-rock, get Chicago's first, second and seventh albums, and if you want ''More and More'', seek out this. Not that shabby, but you won't remember half the album five minutes later.

One of the most important and revolutionary albums of the late 60´s. A very insteresting, and quite a novelty back then, mix of jazz, rock, soul, blues, even classical music put together in one great single record that deserverly became a huge seller at the time. Unfortunatly it is almost forgotten today, which I think is really criminal. I only had the chance to listen to it as a whole in the last few weeks and I loved it. Of course I had heard Spinning Whell and You Make Me So Very Happy on the radio. Those giant hits were quite well played in Brazil during the years and the latter is still being played on those classic rock stations. But Blood Sweat & Tears second album is much more than those two.

I´m not a big fan of jazz rock or brass driven bands like this, but you have to be deaf not to see their talent and skill. Most important,. they play SONGS and play it greatly. Well, with one exception, the group´s 11 minute jam Blues-Part II. Typical of the period, but still interesting anyway. I loved their versatily of tackiling so many different styles and doing that so well. the cover of Traffic Smiling Phases is absolutely awesome! The slow ballad Sometimes In Winter is another good surprise. Amazingly is very well sung, even though is the only track that is nor perfomed by the great David Thomas Clayton. Guitarrist David Kats does a fine job here (granted: the tune is not too demanding, but his voice here is warm and convincing). More And More is also a highlight. The only flaw I saw here was an overlong and not very good version of Billie Holliday´s classic God Bless The Child, but that´s just my personal taste.

After just a few spins I was completely taken by this CD. The combination of the band´s instrumental prowness. creative arrangements and Clayton´s terrific, soulful delivering was a rare breed indeed. I don´t know if the following albums were that good (probably not), but this one is a masterpiece in its genre, whatever it is. As a prog site goes I wouldn´t go as far as giving it five stars. Still, an essential addition to any prog rock music collection for its boldness. greatness and groundbreaking status.

Found in a record store for 50 cents! Can't beat that price. A blast from the past single from 1968. Contained here is the megahit SPINNING WHEEL as well as the minor hit MORE AND MORE. Both are excellent tunes that date back to 1968. Neither is truly progressive in the standard sense, but more in the way Chicago or Steely Dan are progressive. None the less, SPINNING WHEEL is a classic song of the 60's an still sounds great after 40 years have gone by. The flip side, MORE AND MORE, is more of a bluesy, jumping, funky, kind of tune. Typical backing horns for Blood, Sweat, and Tears on both of the songs. While this is not essential by any means due to the fact that these can be found on the original album or on complilations, they are still fine songs deserving of 3 stars. Nice to hear these after so much time has passed.

On of the legendary bands that I alwys mention when these two bands are metioned: Chase and Chicago. Even though the band was well known in my country with its hit "I Love Yo More Than You'll Ever Know" but actually they have good music overall. I can say that Blood, Sweat & Tears was at the forefront of the brass rock music. This album represented the return of its legendary lead vocal David Clayton-Thomas' who departed the band in 1972.

In my opinion about this album is not bad at all and in fact I can see that the compositions are much heavier and jazzier than Chicago. Look at "Ride captain ride" that contains heavy horn section and very nice and jazzy interlude. The song has excellent energy and harmony. I really like the jazzy interlude. The following track "Life" is also a good one. The third track "No show" could be considered prog and it has no vocal line. "I was a witness to a war" emphasize more on vocal part with music as background only, in jazzy mood. On thing that quite surprised me is the fifth track " One room country shack".

The album is more on brass-rock type of music with some fusion with jazz. Overall, this is a good album worth collecting. Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

I'm honestly not sure why this album hasn't received more attention on PA, given how important it was to the development of jazz fusion. That said, "proto prog" might be a better way to refer to this album, as it's a little more focused on R&B and country than your average jamfest. In truth, that's one of the things that works to it's strength: It has a very unique sound, with David Clayton-Thomas' gruff, soulful vocals contrasting with and anchoring the big band horn arrangements and Bobby Colomby positively ripping the skins up in what has to be one of the most underrated drum performances on an album from the '60s. There's versatility here, too: The band channels some classical influences on their opening and closing songs and "And When I Die" seems to be aping Ennio Morricone in places. It's rare to hear a band with such a unified sound that manages to craft such distinct songs, but Blood, Sweat and Tears does it here without a sweat.

