Blood, Sweat & Tears - 3 (2017) [SACD]

4 Hybrid Stereo SACD box set plus booklet and features exclusive liner notes from David Clayton-Thomas plus archival photos from Sony Music Entertainment.

"Horn bands" were scarce when in October 1968 their self-titled album launched Blood, Sweat & Tears into the music stratosphere, becoming the No. 1 album in the world.

An unorthodox mixture of rock, jazz and classically trained musicians — ranging from hardcore blues artists such as David Clayton-Thomas, to conservatory master's graduates like Dick Halligan and Berklee-educated jazz musicians like Fred Lipsius, together with the powerful Broadway lead trumpet of Lew Soloff — defined the sound of the band in its groundbreaking years, 1968 through 1972.

"This was big city music, hard charging and fierce. When BS&T hit the stage, it was about as subtle as a punch in the solar plexus," Clayton-Thomas remembers.

Bloodlines, a Hybrid Stereo 4 disc box set produced by Analogue Productions, packs a heavyweight wallop that's a knockout for audiophiles! The legendary band's first four studio albums have been remastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound from the original analog master tapes. You get their self-titled second album with its three gold-selling Top 10 singles: "You've Made Me So Very Happy," "Spinning Wheel," and "And When I Die" as well as BS&T's iconic album debut: Child Is Father To The Man, their third album Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 and lastly, the Top 10 chart smash Blood, Sweat & Tears 4.

The band's Grammy-winning self-titled second album disc is multichannel (4.0 Quadraphonic) and Child Is The Father To The Man is also multichannel (5.1 Surround mix by Al Kooper).

The transfers for the Hybrid Stereo SACD box set were authored by Gus Skinas at the Super Audio Center in Boulder, Colo.

For a brief period at the end of the 1960s and the start of the '70s, Blood, Sweat & Tears, which fused a rock 'n' roll rhythm section to a horn section, held out the promise of a jazz-rock fusion that could storm the pop charts. The band was organized in New York in 1967 out of the remnants of the Blues Project by keyboard player/singer Al Kooper and guitarist Steve Katz of that group, and saxophonist Fred Lipsius. The rhythm section consisted of bassist Jim Fielder and drummer Bobby Colomby, and the horn section was filled out by trumpeters Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss and trombonist Dick Halligan.

This eight-piece band signed to Columbia Records and recorded Blood, Sweat & Tears' debut album, Child Is Father To The Man, which was released in February 1968. Cofounder Kooper then departed, and the group was reorganized. Singer David Clayton-Thomas was added, Halligan moved to the keyboards, and trumpeters Chuck Winfield and Lew Soloff replaced Brecker and Weiss, with Jerry Hyman being added on trombone. This nine-piece unit, working with producer James William Guercio, made Blood, Sweat & Tears' self-titled second album, released in October 1968.

Blood, Sweat & Tears was a runaway hit, spawning three gold-selling Top 10 singles, "You've Made Me So Very Happy," "Spinning Wheel," and "And When I Die," selling 3 million copies and winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It was also Blood, Sweat & Tears' highwater mark. Guercio left to work on a similar concept with Chicago Transit Authority, and Blood, Sweat & Tears increasingly became a backup group for Clayton-Thomas. Nevertheless, the third album, Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 (1970), and the fourth, Blood, Sweat & Tears 4 (1971), were substantial hits.

Kooper's contributions to Child Is Father To The Man are numerous — he played the piano and various other keyboards, and also composed almost all the numbers and made the arrangements for the string ensemble. Bluesy pieces such as "I Love You More..." and "I Can't Quit Her" and the vocals from Kooper are truly gems. Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 yielded two hit singles: a cover of Carole King's "Hi-De-Ho," and "Lucretia MacEvil." Blood, Sweat & Tears 4 was a Top 10 gold-selling album featuring the hard rockin' smash "Go Down Gamblin'" and the Top 40 classic "Lisa Listen to Me." David Clayton Thomas' voice was thrilling, the horns meshed with rock and roll, and Bobby Colomby's power drumming, fusing with Steve Katz's amazing guitar work, all made the B, S&T 4 album soar.