Blood, Sweat & Tears - Child Is Father To The Man (1968)
Al Kooper had already established himself in the music business in several ways
by the time he organized the eight piece horn-rock outfit, Blood, Sweat, and
Tears. He was a member of Bob Dylan's controversial band that went electric at
Newport. He was an imporatant member of The Blues Project and the composer of
Gary Lewis and The Playboys' hit, "This Diamond Ring." So, when BS&T's debut
album,
Child Is Father To The Man, was released in 1968 no one was surprised that, despite poor sales, it became
one of the classic records of the late 60s.
Kooper's love of big band trumpeter Maynard Ferguson was the motivation behind
his desire to form a rock band with a jazz aesthetic. The unit he assembled
included a bunch of virtuosos and many went on to long, productive careers in
the music business after their BS&T gig came to an end.
Kooper, the primary composer, lead singer, and keyboard player for the new
group, brought in his former bandmate from The Blues Project, Steve Katz, as
guitarist and second lead vocalist. He also added Bobby Colomby on drums and
Jim Fielder on bass. The horn section consisted of Dick Halligan on trombone
and Fred Lipsius on saxophone. Jerry Weiss and future jazz standout
Randy Brecker
played trumpets.
The hallmark of this album is its diversity. It featured everything from
psychedelic rock, R&B, blues, folk, jazz, and even a classically inspired
fugue for two keyboards and guitar on Randy Newman's "Just One Smile."
The record also included three other tracks written by some of the major
songwriters of the day: Harry Nilsson's "Without Her," Tim Buckley's "Morning
Glory," and "So Much Love/Underture" by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. The last
tune closes the album with a really cool, multi-tracked, psychedelic coda that
could have been inspired by The Beatles' long fade on "All You Need Is Love."
All four of these songs fit well into Kooper's vision of a jazz-rock band
without losing site of the original composer's intent. Buckley's contribution
still sounds like a folk song, Nilsson's is still jazzy, and Goffin and King's
sounds like the pop number it really is.
Lipsius stars on the sweaty, eight minute, blues workout, "Somethin' Goin'
On," and the full horn section blasts away on a track that could have only
been a product of the late 60s, the hilarious "House In the Country." If
anything on the record was written while under the influence of illicit, mind
expanding substances this song is it. "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know"
is a slow burning blues ballad that you'll still sometimes hear on classic
rock radio today. Katz's guitar is front and center.
Kooper even employs a string section dubbed the BS&T String Ensemble for
"Overture" and "The Modern Adventures of Plato, Diogenes, and Freud." The band
doesn't play on it at all. It features just the ensemble and as the title
indicates, it's too pretentious for its own good. However, Kooper still gets
credit for trying something completely different.
Nothing written here about Child Is Father To The Man will make you
fully understand the depth and originality of the music contained on this disc
without giving it a detailed listen so, if you haven't already, please
consider giving it your full attention now.
The twelve tracks clock in at over forty-nine minutes, rather full for a
single disc in the LP era.
Unfortunately, this first edition of Blood, Sweat, and Tears fell apart very
quickly after the album was completed due to the usual reason: creative
differences. Although Katz and Colomby reorganized the group without Kooper,
Weiss, and Brecker, and achieved huge commercial success with their very next
album featuring David Clayton-Thomas on vocals, the band would never be as
dynamically creative again.
I'd counter that the band did achieve somewhat of a creative renaissance with Jerry Fisher on vocals for their New Blood, No Sweat, and Mirror Image albums. Unfortunately that creative renaissance was short lived and fizzled with the departure of Fisher.
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