Blood Sweat & Tears - New Blood (1972)

Aside from their self-titled sophomore album Blood Sweat & Tears struggled under the vocal leadership of David Clayton-Thomas. While largely forgotten, the Jerry Fisher era of Blood Sweat & Tears was an all too brief breath of fresh air at just the right time. 1972’s New Blood marks Fisher’s first foray on lead vocals for BS&T.

His vocals are more on the soulful and less on the crooning end of the spectrum. And while New Blood exhibits the classic BS&T sound Fisher’s vocals give their material more of a New Orleans/Dixieland jazz vibe than Clayton-Thomas’s vocals did.

While there are no big hits and much of the material would largely be unrecognizable to all but the most seasoned of BS&T’s fans the music is quite enjoyable from Down In the Flood to I Can’t Move No Mountains to the amusing take on aging, Over the Hill, to the melancholic So Long Dixie. While the material still is not as strong as on the band’s debut, Child Is Father to the Man, it’s easily their best material since then.

The album closes with Snow Queen/Maiden Voyage an eleven and a half minute musical adventure allowing Fisher to stretch out his vocals and giving the horns plenty of time to show what they’re capable of. Despite it’s length it remains one of the most enjoyable tracks on the album.

While compared to other Blood Sweat & Tears albums New Blood certainly stands up well, perhaps its greatest flaw is that it has not aged as well as other material from the early seventies. The sound is so dated that if you close your eyes and just listen perhaps you might open them to find yourself in 1972. Which, depending on your personal proclivities may or may not be a bad thing.

Related LinksNew Blood (allmusic.com)
New Blood (wikipedia)
Blood Sweat & Tears (official site)
Blood Sweat & Tears (wikipedia)

Blood Sweat & Tears - Child Is Father to the Man (1968)

Blood Sweat & Tears are arguably a case study of a band with a brilliant debut that the band was never able to live up to again.

BS&T's was in large part the brainchild of Al Kooper. So it was quite surprising when after this debut, Kooper was given his walking papers and replaced by David Clayton-Thomas.

While Kooper is not a great singer, this listener prefers his vocals over those of his successor. Add to that that Kooper was the principal songwriter in the band the band seemingly shot themselves in the foot when they showed Kooper the door.

Commercially their second album was considerably more successful, but to my ears it lacks the inventiveness and the pure unbridled potential this album showed.

Today this album does sound a bit dated, not in a bad way. It's a delightful capsule of the late sixties. There's a fullness and lushness that's at least marginally reminiscent of the Moody Blues Days of Future Passed released the year before.

One of the reasons Kooper was let go was the band felt they could find a better singer, but listening to songs like More Than You'll Ever Know and I Can't Quit Her I honestly can't hear the need for a new singer. Kooper doesn't just sing well, he nails the vocals on most of these songs. And even if he lacked the range of "better" singers, the band would have been better served bringing in a second singer in addition to Kooper, as opposed to replacing him.

What is perhaps most remarkable about this album is that its so strong and so seamless from start to finish. There's not a bad track on it and it certainly leaves the listener wanting more. It's arguably one of the "must-have" albums for any fan and/or collector of late 60s rock.

All in all this album is both a testament and a glaring question mark to what might have been had BS&T held on to the talents of Al Kooper.

Related Links
Blood Sweat & Tears (official site)
Blood Sweat & Tears (wikipedia)
Al Kooper (official site)
Al Kooper (wikipedia)
Jim Fielder (wikipedia)
Fred Lipsius (official site)
Fred Lipsius (wikipedia)
Randy Brecker (official site)
Randy Brecker (wikipedia)
Jerry Weiss (wikipedia)
Dick Halligan (official site)
Dick Halligan (wikipedia)
Steve Katz (wikipedia)
Bobby Colomby (wikipedia)