It's not a perfect album-it's downright hokey in places and "Blues Part II" drags on for too long- but it's distinct, expertly preformed and a whole hell of a lot of fun. In my mind, those are grounds for being called an "excellent addition to any prog rock music collection" any day of the week.

I got this album because I had the provious 3 they made. I was disappointed with the product after I heard it the first time. I was expecting the whole album to sound somwthing like "Go Down Gambling." It was not like that much at all.

"Go Down Gambling" was my favorite because of the guitar solo at the end. Believe it or not David Clayton Thomas played very well. I didn't know he could even play the guitar until I heard him on this. After I heard the whole album, I wondered why the band couldn't have done more of the rock oriented stuff. They put the song out on a 45 which I believed misled a lot of people who bought this album. I was thinking that "man, this set is gonna be pretty good with plenty of lead guitar to listen to." Unfortunately that wasn't the case. "Go Down Gambling" is the only one to employ a decent guitar solo on it.

There are a few noteworthy songs on this album though. "Redemption" has a great drum solo compliments of Bobby Columby. It then progs to the vocal tune and it stays upbeat throughout, with some nice solos by the horn section.

"A Look to My Heart" is moody and very well done. At the end of the album they reprise it with a much longer exploration of the main musical idea. It is well worth more than a few listens. The piano is featured here.

"Valentine's Day, John the Baptist(By Al Kooper no less), Lisa Listen to me, and Take Me in Your Arms" get an honorable mention. The whole album is well done but I don't really like the direction the band went in here. I never bought any more music from them after this.

All in all I give this one 2 stars. For what it's worth, I seriously considered giving it 3 stars at first though.

I got this one while I was in ITR(Infantry Regiment Training). By the time I purchased the album, BS&T was a band that I would buy their stuff without hearing the first song on it.

"Hi De Ho" was the band's first tune and also the first top 40 song. It got a lot of airplay and it was a good tune. Not too much as far as prog oriented goes, but good just the same.

The next one, "The Battle" was a favorite. Steve Katz composed it and it had to do with a look at the end of the world and references to God. In fact, this album has a lot of somewhat spiritual themes in it. That is another reason I enjoyed it.

"Lucretia MacEvil" and the reprise are pretty cool. This was the second top 40 tune they got airplay on. "Fire and Rain" is also pretty good, but I like the James Taylor version much better. I didn't like "Lonesome Suzie" at all. It was BORING!!!!!!!

On the other hand, "Symphony" and "Sympathy for the Devil" were very interesting. I liked the spirit of the song. BS&T made the devil look like the enemy in this, instead of someone to be admired like The Rolling Stones tried to intimate. BS&T simply put the Stones to shame here, musically.

The only other one I liked on side 2 was a Traffic tune called 40,000 Headmen." Again BS&T out does the original. Highly complimentary of Traffic. It seems like the guys know how to take a good song by someone else and make it a great song when they get done with it. That is not unlike the 3 Dog Night band of the 60's.

I give this album 3 stars only because of the 3 stinkers I had to endure. It would have gotten probably 4.5 stars otherwise.

BS&T found their success with this one. They had three hits, which were: "You Made Me so Very Happy," "And when I Die," and "Spinning Wheel." The last song being one of my favorites. I like most of the album. At the time it was a fresh and exciting sound that I wanted to keep hearing. Later, I would lean more toward guitar music alone, but as a teenager who was top forty savvy, I liked the band.

The music starts with a simple tune by Erik Satie and then the second part blows you away. It is like an explosion of sound. I thought it was great.

I also liked "Smiling Phases" a lot. The band knows how to play some interesting and jazzy themes. I didn't care for "More and More" and "And When I die." I wished they didn't have either one on the record.

"God Bless the Child" is a killer tune. They really compliment Billie Holliday's song. It is a real treat to listen to. They do some great jamming on it.

The second side is just excellent. I especially enjoyed, Blues part 2, the way the band experimented and ended up with David Clayton Thomas wailing his love for his woman. It used to give me goose bumps, it was so good. Then a reprise of the first movement by Erik Satie.

This is a good one for anyone who likes orchestra instruments blending with a rock sound. You won't be disappointed. I give this 4 stars due to the 2 songs I didn't like, yet they are all well played.