1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 134. Blood, Sweat & Tears – Blood Sweat and Tears (1968)

 

There’s a bit of everything on this album – classical, jazz, blues, rock, gospel, soul. Sometimes in the same track. But for all that, it doesn’t feel kitchen sink prog-rock, but a glorious fusion of sounds.

If you look the band up, they’ve had about a billion members over the years (only a slight exaggeration) and are still going. Al Kooper (formerly of The Band) had left by the time of this, their second album, and this is the era of soul-voiced David Clayton-Thomas on lead vocals. Founder members Dick Halligan on keyboards and flute, and Steve Katz on guitar bring the melodies and there’s a substantial horns section as well. Overall the sound mix is very rich, but not overwhelming – each contributor can be picked out rather than muddy into the mix.

There were two tracks on here that I recognised but wasn’t sure if it was the Blood, Sweat, and Tears version or not. These are the Motown track You’ve Made Me Very Happy, and the funky Spinning Wheel (“what goes up, must come down”). And, yes, these are the best known versions, and very solid they are.

There’s a pumped up cover of a Steve Winwood track (Smiling Phases), a gospel Laura Nyro track (And When I Die), and a soulful Billie Holiday track (God Bless The Child). The horns either provide a Stax style emphasis, or break out into be-bop jazz soloing. It’s all rather good.

There’s the obligatory 10-minute plus track which merges jazz and blues, and drops in a little riff from Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love without getting into irritating self-indulgence, and I think that’s the key here. There’s a lot of moving parts, but at the same time everything has a place and plays a part. I liked this one.