Looking for the best progressive sound solidly based on blues and rock? Look between 1968-71. You are after fusion music with a top-ranking horn section with one of the best raspy-sounding frontmen? Look up Blood, Sweat and Tears. You want two albums that are perhaps at the very peak of rock history, showing distinct elements of the hippy era, psychedelia, classical music; masterfully put together using multiple styles, musical pieces, and acoustic components?
Check out Blood, Sweat and Tears albums II and III!
Any review should deal with their second album first and foremost, as most of the band’s greatest hits surfaced from that release: Smiling Phases, Spinning Wheel, You made me so very happy, God bless the child, More and more, And when I die. These tracks would each deserve a post of their own, and have been rock’s dominant classics for over 50 years. Personal: I first encountered Smilng Phases walking down one of Hungary’s up and coming council estates in the mid-80’s. A student painting the window frames of his second floor flat had them wide open in the April morning sunshine, while the track was blasting from his upgraded stereo. I still thank him for that!
Much less known is Lucretia Mac Evil from the third album, the title in which all the essential forces of B,S&T come to the limelight: David Clayton-Thomas’ compelling, hoarse voice, heard again in reincarnations such as Michael Bolton; the mind-blowing horn-section that had additions such as Randy Brecker in the early formations; the discordant harmonies inspired by jazz and contemporary classical music; the raw piano sound; and the powerful, simple structure of what is basically a blues-rock song.
Apart from Brecker, the band hosted quite an array of jazz excellence: Mike Stern, Don Alias, and the king of bass guitar, sometimes listed as Jacob Pastors on the sleeves. Yet, the group was unable to maintain or even reach the vicinity of their initial success so spectacular up to 1969. They were rock’s and fusion music’s greatest promise but none of their tours after album 2 managed to score high enough on the charts or draw the hoped audience numbers. Why?
According to the 2023 documentary What the hell happened to Blood, Sweat and Tears?, the band became boycotted both by the U.S. press and by America’s anti-establishment youth after B,S&T returned from an Eastern European tour initiated by the Nixon government. The administration may have seen the visit as a move to ease social and cultural tensions but the attempt backfired.
The 1970 tour of the former Yugoslavia, Romania, and Poland came after the band spoke out againt the Vietnam war and America’s expansionist politics – and by extension in support of left-wing governments worldwide.
These views changed after members witnessed the actions of these police states and how the authorities handled fans before, during, and after the shows: youngsters were kicked and beaten, police batons were used, cameras were snatched from musicians by police.
The B,S&T concerts were sieged by enthusiastic fans and audiences, who loved the performances (little wonder), but the band felt depressed and oppressed after what they saw as dictatorial actions of the uniformed and secret police. Radical student fans in New York considered the band’s disappointing accounts of their trip as political betrayal. Hence, the fading popularity of the third and subsequent albums. It is this lack of attention that this review is hoping to rectify.
Also mentionable is their title track and album Nuclear Blues (1980), with Jaco Pastorius's bass line and solo:
Sources:
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood,_Sweat_%26_Tears
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/23/movies/what-the-hell-happened-to-blood-sweat-tears-review.html
The trailer for the documentary: