Blood, Sweat & Tears - Blood, Sweat & Tears (Expanded Edition) (1968/2022) [Official Digital Download 24/176]

The difference between Blood, Sweat & Tears and the group's preceding long-player, Child Is Father to the Man, is the difference between a monumental seller and a record that was "merely" a huge critical success. Arguably, the Blood, Sweat & Tears that made this self-titled second album – consisting of five of the eight original members and four newcomers, including singer David Clayton-Thomas – was really a different group from the one that made Child Is Father to the Man, which was done largely under the direction of singer/songwriter/keyboard player/arranger Al Kooper. They had certain similarities to the original: the musical mixture of classical, jazz, and rock elements was still apparent, and the interplay between the horns and the keyboards was still occurring, even if those instruments were being played by different people. Kooper was even still present as an arranger on two tracks, notably the initial hit "You've Made Me So Very Happy." But the second BS&T, under the aegis of producer James William Guercio, was a less adventurous unit, and, as fronted by Clayton-Thomas, a far more commercial one. Not only did the album contain three songs that neared the top of the charts as singles – "Happy," "Spinning Wheel," and "And When I Die" – but the whole album, including an arrangement of "God Bless the Child" and the radical rewrite of Traffic's "Smiling Phases," was wonderfully 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.

TRACKLIST

01. Blood Sweat And Tears - Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie (1st and 2nd Movements - Adapted from "Trois Gymnopedies') (Album Version)
02. Blood Sweat And Tears - Smiling Phases (Album Version)
03. Blood Sweat And Tears - Sometimes in Winter (Album Version)
04. Blood Sweat And Tears - More and More (Album Version)
05. Blood Sweat And Tears - And When I Die (Album Version)
06. Blood Sweat And Tears - God Bless the Child (Album Version)
07. Blood Sweat And Tears - Spinning Wheel
08. Blood Sweat And Tears - You've Made Me So Very Happy (Album Version)
09. Blood Sweat And Tears - Blues, Pt. 2 (Album Version)
10. Blood Sweat And Tears - Variation on a Theme by Erik Satie (1st Movement - Adapted from "Trois Gymnopedies") (Album Version)
11. Blood Sweat And Tears - More and More (live)
12. Blood Sweat And Tears - Smiling Phases (live)



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