Bloggerhythms

This article was first published on November 4, 2010. It's been updated and reposted today with its original comments.      Almost seventy years after rock 'n roll revolutionized popular music there isn't a whole lot of excitement left in the classic guitar-bass-drums-piano formula popularized by Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and a host of other pioneers. I still love rock music but many times when I crave more than what the basic rock band lineup has to offer I start searching for something a little more substantial, and often I’ll find what I’m looking for in bands with horn sections. Horn bands can make some colorful music so it's a shame there aren't more of them. Is it because fledgling artists can't absorb the additional expenses of a larger group without promoters shelling out more cash to compensate them? Are many of the small clubs that new artists depend on for gigs not big enough to house ...

What The Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?  is a new documentary released only in theaters about the famous jazz-rock hitmakers of the late 60s. For a short time Blood, Sweat & Tears (BS&T) were among America's most popular musical artists. They were even one of the headliners at Woodstock. Unfortunately, their days in the sun were fleeting because people of all political persuasions eventually discovered reasons to hate them. To use today's overly trite terminology, they were canceled. The movie takes place in the Spring of 1970 when the nine musicians committed an unforgiveable sin. At that time it wasn't a good career move to cooperate with the United States government in any way, but at the request of our State Department BS&T toured three of Eastern Europe's communist bloc nations -Yugoslavia, Romania and Poland - as part of a cultural exchange program. Because the band worked wit...

It is not by design that this is the third article I've written about Blood, Sweat & Tears in less than two months. It just kind of worked out that way. For those of you who think that number is too many, please take note, I don't foresee another one coming anytime soon.  Until now, I've never heavily faulted an artist for genuinely heartfelt experimentation even if the attempt failed. That ends now. Even though it went all the way to number one  Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 was neither the artistic success nor the hit its predecessor was. That eponymous second disc went platinum four times. BS&T 3  had some good moments but based on the song we're about to discuss today it appeared that the popular horn band was trying too hard to be loved by music critics who never really embraced the post-Al Kooper lineup. Was "Symphony for the Devil / Sympathy for the Devil," their brief for...

Here is a rarity that I never knew existed until now because it was only a European release. In 2010, Blood, Sweat & Tears (BS&T) issued a new live album,  Sail Away, Live in Stockholm 1973 , on compact disc. Happily, a digital version came into my hands recently and it's far from what old fans of the band should expect. This seventy-three minute, single disc set sounds nothing at all like the original, critically acclaimed Al Kooper version of the large band, nor is it at all similar to the popular hitmakers fronted by David Clayton-Thomas on the three albums that immediately followed Kooper's departure. The lead singer on this twelve song concert CD was Jerry Fisher who replaced Clayton-Thomas.  He sang on the next three studio albums that were all recorded from 1972 to 1974. Fisher's singing is nothing like Kooper's. His style was closer to that of his immediate predecessor, but he possessed a smoother delivery that appealed to many of  BS&T'...

The problem with Blood, Sweat & Tears was that many rock fans didn’t consider them to be a real rock band. Their guitarist, Steve Katz, never reeled off the flaming, red hot, twelve-minute, guitar jams that were so popular at the time. Eric Clapton, he was not. Jazz purists didn’t believe the band was the genuine article either. The rest of us, the people who actually bought their records, didn’t much care either way. Nevertheless, most listeners were surprised when singer David Clayton-Thomas picked up his electric guitar for "Go Down Gamblin,'" way back in 1971. The Clayton-Thomas/Fred Lipsius (alto sax and piano) composition was definitely the loudest rock track the group ever put on vinyl. With their singer rocking out at full throttle, and playing some heavy guitar riffs, the song sounded more like something from Chicago Transit Authority than anything Blood Sweat & Tears ever recorded. The song is about a gambler who never wins at any game he plays, yet ...

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...

It's been quite awhile since Bloggerhythms talked about a popular classic rock album so it's time to discuss a record that, upon its release, significantly influenced what I'm still listening to today. It's not my favorite horn band record from that era but it's the one that ignited my love of brass and reeds in rock music. The LP is the eponymous, second album by Blood, Sweat & Tears (BS&T). From there it was an easy transition to Chicago, Chase, Ides of March, and BS&T's artistically superior debut album, Child Is Father To The Man . Before Blood, Sweat & Tears became a big hit bands with self-contained, complete horn sections played only a minor roll in rock. For instance, James Brown's band always had horns but Brown was the main man. Everyone else was there to make him look good. BS&T was the first time an album with a horn section as its featured attraction had gone big time on top 40 radio and spawned a slew of hit sing...