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 CBS Studios, New York City using a 16-track recording facility
Genre
Length45:36 (Original)
LabelColumbia
ProducerJames William Guercio
Blood, Sweat & Tears chronology
Child Is Father to the Man
(1968) 		Blood, Sweat & Tears
(1968) 		Blood, Sweat & Tears 3
(1970)

Blood, Sweat & Tears is the second album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, released on December 11, 1968. It was commercially successful, 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, it enjoyed four runs and altogether eight weeks at No. 1 on the RPM national album chart.

History[]

Bandleader Al Kooper and two other members, Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss, had left Blood, Sweat & Tears after their first album. Bobby Colomby and Steve Katz searched for a replacement singer and selected David Clayton-Thomas. Three more musicians joined to bring the band to nine members. Columbia assigned James William Guercio (who was simultaneously working with new band Chicago) to produce a new album.

The song selection was much more pop-oriented than the first album, with more compositions from outside the band. It was recorded at the then state of the art CBS Studios in New York City. The studio had just taken delivery of one of the first of the model MM-1000 16-track tape recorders, built by Ampex. The new technology allowed for far more flexibility in overdubbing and mixing than the 4 and 8-track tape recorders which were standard in 1968. The album was among the first 16-track recordings released to the public.[citation needed]

An additional song, "Children of the Wind" was recorded for the album but was not included. It later appeared on the compilation, The Very Best of Blood, Sweat and Tears: What Goes Up!

Reception[]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic4.5/5 stars[1]
Rolling Stone(negative)[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music5/5 stars[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."[2]

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 1[]

  1. "Variations on a Theme By Erik Satie" (1st and 2nd Movements) – 2:35
  2. "Smiling Phases" (Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood) – 5:11
    • Recorded October 15, 1968
  3. "Sometimes in Winter" (Steve Katz) – 3:09
    • Recorded October 8, 1968
  4. "More and More" (Vee Pee Smith, Don Juan) – 3:04
    • Recorded October 15, 1968
  5. "And When I Die" (Laura Nyro) – 4:06
    • Recorded October 22, 1968
  6. "God Bless the Child" (Billie Holiday, Arthur Herzog Jr.)[6] – 5:55
    • Recorded October 7, 1968

Side 2[]

  1. "Spinning Wheel" (David Clayton-Thomas) – 4:08
    • Recorded October 9, 1968
  2. "You've Made Me So Very Happy"[7] (Berry Gordy Jr., Brenda Holloway, Patrice Holloway, Frank Wilson) – 4:19
    • Recorded October 16, 1968
  3. "Blues – Part II" (Blood, Sweat & Tears) – 11:44
  4. "Variations on a Theme By Erik Satie" (1st Movement) – 1:49
    • Recorded October 9, 1968

2000 CD bonus tracks[]

  1. "More and More (Live at The Cafe Au Go Go 1968-08-02) - 4:38
  2. "Smiling Phases (Live at The Cafe Au Go Go 1968-08-02) - 18:44

Musicians[]

Production[]

Charts[]

Album – Billboard (United States)

Year Chart Position
1969 Pop Albums 1

Album – UK Albums Chart (United Kingdom)

Year Chart Position
1969 Top 40 Albums 15[8]

Singles – Billboard (United States)

Year Single Chart Position
1969 "You've Made Me So Very Happy" (3:26 edit)
B-side: "Blues – Part II" (5:26 edit) 		Pop Singles 2
1969 "Spinning Wheel" (2:39 edit)
B-side: "More and More" 		Adult Contemporary 1
1969 "Spinning Wheel" Pop Singles 2
1969 "And When I Die" (3:26 edit)
B-side: "Sometimes In Winter" 		Pop Singles 2

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Blood, Sweat & Tears > Review". Allmusic. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Landau, Jon (March 1, 1969). "Records". Rolling Stone. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0857125958.
  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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