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What a great band. I'm glad I was around then to here them live.
Wow. Listening to the songs on this 'greatest hits' collection took me instantly back to some very good times in my life. What a great group. A great collection of music. Singer David Clayton Thomas had such a distinctive voice and that dynamic brass section. The very first concert I ever took my wife (then girlfriend) to was Blood, Sweat & Tears at the San Diego Sports Arena. Great memories.
Blood Sweat & Tears - Greatest HitsThis purchase was a gift for my brother for Christmas and I own this CD myself. This is a great CD.
When I first heard David Clayton Thomas and BS&T, I thought what a unique sound and so enjoyable. Years have passed and I lost the album but through the magic of digitation they have returned and I am so glad that they did. This is a compilation of the best. It should be in any collection.
Among the non-hits, both Steve Katz' "Sometimes In Winter" and Kooper's "I Can't Quit Her" are superb. Welding a big band brass to rock sensibilities, BS&T hit their stride once they found a singer whose voice was a brassy as their horn section. Originally a brainchild of Al Kooper, Blood Sweat and Tears was one of those hybrids that could have only evolved in the experiment happy late 60's. Still, all this would be less interesting without the rotating stable of players' musicianship. Canadian David Clayton-Thomas brought in a soul-full force that made singles like "Spinning Wheel" and "You Made Me So Very Happy" into classics.Clayton-Thomas also brought solid songs to the band, as the writer of four of the main hits here. But BS&T were also eclectic enough to search outside the box; their cover of Billie Holiday's "God Bless The Child" stands among their best work. These guys had chops to burn, with the soul of "Hi De Ho" (a Carole King/Gerry Goffin song) and Laura Nyro's "And When I Die" working their turf perfectly, and the horns on "Lucretia Mac Evil" having the punch of electric guitars. Even though some of the songs are the single edits (missing the carousel breakdown at the end of "Spinning Wheel" is disappointing), these are still landmark songs, and a style that would soon become omnipresent from every from The Best Of Chicago to Brian Setzer.
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